Weekly Reign Wrap-up: Up Against the Wall
- Updated: April 24, 2018
Where does the time go? You blink your eyes in the playoffs and you’re three games into it.
After last week’s games, the Ontario Reign find itself at the brink of elimination, down 2 games to 1 against the Texas Stars. A loss in the fourth game tonight at 7 p.m., in Ontario and the Reign is over. If the Reign wins tonight, they’ll move onto the fifth and final game 5 p.m., Monday, April 30 in Texas.
So how did they get here, and how did they get here so fast?
Game one on April 19 took an overtime period to produce a winner, as Brian Flynn of Texas scored 1:55 into the extra set pushing that team to a 4-3 victory. The Reign’s Matt Moulson tied the game with only a little over a minute in regulation. Ontario goalie Cal Petersen saved 26 of 30 shots in the loss.
On April 20, the Reign would rebound powerfully, beating its opponent 5-1, with scores coming from five different Reign players. Philippe Maillet, Matt Luff, T.J. Hensick, Philippe Maillet and Oscar Fantenberg.
Goalie Petersen stopped 28 of 29 shots in the win.
Then backwards we go. Sunday April 22 saw another overtime match and another loss for Ontario. This time into double-overtime. A goal and two assists by Mike Amadio led the squad, but the Stars had their number deep into the second overtime. The workhorse Petersen played all 97:27 minutes and gave up five goals in 44 shots.
Now let’s hope the pendulum swings again so we can play on after tonight.