Ontario Reign: Three Takeaways From Game Two Victory

Goal Breakdown

First period: 

BAK: PP Seth Griffith (1), ASST: Brad Malone (1), Philip Broberg (1)

Second period: 

ONT: Taylor Ward (1), ASST: Brandt Clarke (2), Joe Hicketts (1)

Third period:

ONT: Tyler Madden (3), ASST: None

ONT: EN Charles Hudon (1), ASST: None

Stats

Goals:

ONT: 3

BAK: 1

Shots: 

ONT: 34

BAK: 24

Power plays:

ONT: 0/5

BAK: 1/4

Here are the three takeaways from Saturday’s win, which resulted in a series sweep:

Special teams will need to be better

If there’s one area to nitpick in this Reign victory, it must be special teams. There was some good in the special teams department in this victory, though. Let’s start with that. After allowing a goal on the first penalty kill attempt, a goalmouth scramble, the Reign penalty kill locked it down the next three attempts and didn’t allow a shot on goal on the last power play attempt the Condors had in the third period.

The penalty killers did a good job of getting in shooting lanes to block shots and keep everything to the outside. When shots got in the middle or on goal, Erik Portillo made the save. His biggest save on the penalty kill came late in the second period on an attempt in front by Condors captain Brad Malone.

The power play, however, was a different story. The first unit didn’t have a good night overall. At times, they were predictable in looking for Samuel Fagemo’s one-timer from the left circle. The Condors did a good job knowing the pass was coming by getting sticks in to break up the pass or shading Fagemo to take away the first option. The second unit did a good job of moving the puck quicker and putting pucks on net.

Going forward, the Reign will need their first power play unit to start looking for other options, such as Charles Hudon in the right circle, Akil Thomas’ quick release from the bumper, or Brandt Clarke using his creativity to get his shot through from the point. It’s always good to use all your options and the Reign will have some time to practice on it before their second-round series starts.

Tyler Madden plays the hero

The Reign didn’t have a good start to this one and to be honest, I don’t think they played their best hockey through the first forty minutes. It seemed they saved their best hockey for the last period. The Reign weren’t crisp with their passes, didn’t exit their zone cleanly, and often turned it over before reaching the blue line in those forty minutes. Bakersfield deserves credit for playing with energy, dictating pace, and clogging the neutral zone. I expected a push from them with their season on the line and they did just that.

The Reign turned the tables in the third period by outshooting the Condors 15-2 and not letting the Condors get any rush chances off neutral zone turnovers. There wasn’t much room in the neutral zone in the third period as both teams were waiting for a mistake made by the other to capitalize on it, and that is exactly what happened.

After Steven Santini cleared the puck into the Condors’ zone, rookie defenseman Max Wanner for Bakersfield lost the puck in his skates. After Wanner couldn’t locate the puck in his skates, Madden picked it up and fired the puck far side by Olivier Rodrigue’s glove.

Madden finished the season recording one assist in each of the last three games and recorded at least one goal in each game this series. He was arguably Ontario’s best forward in the series.

Also, if you are a Reign fan, you’ll find it fitting that Wanner was on the wrong end of the game-winning, series-clinching goal. Remember that hit to the head he gave on Alex Turcotte on December 8th that eventually caused Turcotte to miss the following five games? That was from Wanner. Justice was served by the hockey gods last night.

Goaltending and defense lock it down

Portillo was that guy in this series. After a rough outing in the season finale against Colorado, Portillo was a brick wall in this two-game series sweep. He stopped 53 of 55 shots faced. Portillo made multiple big saves throughout the game. One came on Seth Griffith’s backhander just below the hash marks. One was a right pad save that came off Cameron Wright’s two-on-one attempt with the Reign down one three minutes after Griffith’s goal. Another came off a quick pass that ended up being a backhand shot by Greg McKegg moments after Taylor Ward tied the game for the Reign in the second period. Lastly, his penalty kill save on Malone in tight later in the middle frame. He was solid in net and did well with his rebound control and tracking the puck. It was a very, very good series from the rookie netminder.

As for the defense, they did their job as well. After taking the lead late, they did a good job of blocking shots along with the forwards, making sure nothing got to Portillo. When tasked to hold the lead for the final 3:06, they got the job done. Joe Hicketts had a great game as he had multiple plays where he dove to break up a two-on-one pass and blocked two shots late in the game. Even Hudon in the final minute, a 20-goal scorer, sacrificed his body attempting to block a shot. That’s playoff hockey.

NOTES:

*Tyler Madden recorded three goals in the series. His third goal of the series came in the third period last night and ended up being the series winner.

*Taylor Ward recorded his first career Calder Cup playoff goal in the second period off a nifty pass from Brandt Clarke.

*After starting veteran Jack Campbell in game one, the Condors turned to Olivier Rodrigue in game two with their season on the line. Rodrigue made 31 saves and was great in goal.

*Erik Portillo recorded a 2.00 goals-against average and a .964 save percentage in the two games. He passed his first test of these playoffs.

*The Condors had trouble scoring goals at five-on-five in the last three regular-season matchups against the Reign, and this series was no different. They scored two goals this series and both came on the power play.

*Condors captain Brad Malone played in his final game as he announced his retirement last week. He recorded the primary assist on Bakersfield’s lone goal. Malone finishes his career with 65 goals in seven seasons with the Condors. Best of luck in retirement and the future, Malone!

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign have advanced to the Pacific Division’s best-of-five semifinals round (round two). They will face the winner of game three between the Abbotsford Canucks and Colorado Eagles this afternoon.