Game 27: San Diego Gulls vs Ontario Reign

Kevin Boyle (33) lunges across to make a save against the Reign. Credit San Diego Gulls.

Fresh from their third period rout of the Reign in their own building the Gulls were braced for a response from their familiar rivals.

Returning back from the Ducks was Daniel Sprong, while Alex Broadhurst and Chris Wideman returned from their bout of Flu. Devon Sideroff, Brent Gates Jr and Ryan Johnston were scratched to make room. Recent ECHL PTO signees Pollock and Thomas stayed in.

From the first stoppage of play it was evident that the Reign intended to carry over the bad-blood from the previous night as they did their best to goad Benoit into dropping the gloves while he tried to box out in front of Boyle.

Hunter Drew made a case to stay in the line-up as he engaged Chaz Reddekopp after the Reign defenenseman caught Corey Tropp with an egregious blindside hit. The 2018 Ducks 6th round pick fared well for himself in the bout.

Sean Durzi was called for high-sticking and it took the Gulls all of thirty seconds to get their second straight Power Play goal in as many games as Alex Dostie finished off a brilliant passing play between Daniel Sprong and Corey Tropp.

The Reign would get a Power Play of their own four minutes later as Chris Wideman was called for tripping Mikey Eyssimont, Kevin Boyle making a tremendous glove save on the delayed call as the Reign were able to enter the San Diego zone and feed the back door. The New Jersey native was able to somehow keep the puck out during an initial goal mouth scramble but on the second portion of the Ontario man advantage a broken play bounced in the Reigns favour as Boyle was able to make the initial save as the puck changed direction but the Gulls could not get to the rebound and Mikey Eyssimont made it 1-1.

San Diego had another chance on the Power Play but the Reign had the better of the chances as Jaret Anderson-Dolan made Drew look like he was standing still, Kevin Boyle once again coming up big to keep things tied.

The physicality picked up once again and Patrick Sieloff continued his love affair with the Reign as he introduced Mikey Eysimont to the Gulls bench. While the diminutive Reign forward was trying to free himself he snuck a sucker punch on Hunter Drew and was called for the infaction to send the Gulls to the Power Play with less than a minute left in the period. San Diego had one good look courtesy of a one-time from Daniel Sprong but time wound down for the period. Teams heading to the first intermission tied 1-1 and shots even at 13-13, the shot map showing things looking pretty even with the slight edge to the Reign in terms of the more dangerous chances.

The Gulls abbreviated Power Play had some good chances to the start the middle frame but could not convert, however; the Gulls continued momentum and were awarded another Power Play as Austin Strand was called for tripping. San Diego made this one count as Justin Kloos rushed in on Reign rookie goaltender Matthew Villalta as he came out to play a Gulls dump in. The former Iowa Wild forward getting his body in the way of the goaltenders clearance and it bounced off of him and into the open net to make it 2-1.

Ontario fought back quite literally as Reign Captain Brett Sutter took exception to a Patrick Sieloff trip and the two engaged in a short scuffle. The Gulls heading to the penalty kill by virtue of the tripping call. On the ensuing face-off Antoine Morand was high sticked by Gabriel Vilardi and teams saw the next two minutes with four men a piece.

The teams traded chances and physicality for the next seven minutes, the Boko Imama line getting the Reign some much-needed momentum and keeping San Diego and Kevi Boyle under fire for a few minutes before the Gulls could respond via some rushes lead by Daniel Sprong as well an opportunity from Kyle Thomas.

Patrick Sieloff continued to embrace his love for the Gulls/Reign rivalry by laying some murderous hits in the Gulls zone but also following that up with a slow moving hip-check that was so well obviously telegraphed that it was easily side-stepped by its would-be victim and took him far out of the play to offer up the Reign back to back dangerous chances on Kevin Boyle.

A defensive breakdown with less than two minutes remaining in the second period resulted in the Reign getting a game-tying score as Blaine Byron was able to pick up a loose puck from a bad giveaway and use his body to maneuver Boyle out of position and deposit it by him. 2-2

The teams heading to the second intermission tied once again with Ontario taking the slight edge in shots 12-7, the shot map indicating the Reign having the better of chances on Boyle.

Ontario came out strong to start the third and drew a tripping call on Antoine Morand in the first two minutes.

Alex Broadhurst had a huge opportunity as he broke up a pass at Center ice and went in alone on the Reign net but could not get it by the young net-minder. Sherwood had another chance on a two on one with Broadhurst moments later but again the Gulls were foiled shorthanded.

San Diego carried momentum over from the successful kill and close chances, Daniel Sprong coming in and breezing by his would-be defender to get a chance short-side that he thought he had scored on but it hit the post.

The Eyssimont line made life difficult for Kevin Boyle and the Gulls defence but the Gulls third year goaltender was able to keep it tied, while San Diego countered with some rush offense of their own – Alex Dostie with a great opportunity but elected to pass when he probably should have taken the shot.

The Pietela line had some great chances but could not solve the Reign netminder followed by another good shift from the Morand line as time ticked by in the period with the Gulls hunting for the go-ahead goal.

With three minutes remaining in the period Kiefer Sherwood was called for high sticking and the steadily building San Diego momentum was halted. San Diego were able to kill the penalty but had to start over from scratch in rebuilding some momentum with less than a minute left in regulation, as teams headed to overtime.

Ontario had possession to start the overtime session and a subtle pick almost resulted in a potential winner for Grundstrom but Boyle was able to make the stop. San Diego countered the other way on a nice passing play on the rush but Mahuras final shot was similarly denied.

The teams exchanged further chances but it would be the Reign who prevailed as Gabe Vilardi evaded a weak poke check from Jack Kopacka down low and was able to get a pass across to Carl Grundstrom just as he had managed to get away from Chris Wideman. 3-2 Reign in OT.