Reign Lose a Heartbreaker to Aces, 4-3
March 23, 2012 - ECHL (ECHL)
Ontario Reign News Release
ONTARIO, Calif. - The Ontario Reign (40-18-5-3), proud affiliate of the NHL's Los Angeles Kings, lost ground in the fight for first place in the Western Conference with a 4-3 loss to the Alaska Aces (42-16-2-7) before a crowd of 6,457 at Citizens Business Bank Arena Friday night.
The Reign are now five points behind Alaska for the top spot in the conference and two points ahead of Las Vegas in the division with five games to play.
The game was approaching the end of the first period in what was shaping up to be a low-scoring defensive battle when the teams exploded for a trio of goals. Alaska took a 1-0 lead at 17:10 on Chad Anderson's point shot through traffic then extended its lead to 2-0 14 seconds later on a goal by Garry Nunn. Derek Couture halved the lead with his team-leading 27th goal at 18:58. Couture collected a pass in the slot then made a sharp turn to his left before lifting a backhander over Gerald Coleman's blocker. Chris Huxley and Vincent LoVerde earned assists. The deficit could have been worse than 2-1 as J. F. Berube faced 17 shots, including a 2-on-1 chance by Dan Kissel.
Tristan King extended his scoring streak to nine games 3:24 into the second frame to tie the game at two. King forced home a rebound on the third whack after Everett Sheen worked the puck down low and Kyle Kraemer put a shot on Coleman. The Reign outshot the Aces 9-8 in the second as they played a more grinding, physical style.
Alaska thought they had taken the lead 10:54 into the third, but referee J.M. McNulty immediately waived it off as Ryan Cruthers had knocked it in with a high stick. However, the Aces put one in the net that counted at 13:17. Chris Langkow was left all alone in front of the Ontario net and tapped in Kevin LaFranchise's rebound. Kraemer sent the crowd into a frenzy as he snapped a rebound past Coleman to tie the game with 61 seconds left in regulation. However, Alaska marched down on the ensuing faceoff and Kissel scored the game-winner at 19:08.
Berube (15-11-4) stopped 35 of 39 shots in the loss, while Coleman (18-4-2).stopped 22 of 25 shots in his first ECHL game since January 7 after 17 games with the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL.
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