Playing in his second game in as many nights – and second game since signing with the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies earlier this week – LA Kings’ forward Trevor Lewis picked up a pair of assists, but it wasn’t enough as the Ontario Reign came back to win the game in overtime after being down 4-2 and later 5-3. Take a look at the highlights…
Game report provided by the Reign, LA Kings ECHL affiliate…
WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah – The Ontario Reign (21-7-1-1), defending Pacific Division Champions and proud affiliate of the NHL’s 2012 Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings, rallied from two goals down twice against the Utah Grizzlies (12-11-2-3) to win 6-5 in overtime before a crowd of 4,572 at Maverik Center Saturday night. CJ Stretch scored a pair of goals including the game-tying marker and Colton Yellow Horn had three assists.
The Grizzlies jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Bryan Cameron at 4:52 and Riley Armstrong at 7:28. But special teams got the Reign back into the game. Dan DaSilva netted his second goal of the series with a power-play goal at 11:59 as he won the faceoff in the Utah zone then tipped in Vince LoVerde’s wrist shot from the point. After the power-play unit cut the deficit in half, the penalty-kill unit tied it up on an unassisted, shorthanded goal by Everett Sheen with just 3.5 seconds left in the period. Sheen got his stick on a pass by Armstrong to knock it out to center ice, then chased down the puck and fired a wrist shot over Andrew Engelage’s blocker.
The Grizzlies capitalized on a series of Reign penalties in the second frame to take a 4-2 lead with a pair of power-play goals. Cameron gave the Grizzlies a 3-2 lead at 11:59 and Drew MacKenzie extended the lead to 4-2 at 18:21.
CJ Stretch registered his 17th goal of the season 2:01 into the third period to pull the Reign within one, but Mitch Wahl took advantage of another Ontario penalty to re-establish a two-goal lead for Utah at the 10:00 mark. However, the Reign again erased a two-goal dearth to tie the game 5-5 with markers by Stretch and Derek Couture just 55 seconds apart.
Kory Falite had a breakaway after jumping out of the penalty box, but Chris Carrozzi stuck out his left pad to make the save. The Reign made a fast break the other way and Couture finished of the rush by banking a shot off the post and into the net to cut the Utah lead to 4-5. Less than a minute later, Engelage gave up a long rebound off of a shot by Kyle Kraemer and Stretch snapped the puck into a wide-open cage at 13:58. Chris Cloud didn’t have an assist on the play, but it was his big hit that gave Kraemer the space to take the initial shot. Colin Vock had a chance to snatch back the lead for the Grizzlies with a penalty shot after being pushed down on a breakaway by Matt Clune, but Carrozzi came up big again to force overtime.
MacKenzie was called for slashing early in the extra frame and the Reign special teams made Utah pay. Vincent LoVerde and Colton Yellow Horn worked the puck to Chris Huxley at the left faceoff dot where he let loose with a shot that got a piece of Engelage and bounced into the net to give Ontario a 6-5 win.
Carrozzi earned his 11th win of the season with 37 saves on 42 shots while Engelage took the loss with 34 saves on 40 shots.
DaSilva’s goal extended his league-leading active point streak to 10 games and Couture’s power-play goal tied him for the league lead with 8.
Three Stars:
1. UTA – Trevor Lewis
2. UTA – Mitch Wahl
3. UTA – Bryan Cameron
Reign Drops: The Reign will now travel to Las Vegas for a pair of games on Jan. 1 and 2 vs. the Wranglers. Then they’ll return home on Friday, Jan. 4 vs Lewis and the Grizzlies. The next day (Saturday, Jan. 5) is Jordan Nolan Bobblehead night when the Reign take on the Alaska Aces.
If you missed Lewis on a recent edition of the MayorsManor show, click here for a light-hearted chat about his teammates – including his relationship with Drew Doughty – his Day with the Stanely Cup this summer and much more.
