Wednesday night proved to be a tough challenge for the Ontario Reign, as they fell to the visiting Henderson Silver Knights 3-1.
Special teams again played a key role in the overall storyline, yet Ontario did not seem to be on the same page from that perspective. They killed off all six Henderson power plays, while only scoring on one of their six man-advantages. The backbreaker for the Reign was a pair of short-handed goals against.
The first one allowed Henderson to take a 1-0 lead when they buried the puck off of a 2-on-1 rush 7:03 into the game. Ontario proceeded to have a few good looks throughout the opening frame, but they were unable to cash in.
Things seemed to kick into gear in the second, with Ontario controlling the majority of action and consistently creating offensive opportunities. They did many good things in the middle stanza, despite penalties halting their momentum in the last few minutes.
Just over a minute into the third frame, Henderson scored their second short-handed goal of the game, again on a 2-on-1 chance. This one came with a bit of controversy, though, after the puck seemed to bank off of two posts. Play continued despite the Silver Knights motioning and protesting to the refs they had scored. During the next stoppage in play, the play in question went under review. Ultimately, it resulted in a good goal.
With less than two minutes remaining in regulation, T.J. Tynan put Ontario on the board with a power play marker, scored from an off angle. The power play goal cut the Silver Knights lead in half, 2-1, giving hope to the hometown faithful.
After the ensuing center ice face off, the Reign gained control of the puck with a little over a minute left and pulled goaltender Cal Petersen to gain an extra attacker, as they attempted to tie the game. But the Reign rally would fall short when the Silver Knights got possession and proceeded to collect an empty net goal that sealed the game.
Despite the loss, Petersen was Ontario’s best player once again. He made big save after big save throughout the night, including a spectacular right skate save on a wrap-around try in the first period. Over Petersen’s first three games of his current AHL stint, he has produced a 1.70 goals against average and .941 save percentage.
RELATED CONTENT:
Ontario Reign Projected Lineup vs. Henderson Silver Knights; Including Turcotte Update
Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or interviews from this site please remember to include a link to www.MayorsManor.com
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-522840723937225840-1’); });