Early Pair by Tkachev not Enough in Loss to Abbotsford
March 21, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Ontario Reign News Release
The Ontario Reign (33-13-4-3) got two goals from forward Vladimir Tkachev in the first period but it wasn't enough as they fell to the Abbotsford Canucks (29-19-4-1) by a final score of 4-2 on Sunday afternoon at Toyota Arena. Tkachev was assisted by linemate Samuel Fagemo on both of his tallies, while veteran defender Thomas Hickey earned an assist in his debut with the Reign.
Goaltender Matt Villalta got the start for Ontario and turned aside 28 Abbotsford shots in a losing effort, while Canucks' netminder Spencer Martin stopped 23 attempts that included a late-game surge from the Reign in the closing minutes. Ontario remains in second place in the AHL's Pacific Division with a points percentage of 0.689 and still needs two points to clinch a spot in the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs.
Jarid Lukosevicius opened the scoring for Abbotsford at 5:51 of the first period, but Ontario evened things up at 1-1 less than two minutes later on Tkachev's first goal of the afternoon at 6:56
Off a rush into the offensive zone, defender Cameron Gaunce fed the puck ahead of him to his right where Tkachev had his stick extended for a redirect into the Abbotsford net. Fagemo recorded the second helper on the play.
Seven minutes later, Tkachev found the back of the net again to put Ontario up 2-1 with his seventh goal of the season at 14:12. Once again, the strike came off the rush with Fagemo and Hickey recording assists. Tkachev received the puck in the slot and deked to his right before putting a shot over Martin and just under the crossbar.
But the Canucks got back in the game at 3:26 of the second when Yushiroh Hirano scored on the power play to tie the score at 2-2.
Abbotsford then retook the lead later in the middle frame when Madison Bowey beat Villalta to make it 3-2 at 16:08.
Ontario had control of the play for much of the third period and earned multiple opportunities tie up the score including a 5-on-3 power play for 1:10, but Martin was able to keep all the bids out of the net and preserve the lead for the Canucks. In the closing seconds, with Villalta at the bench in favor of an extra attacker, Will Lockwood added an empty net goal to seal the victory for Abbotsford.
Sunday's game concluded the season series between the two teams, with the Canucks winning five of the eight contests from the Reign in their inaugural campaign.
Abbotsford held a 32-25 shots on goal advantage in the game and netted the lone power play goal. The Canucks were 1-for-2 on the man-advantage while Ontario's 5-on-3 represented their only power play opportunity of the night and finished 0-for-2.
Chris Hajt
On lessons from the losing effort
We need to be a little sharper with the puck. I thought we turned it over quite a bit on breakouts or in the neutral zone. We had a couple really nice goals off the rush where we were able to take care of the puck and have good structure coming through, but we need to recognize the different between us making plays and not making plays. We need more net-front traffic and more guys getting to the net and into the dirty areas to get loose pucks and rebounds that might be lying there.
On Taylor Ward's first pro game
I thought there were some good things there. On one of his first shifts, he had a d-zone coverage shift, and he knew what his job was and what his responsibilities were. He had some nice plays along the wall. A good start for him.
On adding another veteran defenseman in Thomas Hickey
He has so much experience and you can tell that he carries himself well, so its really good for our guys to see that. He's someone who's been there and in the key moments in the game, when push came to shove [tonight], he was even better than he was in other parts of the game. We're definitely excited to have him on our team.
On the upcoming games against Grand Rapids
We lost there in the last game. They're a hard-working team, no different from Abbotsford. Abbotsford came in and put pressure on us and worked hard. Off faceoffs they were jumping, and they were on there toes all game. That's a very similar team to Grand Rapids. They're going to come in and work hard.
Taylor Ward
On making his pro debut
It felt pretty good. The guys in the room helped me out a lot yesterday and today and made me feel as comfortable as possible. I thought it went pretty well. Obviously, I would've liked to get the win there but we'll come back Tuesday and hopefully get the win there.
On what differences he noticed between college and pro hockey
These are grown men here. It's fast and there's strong players out there, nothing I wasn't expecting. I knew it was going to be like that but I felt like getting this first game in and getting my feet wet a little bit made me a little more comfortable for the future.
On choosing to sign with the Kings organization
I got to talk with the front office and the coaching staff and I just loved what I heard from everybody. Their emphasis on development and everything they have at the facilities back in El Segundo are fantastic. It's a tough place to say no to, so I didn't.
The Reign are back at home Tuesday night when they host the Grand Rapids Griffins at Toyota Arena at 7 p.m. PST.
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