Big Second Period Lifts Reign
February 20, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Ontario Reign News Release
After celebrating their captain Brett Sutter's 1,000th game milestone, four second period goals were enough for the Ontario Reign (27-9-3-3) to defeat the San Diego Gulls (16-22-2-0) by a 4-3 score for the second straight day Sunday afternoon at Toyota Arena. Forward Gabriel Vilardi posted points on three of Ontario's tallies, scoring two himself while adding an assist on a strike by defender Cameron Gaunce.
Reign goaltender Matt Villalta won for the second straight day, turning aside 17 San Diego shots to earn his 17th victory. In addition, forward TJ Tynan and defenseman Jordan Spence each had two assists for Ontario.
Ontario had the first six shots on goal in the opening period, but it was San Diego that struck first when Brent Gates Jr. beat Villalta with a wrist shot through traffic at 14:11 of the first frame.
Then a wild second period that featured six goals and multiple lead changes ultimately ended with the Reign in front and they held on to that 4-3 lead for good. Forward Tyler Madden kicked off the scoring in the middle frame with his 13th goal of the season at 1:57 from Tynan to even the score at 1-1.
After a response from Hunter Drew less than a minute later gave the Gulls a 2-1 advantage, Gaunce evened the score at 2-2 with his third goal of the year at 5:43 from Vilardi and Spence.
Ontario then took the lead for the first time on Vilardi's first goal of the afternoon at 9:06 of the second. The strike came on a one-timer off of a pass by Rasmus Kupari to make it 3-2 Reign.
San Diego wasn't behind for long, responding with Drew's second goal less than two minutes after Vilardi's tally at 10:39 to knot the game back up at 3-3.
The final strike of the period came from Vilardi at 15:39, this time firing a shot past goaltender Olle Eriksson Ek on the power play off a pass from Tynan. A second assist on the play was added to Spence, who now has 31 helpers during his rookie season.
After the goal, San Diego brought in netminder Lukas Dostal in relief of Eriksson Ek. Dostal was sharp after entering the game, making 11 saves in the final 22 minutes of action. Eriksson Ek finished with 14 stops in the first 35 minutes of play.
Ontario controlled most of the play in the third period and held the Gulls to just four shots on net in the final 20 minutes to seal the victory.
Vilardi's second goal was the lone power play marker in the contest as Ontario finished 1-for-3 on the man-advantage and held San Diego quiet for the second straight day. The Reign ended the weekend's games a perfect 7-for-7 on the penalty kill.
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