Monday’s Reign Wrap-Up – Roadrunners Run Away With Two Wins

By Jim Ellis
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Updated: November 7, 2016

This weekend, two close, back-and-forth games against the Tucson Roadrunners netted no wins for the Ontario Reign, though the team will take the one point from Saturday. Friday’s game ended 3-2 in favor of the Roadrunners, while Saturday saw an overtime game conclude at 3:16 with Tucson taking home the W, 5-4.

Now what? The 3-2-3-0 Reign will next play at home against the San Antonio Rampage at 7 p.m., Wednesday, November 9 at the Citizens Business Bank Arena.

In Friday’s loss in Tucson, Ontario outshot the Roadrunners 41 – 20 and was led by captain Vincent Loverde’s two goals, including one at 18:53 at the end of the second period. However with Christian Fischer’s third period power play goal at 12:27, the Roadrunners secured the victory. This loss tainted the debut of new Reign goalie Anders Lindback who stopped 17 of 20 shots.

In Saturday’s back-to-back loss to the Roadrunners, once again the Reign dominated in shots, 52 – 28, however falling 5-4 in overtime. Tucson capitalized on two of their three power plays, whereas the Reign failed on all four of their man advantages. Lindback got his second straight start in goal, and stopped 23 of 28 shots.

The game started as if Ontario would reign in the Roadrunners, as they jumped to a 2-0 lead within the first three minutes, courtesy of goals by Andrew Crescenzi (unassisted) at 2:43 and T.J. Hensick (assist to Kurtis MacDermid) at 2:59. However two goals by Roadrunner Brendan Perlini tied the game by the end of the first period. With Reign Adrian Kempe’s goal at 13:09 of the third, the game was kicked into overtime.

It didn’t take long. At 3:16, Roadrunners defenseman Anthony DeAngelo received a pass from Craig Cunningham on a 2-on-1 outnumbered attack and put it home right between Lindback’s pads. Overtime over.

The good news: the Reign power play leads the league at 36.7 percent. The bad news: the Reign penalty kill is at 65 percent, second worst. The best news: it’s a long season ahead; bring on the Rampage Wednesday.

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