Ontario Reign: Four takeaways from 5-4 OT loss to Bakersfield

Goal Breakdown

First period:

ONT: Andre Lee (5), ASST: Tyrell Goulbourne (1)

BAK: SH Justin Bailey (12), ASST: Greg McKegg (9)

BAK: Luke Esposito (4), ASST: Darien Kielb (3), James Hamblin (12)

Second period:

BAK: Xavier Bourgault (12), ASST: Raphael Lovie (13), Philip Kemp (11)

ONT: PP Samuel Fagemo (19), ASST: TJ Tynan (59), Jordan Spence (36)

Third period:

BAK: PP Max Gildon (2); ASST: Noah Philp (11), Yanni Kaldis (15)

ONT: PP TJ Tynan (8); ASST: Lias Andersson (22), Jordan Spence (37)

ONT: PP Samuel Fagemo (20); ASST: Lias Andersson (23), TJ Tynan (60)

Overtime:

BAK: Seth Griffith (12); ASST: Calvin Pickard (1)

Stats

Goals:

ONT: 4

BAK: 5

Shots:

ONT: 23

BAK: 34

Power-plays:

ONT: 3/5

BAK: 1/4

Here are the four takeaways from Saturday’s 5-4 overtime loss:

Nate Schnarr makes his Reign debut

The Ontario Reign saw a new face in the lineup last night. Nate Schnarr made his Reign debut after being traded just 24 hours earlier. While Schnarr isn’t a scorer, he is effective in the faceoff circle and can kill penalties. Marco Sturm used Schanrr to take a few critical faceoffs in the third period in the defensive zone and he won all three. With the Reign having several players dealing with injuries at the center position, Schanrr can be a player who Sturm can rely on to take important faceoffs late in games.

Samuel Fagemo strikes twice on the power play

Samuel Fagemo has taken over the Martin Frk role on the power play this season for the Ontario Reign. Entering last night’s contest, nine of Fagemo’s 18 goals were on the power play. He added two more last night. The first goal came off a blistering one-timer from the left circle that knocked the water bottle off the top of the net. The second goal was great instinct as he followed up a Lias Andersson rebound as he had an open net to put the puck in.

Fagemo now has 20 or more goals in back-to-back seasons. Of his 20 goals, 11 have come on the man advantage.

Another short-handed goal

While the Ontario Reign power play went 3-for-5 on the night, they again had another hiccup. After Andre Lee opened the scoring, the Reign went on a power play. After allowing two short-handed goals on Friday to the Barracuda, they allowed another one after a breakdown at the offensive zone blue line.

If you’re keeping score at home, that is now 14(!!!) short-handed goals given up by the Ontario Reign this season. That should be alarming for head coach Marco Sturm as it’s becoming a common theme. The good news for the Reign is they have a few days of practice which should give them time to make proper adjustments and not let this continue to happen.

A step slow

For the first time in the season series, the Bakersfield Condors looked fast. In the previous seven games these two teams faced each other, it was more of the Condors’ structure that gave the Reign fits. However, last night, it was both the structure and speed of the Condors that gave the Reign trouble. Every loose puck, they were first to it or quickly took it away from a Reign skater. Every time the Reign had an out-number attack, they got back to break up the play. Their speed caused easy zone entries and out-number attacks of their own.

While the Reign were on a back-to-back, that can be a factor but we shouldn’t take anything away any credit from the Condors. While the Reign had two goals in the third period that were examples of being quick to loose pucks themselves, they need to bring that from the start of the game and not late in the game. With this overtime loss, they now have lost four straight.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign return home on Wednesday to take on the San Jose Barracuda for the eighth and final time this season. The game starts at 7 pm PT and can be seen on AHLTV.