Reign Storm Back to Victory over Condors with Second Period Surge
AHL Ontario Reign

Reign Storm Back to Victory over Condors with Second Period Surge

Published on April 4, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Ontario Reign News Release


The Ontario Reign (43-19-3-2) defeated the Bakersfield Condors (34-22-9-1) Saturday night by a final score of 6-3 in front of 9,015 fans at Toyota Arena. The Reign hosts the Colorado Eagles Tuesday at 6 p.m. PST.

Ontario did not lead in the game until Nikita Alexandrov scored at 11:44 of the second period making it a 4-3 contest as he buried the empty netter late in the third period to seal the deal. Jack Hughes scored his first career short-handed goal 2:23 prior to tie the game. Glenn Gawdin stretched his point-streak to four games scoring for his second straight game when he tied the game at 1-1 midway through the first period. Andre Lee scored his team leading 10th power-play goal of the season 93 seconds into the second period making it a 2-2 score. Logan Brown, Francesco Pinelli, and Kenny Connors each finished with two assists while Connors also picked up a fighting major. Jacob Doty recorded his team leading ninth fighting major of the season midway through the first period as the Reign would score five of the next seven goals in the game.

Bakersfield led 2-1 after the first period outshooting Ontario 12-9 going 1-for-1 on the power-play while the Reign were 0-for-2. Just 1:47 into the game Robby Järventie made it 1-0 when he was setup on the far side of the crease on the power-play from Issac Howard and Quinn Hutson. At 11:40 Jacob Doty and Sam Poulin dropped the gloves and then 21 seconds later Glenn Gawdin (15th) tied the game from Cole Guttman and Joe Hicketts. From the left point Hicketts stepped down the wall and punched the puck to Guttman along the back wall. Guttman was able to slip off the Bakersfield defender and find Gawdin racing down from the high slot where he put a shot into the top right corner near the crease. Sam Poulin gave the Condors a 2-1 advantage with 54 seconds with a shot from the right circle beating Portillo short-side.

Ontario led 4-3 after the second period outshooting Bakersfield 12-8 in the frame going 1-for-3 on the power-play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. 93 seconds into the period Andre Lee (26th) tied the game on the power-play from Francesco Pinelli and Kenny Connors. From outside the left circle Connors fed Pinelli above the high slot where he sent a shot towards the cage with Lee tipping it home tying the contest at 2-2. James Hamblin gave Bakersfield back the lead at 8:07 making it 3-2. Cam Dineen from the blue line sent a shot off the back glass which popped out to the top of the crease where Hamblin sent it five-hole on Portillo. Then just eight seconds later the Reign went short-handed but 66 seconds into the penalty kill Jack Hughes (5th) tied the score at 3-3 with a short-handed goal from Kenny Connors and Angus Booth. Connors from the left circle fed Hughes back-door who slammed it home. Then 2:23 later Nikita Alexandrov (13th) gave Ontario their first lead of the night from Aatu Jämsen and Logan Brown making it 4-3 with 8:16 left in the frame. In the left corner Brown fed the puck to the crease where Jämsen got a stick on it then Alexandrov got inside position on the defender and spun the puck over the right shoulder of Tomkins.

Aatu Jämsen (16th) doubled the Reign lead just 2:18 into the third period from Logan Brown and Francesco Pinelli making it 5-3. Pinelli worked a takeaway in the left corner and Brown from inside the left circle sent a one-timer to the cage where Jämsen got a piece of it at the top of the crease. Nikita Alexandrov (14th) put the nail in the coffin scoring an empty netter with 2:14 left handing the Reign a 6-3 win. Ontario outshot Bakersfield 10-3 in the final 20 minutes as the Reign went 0-for-2 on the power-play.

Erik Portillo picked up the win making 20 saves on 23 shots while Matt Tomkins suffered the loss allowing five goals on 30 shots. Ontario went 1-for-7 on the power-play while Bakersfield was 1-for-3.

Postgame thoughts from Andrew Lord, Kenny Connors, and Angus Booth.

Lord

On tonight's win

I think it was just a good rivalry game. It felt like it had a playoff feel, the animosity out there, the compete. I think it was a good one for us leading into playoffs.

On the last two games

I think we're just back to our foundation. I think we've defended really well all season, and then those three weeks, you know, with the tougher schedule and on the road a lot, it slipped a little bit. It definitely was still okay, but it wasn't to our standard. I think the last two game we've gotten back to it. We're not giving up much off the rush. I think our puck management is good. I think we're defending quite hard.

On the Portillo and Copley

I think the goaltending has been so solid and consistent for most of the year. Portillo was excellent. Couple of the breakaways in particular. Our goaltending, we couldn't be more fortunate. They're awesome guys, awesome goalies, and a big piece of our success.

Connors

On Doty's fight bringing energy to the team

That definitely helped. Doty has been doing that for us all year long. We didn't really come out the way that we wanted to or the way that we should. And Doty stepped up and that was an unbelievable fight. So there's no way that we weren't going to be ready to go after that.

On Jack Hughe's shorthanded goal

Jack has a great hockey IQ, knows where to be when the puck is away from him on the ice, and he's a really smart player, so I kind of trusted him to be in the right spot. He made a really good play at the blue line, crossing with me. He finished it off, did the rest of the work.

Booth

On being to rely on either goalie

That is huge for us. Obviously, no matter who's in the net, we know that they're going to be stellar. We just have to do a job around them. They're always going to have the first shot. We just have to get the rebounds or whatnot. As a defenseman, it's really nice, because they both play the puck very well, so they save us a lot of breakouts, and they make good passes and save us a lot of time in the D zone.

On playing with Kirsanov as a D pair

I don't think he talked much English at the beginning, but he's really getting comfortable now, and his English has come along, but he's awesome to play with. I know he's a simple defenseman like me, so we understand each other pretty well. We've been matched against some top lines, and I think we really grown together recently. I'm trying to learn some Russian, he's trying to learn some English and it's working out. 1st 2nd 3rd FINAL

ONT 1 3 2 6

BAK 2 1 0 3

Shots PP

ONT 31 1/7

BAK 23 1/3

PHOTOS | FULL RECAP | HIGHLIGHTS

Three Stars -

1. Nikita Alexandrov (ONT)

2. Kenny Connors (ONT)

3. Aatu Jämsen (ONT)

W: Portillo

L: Tomkins

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American Hockey League Stories from April 4, 2026


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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