Ontario Reign: Three takeaways from 6-1 loss to Coachella

Goal Breakdown

First period:

ONT: Martin Chromiak (13), ASST: Aidan Dudas (15), Jacob Moverare (11)

Second period:

CV: Kole Lind (18), ASST: Alexander True (17), Brogan Rafferty (26)

CV: Kole Lind (19), ASST: Max McCormick (28), Matt Tennyson (10)

CV: Eddie Wittchow (3), ASST: Ty Kartye (17), Brogan Rafferty (27)

CV: PP Alexander True (7), ASST: Cameron Hughes (20), Jimmy Schuldt (12)

Third period:

CV: Ty Kartye (13), ASST: Cameron Hughes (21)

CV: SH John Hayden (14), ASST: Ville Petman (9)

Stats

Goals:

CV: 6

ONT: 1

Shots:

CV: 37

ONT: 25

Power-plays:

CV: 1/6

ONT: 0/3

Here are the three takeaways from Wednesday’s 6-1 loss

Martin Chromiak gets his 13th of the year

Since the turn of the calendar year, Martin Chromiak has been on a roll. Last night, he opened the scoring at the 14:31 mark of the first period. The goal by Chromiak was his 13th of the season and his 5th against the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Oddly enough, his first professional goal came against the very same team.

A great heads-up play by Chromiak after Aidan Dudas’ initial shot was blocked. After a very slow start to the year, Chromiak may possibly reach the 20-goal mark on the season. Unfortunately, this was the only goal for the Reign and the only bright spot of the night for them.

60-minute effort

The Ontario Reign played a good first 20 minutes, then got completely outplayed in the final 40 minutes. From the first shift of the second period, Coachella Valley ramped up the pressure and scored four goals in the period. For a team that loves to play a transition and fast pace kind of game, you can’t stop skating for a second. The Reign found that out the hard way.

It’s important to play a full 60-minute game no matter the opponent as one bad period can turn the whole game around. Going forward it’ll be important for the Reign to dictate more pace as they have been outshot in each of their last six games. They need to get more shots to the net. The good news for the Ontario Reign is they can flush this one away and prepare for their next opponent.

Standings update

With this loss, the Ontario Reign remains tied with the Colorado Eagles for 4th place in the division. They still trail the Abbotsford Canucks by one point for 3rd place in the division as well. These next two months will be a crazy race to the finish line as the Reign still have seven games to play against the Canucks and two against the Eagles. The Canucks will play the Eagles on Friday while the Reign will play the Barracuda that same day.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign are back in action at home on Friday as they take on the San Jose Barracuda for the second time in a little over a week. The game starts at 7 pm PT and can be seen on AHLTV.