If Tuesday night’s game at Toyota Arena was the climax to a Hollywood movie, it ended the way it was supposed to. After spitting a pair of contests over the weekend up in San Jose, this contest would serve as a rubber match between the Reign and Barracuda. And the hometown crowd went home happy, with their team skating to a 2-1 overtime victory.
Other than a few minor alterations to his fourth line from time to time, coach Andrew Lord has largely kept his forward lines together for the most part. Ward, who was elevated earlier in the season to LW1 seems to be benefiting the most from his extra ice time. During training camp, Ontario’s bench boss mentioned that perhaps Ward’s brief call-up to the Kings at the end of last season was just the confidence boost he needed to carry into the 2025-26 campaign. Thus far, that’s proven to be true. Through 10 games played, Ward has recorded nine points (6G, 3A), including two game winners.
Meanwhile, it was Akil Thomas who put the Reign up 1-0 earlier in the game. That wasn’t his only point of the night, though. He also assisted on Ward’s OT goal. With seven points through 10 games, he’s tied for second on the team in points — yes, behind Ward.
Equally impressive throughout the night was goaltender Erik Portillo. He stopped 26-of-27 shots and pushed his record to 4-1-1 over seven games. He also holds a .915 save percentage.
Full game highlights can be viewed here:
Pregame notes and lineups can be found in the article linked below.
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