The Ontario Reign (2-1-1-0) defeated the Colorado Eagles (3-1-0-0) Sunday afternoon by a final score of 3-2 in front of 6,137 fans at Toyota Arena. The Reign will be in Abbotsford on Friday, Oct. 24th at 7 p.m PST.
The Reign trailed 2-1 heading into the third period before receiving a pair of goals from defenseman Samuel Bolduc to capture a 3-2 come from behind win. It was a penalty filled contest as Ontario finished 2-for-8 on the man advantage and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
The score was tied 1-1 after the opening 20 minutes with the Eagles holding the edge in shots 12-7. Ivan Ivan gave the visitors a 1-0 lead at 4:30 with a rebound score around the crease. Martin Chromiak tied the score with a power-play goal at 12:32 from Joe Hickets and Glenn Gawdin. From the left point Hicketts fed Chromiak at the left half-wall where he stepped to the face-off dot sending a wrist shot past Keyser short side. There were seven penalties called in the period as Ontario went 1-for-1 on the power-play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
The Eagles led 2-1 through 40 minutes of play as the lone goal came from Daniil Gushchin at 10:30 sending a shot from the left-wing wall past Portillo. Shots were 9-3 in favor of Colorado during the frame. Both teams went 0-for-2 on the power-play.
Samuel Bolduc notched a pair of goals in the early stages of the third period to help lift the Reign to a come from behind win. His first came 38 seconds into the final frame from Joe Hicketts and Kenny Connors. Connors in front of the net in a skirmish sent the puck to Hicketts at the center point where he then slid it to the top of right circle with Bolduc sending a one-timer past Keyser. The Reign went on the power-play at 5:11 of the period and 29 seconds into the man advantage Bolduc potted his second goal of the game from Aatu Jamsen. From the center ice circle Bolduc fed Jamsen down the right wing. From outside the right circle Jamsen delivered the puck back to the defender who got behind the Colorado defense in the high slot. Bolduc from inside the right circle beat Keyser with a backhand shot short side making it 3-2.
Erik Portillo made 23 saves on 25 shots in the win while Kyle Keyser made 12 saves on 15 shots in the loss.
Postgame reactions from Andrew Lord and Samuel Bolduc are below –
Lord
On today’s win
Really resilient. Awkward game obviously, penalties filled the first two periods in particular. You know, they get one early. We claw back, disallowed goal, penalty trouble. Had a couple of good kills in the second. Stayed with it. Then our third period was excellent. You could just feel it on the bench, the togetherness, the team play, the sacrifice. The guys were all in it together, and we got rewarded as a result.
On Bolduc scoring twice
What a shot, obviously and then a nice entry on the next one, which was great too. We needed a spark, and he certainly provided that.
On the focus going into the 3rd
I think it was just staying in the course. We know we’re a good team. We have a great group. It was easy in the first 40 minutes to potentially get frustrated, right? Some guys not getting to play a lot because they’re not on special teams. The power play, you know, it’s a little clunky at times. There was just no flow in the game, right? It was just awkward. We couldn’t roll lines. Those are tough nights, and I think the guys really stuck with it. And you could just tell there was a real determination in the third period.
On the first four games of the season
We’ve seen a little bit of everything, that’s for sure. It’s been good, and I think we’re ready for a really tough challenge next weekend. It’ll be good to get on the road. I think that’s good for team morale as well. We’ll get away and just be with the guys and all that. I’ve been really, really happy so far. You know, obviously, it hasn’t been the most consistent game in and game out or period to period, but we’re growing as a group in the early days here. I think we’re learning a lot each day, and the guys are certainly putting in the effort.
Bolduc
On taking so many penalties from the start
It’s tough to get in the game when you get a lot of penalties. So eventually everybody gets their shift and gets in the game, but definitely not the start we wanted getting so many penalties. Just going to try to be careful next time.
On his first goal
The puck came out. I was on my one timer and just getting open. I had to get it on the net and a lot of good things happen when you get the puck on net.
On his second goal
They gave us a lot of room on the breakout, and he was just cheating a little bit behind. So I just took the opportunity to use my speed and Jamsen was pretty quick to give it back to me and I put it in the net.