Ontario Reign: Three Takeaways From Game Three’s 4-3 Victory

Goal Breakdown

First period:

ABB: Aatu Raty (2), ASST: Chase Wouters (1)

ABB: Christian Wolanin (2), ASST: Vasily Pdkolzin (1)

Second period:

ONT: Samuel Fagemo (1), ASST: Joe Hicketts (3)

ONT: Charles Hudon (3), ASST: Akil Thomas (2), Tyler Madden (2)

ONT: Taylor Ward (2), ASST: Joe Hicketts (4)

ABB: Marc Gatcomb (1), ASST: Aatu Raty (2), Akito Hirose (1)

ONT: Andre Lee (3), ASST: Taylor Ward (3)

Third period:

None

Stats

Goals:

ONT: 4

ABB: 3

Shots: 

ONT: 23

ABB: 28

Power plays:

ONT: 0/5

ABB: 0/3

Here are the three takeaways from Wednesday’s 4-3 victory:

Abbotsford comes out strong

Abbotsford came out strong to start this one as they were on the brink of elimination on home ice. They weren’t going to go away quietly and they didn’t. The Canucks were aggressive on their forecheck, which led to a good amount of Reign turnovers.

Aatu Raty, acquired last year by Vancouver in the Bo Horvat trade, got the scoring started as he flipped the puck over Erik Portillo’s blocker as he was uncovered in the slot. That play happened due to the aggressive forecheck from Canukcs captain Chase Wouters knocking Reign defenseman Wyatte Wylie off the puck behind the Reign net to set up Raty for Abbotsford’s first lead of the series.

Abbotsford wasn’t done applying the pressure there as defenseman, and former Reign and King, Christian Wolanin gained entry into the offensive zone, and with a quick stick handle to go from a toe drag to his backhand, slid the puck five-hole on Erik Portillo to give Abbotsford a 2-0 lead with 6:28 remaining in the opening frame.

Abbotsford came out with a forecheck in game two, but they amped up the pressure and started strong in game two. Their aggressive play was rewarded with Raty’s goal to open the scoring. They outshot the Reign 10-6 and played the way most expected them to coming back home down 0-2 in the series.

Second-period outburst

While the first period was the Reign’s worst period of the playoffs, the second period overall, in the playoffs, has been more friendly to them. Entering the second period last night, the Reign had outscored their opponents 6-0 in the previous four games and recorded a goal in the middle frame in three of them.

Samuel Fagemo kick-started the Reign comeback by re-directing a Joe Hicketts shot that came from the left wall to trim the Canucks in half, 2-1. The Reign were a step behind Abbotsford up until that point as they seemed to shift gears and dictate the pace right after.

Charles Hudon tied the game up 37 seconds after Fagemo scored off the rush that featured perfect passing from Tyler Madden (secondary assist) and Akil Thomas (primary assist). Then, 54 seconds after Hudon managed to tie the game, Taylor Ward banged home a rebound chance in front of the net to give the Reign their first lead at 3-2.

If you’re keeping score at home that’s three goals in 81 seconds for the Reign.

Marc Gatcomb would tie it up for the Canucks on a two-on-one rush chance shot that beat Portillo glove high. Less than three minutes after the Canucks tied it, Andre Lee gave the Reign their one-goal lead back on a great individual effort play that saw him wrap the puck around the net and fire the puck past Zach Sawchenko from the right circle.

The Reign headed into the intermission up one after scoring four goals in the middle frame. They have outscored their opponents 10-1 in that frame these playoffs and they were able to hang on for the sweep with a defensively sound third period.

Containing Abbotsford’s top trio

The Canucks’ top three scorers in the regular season, Linus Karlsson (60 points), Arshdeep Bains (55 points), and Sheldon Dries (52 points), combined for 25 points in the eight matchups against the Reign in the regular season. That was one of the focuses for the Reign. How would they hold that trio at bay in this series?

That thought was answered as the trio combined for zero(!) points in the three games of this series. To keep those three off the scoresheet and make them a non-factor when they have shown to dominate and take over a game is impressive. You have to give the Reign defense and Portillo credit for not allowing grade-A chances from those three and committing to blocking shots from the Reign defenders.

NOTES:

*Aatu Raty recorded his second multi-point game these playoffs with a goal and an assist.

*The Reign power play went 0-for-5 and is 3-for-23 in the playoffs. That will need to change in the following round.

*Samuel Fagemo recorded his first goal of the playoffs with his second-period tally.

*Taylor Ward recorded his first multi-point game of the playoffs with a goal and an assist in the second period.

*Both Charles Hudon and Andre Lee recorded their second goal in as many games.

*Erik Portillo leads all goalies in goals against average (1.20) and save percentage (.956).

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign will await their next opponent. They will face the winner of the Coachella Valley/Calgary Wranglers series. Game one will be next week.