There’s a funny thing in life, where sometimes everything goes your way – even when it shouldn’t.
On Wednesday night, the Reign earned their first victory of the 2021 AHL season, after not playing nearly as well as they had over the previous five games. Up until that point, Ontario had earned a grand total of one single point. This time around, they skated off with two points and are happy to move on.
The victory didn’t come without a few scares a long the way, though.
Early in the game, Quinton Byfield was cut and had to leave the game for a brief segment. He eventually returned.
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) February 18, 2021
Byfield coming back out now.
Had been in the room for a few minutes.
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) February 18, 2021
Wrobo on Byfield injury – high stick and stitches, he'll be fine
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) February 18, 2021
Then, while nursing a two goal lead with less than 30 seconds to go, Colorado scored – ruining the shutout for goaltender Matt Villalta. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it appeared they had scored again to tie things up in the final few seconds of the game. However, after what had to be a fearful moment on the bench, the goal was disallowed, allowing Ontario to earn a 2-1 win.
LA Kings prospect Matt Villalta was 19 seconds away from his first pro shutout. Played 22 AHL + 8 ECHL games last season.
His last shutout was his first game of the 2018-19 season, back on September 22, 2018 with the @OHLHoundPower
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) February 18, 2021
Villalta was credited with 28 saves on 29 shots.
On another positive note, Rasmus Kupari picked up two assists and is now tied for the AHL points lead with 7 (1G, 6A).
One of those assists came on Arthur Kaliyev’s first AHL goal.
Five forwards on the Reign 5v3 power play
Byfield
Kupari
Kaliyev
Madden
Thomas— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) February 18, 2021
https://twitter.com/mayorNHL/status/1362230626783350789
#ArtyParty https://t.co/xJdQEj7bBo
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) February 18, 2021
After the game, coach John Wroblewski shared some thoughts on his first win as an AHL head coach and the team’s performance:
On his preference for special teams
On the penalty kill, it’s really important in the American League for guys to be as well-rounded as possible, for their call-up opportunity. We’ll use a number of our younger players, to get that opportunity to play on special teams and kill penalties for us. That’s a gateway to the NHL, for them to learn, not only positioning, but defensive responsibility, taking care of the team, and the gritty things – like shot blocking, face-offs, the importance of those. You’ll continue to see the young guys killing penalties, no matter how high they were picked in the Draft. They’ll kill penalties for us. As far as the 5-on-3, it was a good feel call by Craig Johnson to select the guys that he did. Obviously, it was a really, really productive 5-on-3. Despite the fact that Arty finishes, it looked great all the way up to it.
On if there was anything the team was able to carry over from the last game that helped lead to the win
I think these guys are learning quite a bit about momentum. We’ve had to piecemeal and build — a little bit here, a little bit there. Whether it’s our defensive zone, where guys need to be in certain spots and certain times. Then our offensive zone strategy, there’s a lot of a lot of intricacies to our line-rush routes. Hopefully, we’re gonna start get to the point where guys aren’t thinking too much about strategy and they’re thinking a little bit more about details. We saw some stuff come out tonight, like our F3 – I thought F3 was a little irresponsible; not only with its positioning at times, diving in, but also at said times, stick detail was off. I thought the guys were apt to have their sticks in the air and dive in at the wrong times. We really do have to adjust those types of controllables. Those are items that have to get shored up. I think we’re gonna hopefully shift a little bit away from our structure and back into more detail oriented items.
On the final couple minutes of the game
I felt good about the game the whole way through, just like I have with a lot of them. I’ve been trying to stay away from the ultimate two points, not get too focused on it. I’ve tried to adhere as much to the play in each shift and trying to coach each shift the best as possible. It sounds cliché, but it’s something that in the short season, and my first year, that I’m really really concentrating on.
On the myriad of lineup changes, specifically with the defensemen and Sean Durzi on the third pair
I wouldn’t say that we had any hierarchy going into the contest. I thought that Durzi can be best utilized — and we all know it, in offensive situations. As a mid-sized defenseman, who has a great feel for the game, but maybe not like that prototypical Duncan Keith-type skater, more selective minutes for him might really help his game; be able to absorb and get a better feel for situations. We like him on the penalty kill. We feel comfortable with him in all situations, but I thought that tonight he really came out with a strong performance. Maybe it’s something that we entertain going forward, how to utilize Durzi best. Every guy has a threshold with how many minutes, using a score with our Catapult system how we track guys throughout the game, each guy gets a score. Maybe he has a certain score that fits in best for him. I liked Durzi’s game tonight. I thought that even though Fagemo didn’t hit his one-timers on the power play, I thought Durzi got it into the wheelhouse a few times for him. We’ll talk to Fagemo about triggering that thing a little bit quicker, instead of dusting it off. I thought both goalies played well, made it an interesting game. It easily could have been a lot higher scoring.
On Kupari starting to find his rhythm, but is he adjusting to the type of game the coaches want
You saw it on the 2-on-1, his drive, the threat of him bringing it to the rack was what allowed him to toe-drag the defenseman and got him into the really good ice, so that then there’s no mistake. Previously, in the second period, he pulls up right in front of our bench and throws one in the middle of the ice – those are the plays. I believe that he had an opportunity to play behind the other team and to drive the pace. That’s something that Kupari and I are continuing to work through. He’s a brilliant player, he was selected where he was for a reason. I just have high expectations for him. With that engine, with that motor, I think that he can be more of a power. He can blend his power game a little bit more often, for me.
On Kale Clauge playing his first AHL game of the season
From the morning meeting with Claguer, I thought that he exhibited the professionalism that we needed. I was very happy with the way that he played. I thought he asserted himself with the puck, offensively. Defensively, he was in a lot of the good spots that we need him to be. I do think that Chris Hajt will work with him on some of the finer points, where he could play a little tighter or make sure that he’s on the proper side every single shift. That was part of our strategic plan, was to get him on the ice as often as possible tonight. Not only would help us compete and have more puck time, but also for his development, to make sure that we were getting as many opportunities to be able to talk about what he did well and what he didn’t do well, so that he can continue to build his resume and build his book to help the Kings out. We really liked Kale tonight. My memory jogs to a couple of times where maybe he got on the wrong side of the puck, that’s part of the reason why we’re seeing him. We have to make sure that he’s on his game defensively. We’ll keep putting him to the test as often as we can.
On why some of the F3 issues were cropping up
With us going down to 10 forwards fairly often tonight — we lost QB for about 12-13 minutes of the second, and we lost Kupari for a minute there in the third period, as well, with a quick injury. We had Madden in the middle of the ice, at left wing, and on the right wing. Dudas was all over in different situations. For a lot of the guys, there were brief moments of levity in the game, where guys had to sort through their position. Too often, when you’re out there thinking and not reacting, not instinctively, just moving to the spot, there’s gonna be hesitations and mental errors. I think they were forced into those spots and it’s an opportunity for us now to address that. Their mental acuity has to be very, very sharp, every single game and every shift. Start taking pictures before your shift, the canvas you want, you’re gonna be in certain spots, where we need to funnel to, and envision yourself in those different places. That starts to take away from your other responsibilities on the ice. I think we were stretched a little thin, mentally and physically, with our lineup today. I thought there were a couple more mental errors, actually, than we’ve seen before. Some of the stuff that was costing us or maybe not showing up on the scoresheet was physical. I thought we made a few more mental errors. I have to say, Matty Villalta was outstanding because he had a lot of time to think about certain stretches. Then, all of a sudden, it’s 10 shots in five minutes. He had to be really good, so I was disappointed for him that he couldn’t get the shutout because I thought he really deserved it.
Ed. note – Kupari took an inadvertent skate / stick to the forearm and needed a quick stitch in the third period.
On Sammy Fagemo adjusting to North American sized rinks
He’s had good success. At the World Juniors, when he pumped a bunch of goals, was on the NHL sheet, He should feel pretty comfortable and confident on the NHL sheet. All in all, I love the kid. First off, just the way that he comes to the rink. He has an unbelievable attitude. His head is nodding all the time, he’s listening and taking in information. That’s a great base point for him to be able to then just accelerate into play. His game has from the opening weekend in Henderson — where I thought he was really quiet, kind of watching a little bit too much, and that’s understandable because he didn’t play any exhibition games — his resurrection these last few games, to be able to produce and be a constant presence, has been outstanding. I really, really like his game. We’re still gonna have to work on the trenches a little bit with him. Everybody that we’re playing is setting heavy gap and pinching. He has to navigate those those defensemen. I thought Colorado gave us a hard time. They have big, sturdy defensemen that our young guys were trying to navigate and get through. I thought that was one of the the storylines of the game, as well.
Ontario’s line combos and D pairs (along with a brief update on Turcotte’s injury situation) can be found here.
The same two teams will rematch Friday night at 6pm. That game can be viewed for free, as it’s scheduled to be the AHL Facebook Game of the Week.
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Lead photo courtesy of Ontario Reign
