Coachella Valley Forces Game Five
Published on May 8, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Ontario Reign News Release
The Ontario Reign fell 6-2 against the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Thursday night in front of 6,168 fans at Acrisure Arena. The best-of-five Pacific Division Semifinals is even at 2-2 with the game five coming up Saturday May 9th from Toyota Arena at 6 p.m. PST.
Jack Hughes gave the Reign a 1-0 lead late in the first period on Ontario's first shot on net but from there the Firebirds were able to score four unanswered before Nikita Alexandrov made it a two-score game with an extra attacker out with 4:43 left in regulation. The Firebirds would tack on two empty netters shortly after on their way to victory.
The score was even at 1-1 through 20 minutes of play with Coachella Valley outshooting Ontario 15-5. Jack Hughes (1st) gave the Reign a 1-0 lead with 5:58 left in the frame on their first on net with Aatu Jämsen and Kentai Isogai collecting the assists. Jämsen started the play leading a two-on-one across the blue line down the right wing. Isogai sprinted through the high slot and got a feed from Jämsen but was slashed attacking the crease drawing a penalty. From there Jämsen gathered the puck behind the net and found Hughes below the left circle where he snapped one past Kokko out of position. J.R. Avon tied the game with a power-play goal with 2:26 left in the stanza, six seconds into the man advantage, on a rebound at the near side of the crease after a point shot from Tyson Jugnauth.
Coachella Valley led 3-1 through 40 minutes of play scoring twice in the second period outshooting the Reign 9-8. Mitchell Stephens gave the Firebirds their first lead of the evening at 14:09 driving the puck into the offensive zone and letting a wrister go from the high slot into the top right corner past the glove of Copley. Then with 85 seconds left in the period Kaden Hammell from the high slot received a feed from Oscar Fisker Mølgaard. Hammell in the high slot fired a wrist shot past the glove of Copley doubling the Firebirds advantage.
Lleyton Roed stretched the Firebirds lead to 4-1 just 3:50 into the third period beating Copley from the right circle with a low wrist shot far-side. Nikita Alexandrov (1st) pulled Ontario back within two with 4:43 remaining scoring an extra attacker goal with Copley on the bench. From the left point Joe Hicketts swung the puck across the line where Kenny Connors stepped into a one-timer and Alexandrov tipped it into the net from the top of the crease. Jagger Firkus made it a 5-2 game with an empty net score at 16:23 and then 17 seconds later Oscar Fisker Mølgaard pushed it to a 6-2 lead with an empty net goal.
Pheonix Copley suffered the loss making 27 saves on 31 shots while Nikke Kokko earned the win making 26 saves on 28 shots. Coachella Valley went 1-for-4 on the power-play while Ontario was 0-for-3.
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