Following their rivals north the Gulls headed to the Inland Empire hoping to get the two points they so deserved in their previous loss at home.
Andy Zilch confirmed in the pregame show that both Chase De Leo and Justin Kirkland are out with injuries. He did not confirm whether or not Axel Andersson was hurt or just a scratch. The only change to the lineup from last nights game was Brent Gates Jr coming in for Dmitry Osipov.
Olle Eriksson Ek was given his first start. While the Reign went with Villalta.
First Period:
San Diego began well – finding space in the Ontario zone and setting up Hunter Drew with a beautiful seam but his shot sailed high just over the net.
But the Gulls kept up their pressure in the Reign zone and Brayden Tracey took the initiative to use his speed and chase down a puck that Villalta came out to play behind the net. The Reign goaltender handed it off to what I guess he assumed was his own player before Tracey sped by, collected it and wrapped it into the open net. 1-0 Gulls.
Ontario hit right back and began to tilt the ice in their favor by winning puck battles and getting to loose pucks. Olle Eriksson Ek thought he had a puck under his pads but Austin Wagner was able to poke it free and into the net to tie things up at one.
The Reign then continued to dominate the San Diego zone, making the Gulls look either tired or just completely out of sorts before things started to calm down again.
Both the Lopina and the Groulx lines managed to enjoy some time in the Ontario zone before the period ended but not the kind of high quality chances they enjoyed the night before. Teams headed to the first intermission tied up at one a piece with the Gulls taking the slight edge in shots 11-10. The shot map showing San Diego had the better of the chances.
Second Period: San Diego Gulls 1 – Ontario Reign 1
The second period began well for the Gulls and a nice Tic Tac Toe sequence ended in a goal but as McLaughlin tried to kick the puck to his stick he missed it with the twig before it went into the net so the goal was reviewed and was deemed no goal.
The Reign used the long delay for the review and then fed off the positive result by re-establishing a strong fore-check in the Gulls zone, catching them staring and quickly taking the lead as San Diego were found guilty of poor man to man defense. 2-1 Reign.
As Ontario made yet another drive to the San Diego net a quick whistle revealed that Logan Nijhoff had been high-sticked behind the play and the Gulls went to their first Power Play of the night.
Despite spending most of the man advantage in the Ontario zone the Gulls were unable to convert and with the ice opening up were starting to look good by stringing together some good passes but the Reign kept up their tight fore-check and quickly ran up the score to 4-1 in a span of two minutes with back to back goals. The first as a result of McLaughlin getting his pocket picked at the blue line. The second from some poor play by San Diego in their own zone allowing the Reign to treat them like road cones en-route to a nice passing play and goal.
The Gulls continued to looked like they had all collectively just had a lobotomy as they stood around and watched the Reign move the puck around their zone generating chance after chance on Eriksson Ekk. The Nijhoff line managed to get some momentum back as they created havoc in the Reign zone but as Ontario were eventually able to get the clear – play shifted back in favor of the Reign.
The period ended with some pushing and shoving in typical Ontario-vs-San Diego fashion as the Reign took a commanding 4-1 lead into the second intermission with shots 22-21 for Ontario.
Third Period: Ontario Reign 4 – San Diego Gulls 1
Time ticked by in an accelerated fashion and before I even began this third period opening paragraph it was already the midway point of the final frame. The Gulls were given a Power Play when the Reign were caught with one too many men.
Ontario killed the minor but Akil Thomas put them down a man again as he threw the puck over the glass at the conclusion of the Gulls Power Play.
The Gulls pulled Eriksson Ek with just over seven minutes remaining but the man advantage looked far too static and didn’t really use the extra man at all before Glen Gawdin evened things up by taking a tripping penalty off of a face-off.
With just under five minutes remaining Ontario continued to do everything right as they easily entered the Gulls zone and smoothly setup Fagemo for a one-timer that beat Erikkson Ek clean. 5-1 Reign.
The remaining time seeped away without much ado and the Gulls politely handed their cross-town rivals another two points before jumping on the bus and heading home with a 1-3-0 record to start the season.
Post Game Notes:
Poor Olle
When is Olle Eriksson Ek going to ever catch a break. His first start of the season and the rest of his team doesn’t show up. The Gulls play in this game couldn’t be anymore different from the dominating style they played at home against the exact same team the night before. It also feels very familiar to me and I cannot be completely sure but it does feel like this has happened to him in the past – which is probably due to the fact that he always gets the second game on the back to back.
Frustrating is the only word
Villalta is by far the lesser of the two Reign net-minders; all the Gulls had to do was play like they did last night and they would have scored and scored a lot. So what happened? If they didn’t have so many unexpected injuries I’d vouch for benching some of those that made silly mistakes or just looked completely lackadaisical all night. On the note of injuries…
Who is hurt and who is not?
We got confirmation from Andy Zilch in the pre-game that both Chase De Leo and Justin Kirkland are both out with injuries. He also noted that Dmitry Osipov and Axel Andersson did not travel to Ontario as both were a healthy scratch. Scratching Andersson in favor of the tryout Profaca makes little sense to me unless Sommer believes Profacas heavier game is better suited to the Reign rivalry. If Andersson really is injured that has to be the final straw – the kid just cannot stay healthy.
Meanwhile in Tulsa
Through one game of action Max Golod has two points, a goal and an assist while Evan Weinger has the one goal so far. Is it too early to call one of them up? I guess it makes sense to wait and see how things lie by the end of this opening month of the season. The Gulls have three more games to see out the remainder of October – including a visit from the Eagles this week and a trip up north to Vancouver for the weekend.
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