Reign Downed, 4-3, by Gulls
Published on February 1, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Ontario Reign News Release
The Ontario Reign (28-13-1-1) fell to the San Diego Gulls (20-14-6-3) Saturday night by a final score of 4-3 in in front of 12,920 fans at Pechanga Arena. The Reign host the Coachella Valley Firebirds Sunday at 3 p.m. PST.
The Gulls one and only lead of the night came when Nathan Gaucher provided the game winner with just 18 seconds remaining in regulation. Andre Lee opened the scoring with his team leading 18th of the year stretching his goal streak to three-games as Ontario led 1-0 after the first period. Jared Wright finished with a goal and an assist for the second straight game as he gave the Reign a 2-1 lead early in the second. Jakub Dvořák scored at 5:34 of the third period making it 3-2 before the Gulls tied it at 10:38. Pheonix Copley made 35 saves in the loss in his 300th AHL game.
Ontario led 1-0 after the first period of play as Andre Lee (18th) got on the board at 10:09 from Kirill Kirsanov and Angus Booth. Kirsanov at the left wing wall in his own zone connected a stretch pass to Lee at the attacking line. From there he got to the high slot all alone and sent a wrist shot short-side past Calle Clang. Jacob Doty and Travis Howe dropped the gloves 2:46 into the game. Shots were 10-6 San Deiego as Ontario went 1-for-1 on the penalty kill in the frame.
The Reign held a 2-1 advantage through 40 minutes of play as Ontario held the edge in shots 11-10 in the second period. Judd Caufield tied the game for San Diego 86 seconds into the frame sending a wrist shot from the right face-off dot over the glove of Pheonix Copley into the top right corner. Just 4:21 later Jared Wright (11th) put Ontario back in front from Kirsanov and Koehn Ziemmer. In front of the Gulls bench Ziemmer slid the puck to Kirsanov who got to the left circle and skipped the puck to Wright driving through the circle. Wright wasted no time and slashed a back hander into the top right corner. The Reign went 0-for-2 on the power-play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill which included killing off 52 seconds of a Gulls five-on-three.
Tyson Hinds tied the score at 2-2 at 4:19 of the third period cashing in on a rebound at the top of the crease. Just 75 seconds later Jakub Dvořák (3rd) gave the Reign back the lead from Francesco Pinelli and Jared Wright. The play started with a great forecheck from Pinelli who in the left corner fed Wright at the left face-off dot. The puck worked back out out to the point where Dvořák sent a low wrist shot home from the center of the blue line with Wright providing a screen at the top of the crease. Ryan Carpenter then made it a 3-3 score at 10:38 when he was setup backdoor on the far side of the crease directing the puck past Copley. With 18 seconds left in regulation Nikita Nesterenko drove the puck to the crease from the right side of the goal line and Copley made a right pad save. Nesterneko ran into Copley knocking his mask off and Nathan Gaucher came in and buried the rebound giving the Gulls a 4-3 win. Ontario was outshot 19-2 in the final 20 minutes of play.
Pheonix Copley suffered the loss making 35 saves on 39 shots while Calle Clang made 16 saves on 19 shots. The Reign went 0-for-2 on the power-play but 4-for-4 on the penalty kill improving to 11-for-1 in their last four games.
Postgame thoughts from Andrew Lord and Jakub Dvořák.
Lord
Explanation on San Diego's goal with 12 seconds left
Just that it wasn't goalie interference, we'll leave it at that. Obviously it's a frustrating one to in such a good game and a close game for it to be decided like that. At the same time we need to be better. I didn't like our third period we gave up uncharacteristically we gave up some leads there that's really unlike us. We just didn't play well enough and we need to be better tomorrow.
Lessons to learn
As painful as it is that's more of a playoff style hockey game that was rugged and physical. Puck management was a big issue for us tonight we need to be better with that.
Dvořák
Takeaways from the game
It was more of like a playoff style of game tonight. We have to learn from i, because those games are going to be like every game coming up so so we know what to expect. We just have to prove it out there and show that we're capable of doing that.
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