How many times throughout a season does a hockey coach talk about needing a full 60-minute effort from his team? Hundreds? Thousands? It might just be the single most used cliché on the menu of many. If this was a legal case, Saturday’s Reign game would be submitted as evidence – ‘Your honor, this is what can happen when you don’t play until the final buzzer.’
Leading 6-3 after 40 minutes, Ontario wasn’t able to close out the game. Bakersfield came back to earn an 8-6 victory, including a late empty net goal. The last 10 minutes were brutal, yet should serve as a good learning experience for the Reign’s bevy of first-year pros.
“I don’t like how it ended up,” coach John Wroblewski told MayorsManor. “But I’m glad that we got six on them and we did it the right way. We played 50 really solid minutes and then made a couple mistakes that ended up in our net. Prior to that we were manufacturing the right way. They were turning pucks over in the middle of the ice and we were taking advantage of it. It was exactly how the game plan was laid out and the players had full belief in it. They went out and really executed great. To get the two power play goals in the first was nice, but more importantly, we started to lean on them and execute with our forecheck to perfection. Even though we didn’t get a lot of shots because of the how stingy their defensemen can be, we started to lean on them and wear on them. In the third, their best players turned it on. Full credit to Bakersfield, they have some very strong players over there. They weren’t just going to roll over. That’s a great lesson for our guys.
Samuel Fagemo ties the game at 1 on the powerplay. His 7th goal of the season.
Assisted by Clague(4), and Andersson(3) #Reign pic.twitter.com/hqoYnpmsQ9
— Eric (@Kingsgifs) March 21, 2021
Byfield scores his 4th goal of the season extending his goal streak to 3 games, point streak to 4 games
Assisted by Thomas(5), and Durzi(7) #Reign pic.twitter.com/uDJWP2A7WL
— Eric (@Kingsgifs) March 21, 2021
Turcotte sets up Kaliyev with a behind the back pass to make it 5-3
Kaliyev(7)-ASS: Turcotte (6), Kupari(11) #Reign pic.twitter.com/59QWMGaMiV
— Eric (@Kingsgifs) March 21, 2021
Lias Andersson dangles around a defenseman then sets up Durzi to make it 6-3
Durzi(2)-ASST: Andersson(4), Byron(6) pic.twitter.com/TjNwL4Klk6
— Eric (@Kingsgifs) March 21, 2021
We also asked Wroblewski for some thoughts on the following:
Wroblewski on Cole Hults – “We appreciate what he does with the puck. His vision and his ability to navigate the offensive zone is tremendous. His deliveries to the net, they have pop. He sees guys that most people don’t; he sees the guy that’s on the back side more often than not. He’s thinking one play ahead of the game. It’s pretty impressive for a young defenseman to see that.”
On Quinton Byfield’s ongoing development – “He impacts the game positively every night. We’re working on the little things that will allow him to be a dominant American League player. Overall, he is getting better. Craig Johnson continues to works with him after every game on a couple little things and some of the routes that he takes. I love the way QB plays. I think that when everything comes together for this guy, 6-foot-4, can skate like the wind, and is a genuinely good teammate and good person, it’s gonna be something special. I think the world of the kid. He has a growth mindset and he’s very receptive to the coaching. He’s gonna get there on his time and he just has to make sure that he’s not taking it for granted that he’s really engaging in all the things necessary to reach his potential.”
On the recently formed top line of Turcotte-Kupari-Kaliyev – “If you have three players with elite characteristics and elite attributes, and you have the means to put them together, you’re gonna have a threat every time out. They can win your games, right? They can get you two or three at even strength, and maybe even one on the power play. Next thing you know, that’s a winning combination. If everybody else just plays even-up, you have a great chance to win. Kind of like a poker game, getting your chips in at the right time, we feel like it was a strong move to make. It’s proven to be pretty good and we’ll see how it goes. You also have to be thinking long-term development and also sometimes situations need tweaking before they’ve run their course. But we like their game. Kupari has been really good, but I think Kaliyev’s progress this year has just been absolutely tremendous. Even when he wasn’t scoring, he tried to stick to the team system of playing behind and doing things he had never done before. It just keeps showing again and again, the way that he’s been playing the game and his maturity jump has been tremendous. Now he’s getting rewarded for it. He didn’t score for a long time, but stuck with it and listened to, ‘This is how you have to play.’ There’s plenty of reasons for him not to trust it, yet he kept doing it. Now he’s getting rewarded with a lot of scoring chances and is producing tangibly.”
With Ontario’s four game winning streak halted in the opening game of their weekend series at Bakersfield, they’ll now look to get back to their winning ways. There will be two lineup changes. Matt Villalta will start in net and Devante Smith-Pelly will slide back in on wing after sitting out on Saturday. Per Wrobo, DSP missed the game as a precautionary measure.
Ontario Reign Projected Lineup for Sun. 3/21 at Bakersfield
Alex Turcotte – Rasmus Kupari – Arthur Kaliyev
Blaine Byron – Lias Andersson – Sammy Fagemo
Devante Smith-Pelly – Quinton Byfield – Akil Thomas
Mikey Eyssimont – Brett Sutter – Boko Imama
Kale Clague – Mark Alt
Jacob Moverare – Austin Strand
Cole Hults – Sean Durzi
Matt Villalta (starter)
JF Berube
Sunday’s puck drop is scheduled for 3pm PST and can be streamed through AHL TV.
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