Olkinuora Leads Reign to 3-2 Win over Steelheads
January 16, 2015 - ECHL (ECHL)
Ontario Reign News Release
BOISE, Idaho - The Ontario Reign (22-10-2-4), four-time Pacific Division Champions and proud affiliate of the NHL's 2014 Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings and Winnipeg Jets, hung on for a 3-2 win over the Idaho Steelheads (23-11-1-3) in front of a crowd of 4,645 on Friday night at CenturyLink Arena.
The Reign opened the scoring in the first period after they recovered the puck in the defensive zone, as Judd Blackwater took a pass from Norm Ezekiel and nudged the puck ahead to Tyler Scofield, who skated into the offensive zone and snapped a low shot past Olivier Roy at 2:25.
Ontario extended its lead to two goals on the power-play when Matt White redirected Matt Register's point shot at 13:30, with Kyle Bigos earning the secondary assist.
Meanwhile, Jussi Olkinuora did everything in his power to keep the Steelheads off the scoreboard, as the goalie finished the first with 17 saves, several of which came during a four-minute penalty kill.
Both teams played to a scoreless second period, but Ontario earned a power-play opportunity at the 19:10 mark when Idaho's Eamonn McDermott was whistled for interference.
The power-play carried over into the third and the Reign capitalized with the man advantage just 25 seconds into the stanza when Rocco Carzo tipped Dennis Brown's centering pass from the right circle underneath Roy for Ontario's second power-play goal of the night.
Olkinuora finally surrendered a goal to the Steelheads at 15:22 when Alex Belzile snapped a shot past the goalie's glove off the rush.
Colton Beck then pulled Idaho to within one goal when he jammed a rebound from Jason Bast past Olkinuora at 17:30.
With less than a minute to go, the Steelheads pulled Roy for the extra attacker, but Olkinuora made a final save to keep the Reign ahead as the horn sounded to close out the match, giving the team its seventh consecutive victory.
Olkinuora picked up the win by making a career-high 43 saves; Roy took the loss with 23 stops.
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