ECHL Ontario Reign

Reign Survive Duel with Eagles in 5-4 Shootout Win

Published on February 7, 2015 under ECHL (ECHL)
Ontario Reign News Release


LOVELAND, Colo. - The Ontario Reign (27-13-2-4), four-time Pacific Division Champions and proud affiliate of the NHL's 2014 Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings and Winnipeg Jets, held on for a 5-4 shootout win over the Colorado Eagles (31-14-0-2) in front of 5,289 fans on Saturday night at the Budweiser Events Center.

Maxim Kitsyn opened the scoring for Ontario when he made his way to the Colorado net and eventually banged in his third attempt past Clarke Saunders at 9:04 with Tristan King and Nolan Julseth-White assisting.

A few moments afterwards, the Eagles nearly drew level when Kyle Kraemer managed a shot in the slot that forced Joe Cannata to lunge across the crease leaving the puck exposed in the paint, but Julseth-White kicked the puck free.

The Reign extended their lead when Norm Ezekiel sent a pass from the right side to Kitsyn, who cut across the crease and buried one low to the glove side of Saunders at 13:08.

The Eagles answered on the ensuing face-off, when Brock Nixon broke in and snapped the puck past Cannata at 13:18.

Colorado tied the score in the second period when Teigan Zahn recovered his own blocked shot in the slot and the fired the puck underneath the arm of Cannata at 5:10.

Ontario regained the lead on the power-play when Matt White jammed a loose puck past the pads of Saunders at 9:44 after Derek Couture moved the puck through the crease.

After making a glove save on Taylor Vause with six seconds remaining in the frame, Cannata went down with an apparent injury, forcing emergency backup goaltender Spencer McLay to take over in between the pipes for the Reign.

During play in the third period, Ezekiel managed to draw a tripping penalty against Colorado, and during the delayed whistle, King's point shot deflected off the end boards back to Kitsyn, who fired a shot home for his first professional hat trick at 5:57.

The Eagles cut the Reign lead back to one goal when a rolling puck made its way to Nixon at the half wall, and he threw the puck on net to beat McLay at 10:01.

Colorado then drew level again after Saunders was pulled for an extra attacker at 18:49, with Darryl Bootland getting the equalizer.

Overtime yielded no score, so the game went to the shootout.

After Nixon scored in the first round for the Eagles, the Reign responded with tallies from Dennis Brown and Gasper Kopitar in the third and fourth rounds. The game then fell down to McLay in the fifth round, as the goaltender stopped Bootland to secure the victory for Ontario in his professional debut.

McLay earned the win with nine saves in relief of Cannata, who made 22 stops; Saunders took the shootout loss with 26 saves.

Check out the Ontario Reign Statistics

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ECHL Stories from February 7, 2015


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