Photo Gallery by David Sheehan for MayorsManor. Game recap provided by the Reign…
ONTARIO, Calif. – The Ontario Reign (18-6-1-0), defending Pacific Division Champions and proud affiliate of the NHL’s 2012 Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings, earned their largest victory, 6-2, over the Idaho Steelheads (18-6-1-2) on Saturday night before a crowd of 6,522 fans for the Reign’s Affiliate Jersey Night.
Dan DaSilva opened the scoring for the Reign with his 100th professional goal. While on the power play, Derek Couture worked with Colton Yellow Horn to get the puck in position in the Steelheads zone. Yellow Horn found DaSilva in front of Tyler Beskorowany and fed him a beautiful pass that he tucked behind the Idaho goaltender 6:45 into regulation. Idaho gave the Reign another power-play opportunity, which Ontario converted, scoring again just 73 seconds after their first tally. This time Devin Setoguchi’s quick hands had Beskorowany beat. C.J. Stretch won the draw and sent a quick pass to the winger who found an open spot in the Steelheads net before the goalie could track the puck.
The Reign increased their lead at the 11:33 mark of the second period with a nice goal by Yellow Horn for his 16th of the season. Chris Huxley skated the puck up the ice sending it to DaSilva at the top of the right circle. DaSilva eyed Yellow Horn coming in quick toward the Steelheads net and sent a perfectly timed pass to the left winger who wristed it in top shelf. Former Reign forward Tristan King would again narrow the gap for the Steelheads with a power-play goal at 15:17 from between the hashes.
Stretch widened the Reign’s lead 4-2 just 1:48 into the final period. The center held the puck at the goal line, moved to the bottom of the circle where a perfectly timed shot sailed through the goalie’s pads for a power-play goal. Moments later, Kyle Kraemer skated into a wide open Steelheads zone and fired a shot from the top of the right circle into the top right corner of the net giving Ontario a more comfortable 3-goal lead.
JF Berube came up big for the Reign fending off a two-man advantage for more than 1:30 in the final period. With just 14 seconds left in regulation Mario Lamoureux padded the Reign’s score with his 10th of the season. Everett Sheen picked up the lone assist.
The Reign return to action this Wednesday when they host the Las Vegas Wranglers. Then, on Saturday, they’ll play their final home game of 2012 vs. the San Francisco Bulls.
