It’s been a busy 36 hours for the Reign leading up to Saturday’s road game against the Colorado Eagles.
Following Martin Chromiak’s overtime thriller in Bakersfield Wednesday, Ontario traveled east of the Rockies to finish their final two-game set of the season. On top of that, a slew of roster moves took place over the past several days to impact a handful of players shuttling between NHL and AHL rosters.
Just before the Condors game earlier in the week, the Reign regained access to Akil Thomas from a seven-game stint with the Kings. Then, hours before the game on Saturday, the team announced the recalls of Carl Grundstrom and Aaron Dell to Los Angeles in preparation for the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, while also loaning Alex Turcotte back to Ontario.
All of the player movement was preplanned and expected, albeit a major shakeup that forced head coach Marco Sturm to reshuffle a lineup which had started to look rather consistent over the past several weeks.
On top of this, Ontario had recalled goaltender Ryan Bednard from ECHL Greenville one week ago and tapped the 6-foot-5 backstop to play his first career Reign start Saturday night. The 27-year-old journeyman has spent the bulk of his five professional years in the ECHL; however, he went into the Eagles game with 17 prior AHL games played. Bednard is slated to back up starter Erik Portillo in the upcoming Calder Cup playoffs, should Dell remain with the Kings long-term.
The puck dropped in Game 71 and the Reign jumped on Colorado early, only to never really let up. By the end of the first, Ontario was nursing a decisive 3-0 lead while outshooting the Eagles 18-6.
On an early power play, Alex Turcotte (8) put away a Sammy Fagemo rebound. Fagemo (43) netted the second goal of the period off a sharp-angled one-timer, and Turcotte (9) scored another PP tally to build the three-goal advantage.
Over the next period and a half, Taylor Ward (10)(11) scored two consecutive even-strength goals, and Turcotte (10) capped off his hat trick with his third PP goal of the night on a smooth breakaway chance.
This was Turcotte’s first hat trick and first multi-goal game of the season, while it was his second three-point affair – matching his season high.
Ontario commanded a 6-0 lead until the 10-minute-mark of the third period. The Eagles scored two in a row to make a dent in the game until Nikita Pavlychev (6) snuck in a fourth power play goal for the Reign. Colorado netted a rebound late; however, there wasn’t much they could do as the buzzer finalized a 7-3 victory for Ontario.
The Reign outshot the Eagles 37-27 and went 4-for-5 on the power play to win their 19th victory in the past 22 contests.
Playoff Implications: Should the Reign win their final game of the season Sunday afternoon in a Colorado rematch, they’ll solidify second place in the division and will play the Bakersfield Condors in the first round; however, if Ontario loses that game in any fashion, they’ll face the Calgary Wranglers in the opening series.
Why Does it Matter?: If the Reign face the Condors in the first round, they’ll play two games at home and one in Bakersfield, meanwhile if they set to play the Wranglers, all three games will be home at Toyota Arena, due to travel. Also, should Ontario play Bakersfield, the AHL-affiliate for the Edmonton Oilers, there’d be a face-off of two rival organizations (LA and Edmonton) at both the NHL and AHL arenas.
Top-Line Turcotte: The 23-year-old centerman returned to the Reign ready to play and centered the top line with T.J. Tynan and Fagemo. In a limited number of games this season, Turcotte has earned 28 points (10G, 18A) in 34 games with a plus-eight rating. While statistically this is the young American’s best season of his four-year career, the improvement of his play with the puck has shown more control and poise, which led to earning this promotion.
Streaking Thomas: Building off the red-hot start of 2024, the young Ontario native is putting a successful clip of games together. He picked up two assists against the Eagles, including a skillful pass to Turcotte that resulted in a tap-in, and he now has a run of 10 points (5G, 5A) in his past six games, with three game-winning goals. Thomas centered the second line of usual linemates Tyler Madden and Ward.
Clarke’s Cooking: Rookie Brandt Clarke extends his points streak to five games with two assists in Colorado. Over his past 11 games, he’s scored 11 points (2G, 9A) and rang a hard shot off the crossbar Saturday night after beating the Eagle goaltender.
The Giant Line: Having to shuffle his lineup with the many personnel changes he’s faced, Sturm elected to run a towering line of Samuel Helenius (6-foot-6), Andre Lee (6-foot-5), and Pavlychev (6-foot-7). They linked up on a power play goal where all were awarded a point on an impressive passing play.
What to Watch For: With the rematch scheduled in a back-to-back series, there’s no question some late-game emotions might spill over to Sunday’s matinee. With less than two minutes remaining, multiple scrums broke out, settled down, and then caught momentum again – delaying the game as the linesmen escorted one player at a time off the ice with penalties. There were 56 minutes of infractions and misconducts awarded just prior to the game’s conclusion. With the history between these two teams, it looks to be a spirited contest to close out the 2023-24 AHL season.
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