The Ontario Reign (10-6-1-0) defeated the Bakersfield Condors (7-7-3-0) Saturday night by a final score of 3-2 in overtime in front of 5,013 fans at Dignity Health Arena. The Reign will open a five-game home-stand this Friday, Nov. 28 vs. Henderson at 7 p.m. (PST).
Jared Wright scored the overtime winner on his 23rd birthday at 2:53 as the Reign completed a come from behind victory after trailing 2-0 after the first period. Taylor Ward scored on the power-play in the second period while Cole Guttman cashed in with a four-on-four tally. The Reign outshot the Condors 34-15 as Isaiah Saville picked up the win in the crease in his first start for Ontario.
The Reign trailed 2-0 after the first period where they outshot the Condors 9-7. Riley Stillman made it 1-0 at 13:14 with a slapshot into the top right corner from the top of the left corner with Issac Howard and Josh Samanaski picking up assists. Then 4:52 later Max Jones increased the lead to a pair with an unassisted score. Jones picked the puck up at the left point and walked to the top of the circle sending a shot far side past Saville.
Ontario scored twice in the second period where they outshot Bakersfield 16-6 in the period. Taylor Ward (9th) pulled the Reign within one striking on the power-play at 3:25 from Martin Chromiak and Kyle Burroughs. From above the right circle Chromiak sent the puck to the net where Ward tipped it home in the high slot with just seven seconds left on the man advantage. Cole Guttman (3rd) located a loose puck at the center ice circle and moved in on a breakaway sending a wrist shot low past the glove of Tomkins a few feet in front the crease tying the game with a four-on-four score.
Overtime was needed after a scoreless third period where Ontario outshot Bakersfield 8-2.
There would be just one shot in the extra session as it would be Jared Wright (5th) handing the Reign a 3-2 overtime win at 2:53. Wright worked a takeaway at the center ice circle and used his speed to split in on a breakaway. From inside the left circle, he sent a wrist shot into the top right corner over the glove of Tomkins.
Isaiah Saville made 13 saves on 15 shots in the win while Matt Tomkins suffered the loss making 31 stops on 34 shots.
Postgame thoughts from Andrew Lord, Jared Wright, and Isaiah Saville.
Lord
On the win.
Yeah, I thought it was a total character win. You know, to a man, the guys played excellent from Savion out obviously the first period, we’re down two, but I think there was still a lot of good minutes, some good chances, and we just stayed the course and really proud of the guys effort, they scratched and clawed. I thought the second was a really great period throughout and you know, the third, we did what we needed to do to win. We stayed the course there through overtime, which was awesome kind of work from the end to the finish.
Defensive Play.
We’ve seen glimpses of it, you know, throughout the season so far, I think we really put it together for almost 120 minutes here over two days. And you know, from puck management to tracking, just being connected as five men. You know, I thought, again, we had contributions from all lines and all D is really good.
On Saville.
Yeah, he was excellent, especially, you know, to kind of seeing eye shots there early for him to rebound. And, you know, play two and a half periods, excellent, you know, to shut the door was awesome.
Wright
On the overtime winner.
There was just a turnover in the neutral zone. I was just trying to get on and off my stick. I knew there was a guy to my right, and then a back checker as well, so just trying to maybe surprise the goaltender, and lucky, I got one by him. I think just in overtime, usually there’s bad ice, and you don’t want to, I guess, do anything complicated trying to make a move, so just keep it simple. And yeah, just decide to shoot.
On the win.
Yeah, I mean, it was unbelievable. I think similar to last night, was a very tight checking game. And I think that we’re going to have to have wins like that where we come back and we can’t always play with the lead. And I think that’s just just good foundation for our team that we can build on in the future.
Saville
On his play tonight and finding out about getting the start.
Yeah, it felt really good. I think once I kind of settled down a little bit halfway through the first I found my game again, and I felt really confident again. Yeah, a few days ago. Yeah, Coach brownie just kind of let me know that Saturday would would most likely be the game. So just started the preparation early in the week and was ready for tonight.