Ontario Reign: Three Takeaways From 4-3 Win Over Bakersfield

Goal Breakdown

First period: 

ONT: Akil Thomas (20), ASST: Brandt Clarke (29), Tyler Madden (13)

Second period: 

BAK: PP Dylan Holloway (6), ASST: Lane Pederson (26), Seth Griffith (39)

ONT: Nikita Pavlychev (4), ASST: Ryan Francis (1), Colton Young (2)

ONT: Jacob Doty (5), ASST: Wyatte Wylie (9), Nikita Pavlychev (3)

Third period: 

BAK: PP Matvey Petrov (8), ASST: Ben Gleason (18), Carter Savoie (11)

ONT: EN Akil Thomas (21), ASST: Kevin Connauton (15)

BAK: Carter Savoie (7), ASST: Matvey Petrov (5), Ben Gleason (19)

Stats

Goals:

BAK: 3

ONT: 4

Shots: 

BAK: 26

ONT: 23

Power plays:

BAK: 2/2

ONT: 0/1

Here are the three takeaways from Sunday’s 4-3 victory:

Akil stays red-hot

Akil Thomas picked up right where he left off after Friday’s game-winner in overtime with a spin-o-rama move. Thomas got the scoring started 2:52 into the opening frame in the slot area off a nice feed from Brandt Clarke. It was the third straight game where Thomas recorded a goal after going pointless his previous five games before this past week. The fourth-year pro added an empty-net goal for good measure with 64 seconds remaining in regulation to seal the deal, making it 4-2 Reign. Bakersfield would add a goal with 14.2 seconds remaining but it was too little, too late and Thomas’ empty net goal stood as the game-winning goal.

Here is what head coach Marco Sturm and Akil Thomas had to say about Thomas’ play:

“I feel good. I have that confidence back. Went through a little rut there, I think, and I just stopped focusing on the results and just started focusing on my play, and that’s made a difference.” – Thomas on his play of late.

“He’s probably been our best player consistently. I mentioned it the other day with Hudon and Sammy [Fagemo] out, I told him to take charge, and he took it to heart.” – Sturm on Thomas needing to take charge with Charles Hudon and Samuel Fagemo being out of the lineup.

Thomas’ two points gave him his third two-point game of the week (3G – 3A – 6Pts). He recorded the game-winning goal in every game this past week (not sure if that has happened in Reign history before). His nine game-winning goals lead the AHL. With the Kings possibly having spots open in their bottom six forward group next season, Thomas could be an internal option to fill in one of those spots.

The bottom six come up big

The Reign were without two of their top three point-scorers Fagemo and Hudon for this game. With this game against the Condors having plenty at stake, standings-wise, the Reign needed players to step up if they wanted two points. In addition to Thomas’ two-goal afternoon, the Reign got contributions from their bottom six forwards. Nikita Pavlychev got a goal and an assist in the second period while Jacob Doty added on late in the period to put the Reign up 3-1.

After the Reign didn’t convert on the lone power play of the game in the middle frame, the third and fourth lines carried over that momentum with aggressive forechecks, which led to Pavlychev’s fourth Doty’s fifth goal of the season.

All year long the Reign have gotten contributions from their depth players and when they needed it the most, they delivered.

Home cooking

The Reign couldn’t buy a win at home earlier in the season, just like the LA Kings. Now, both teams have started to provide home cooking. The Reign have won eight of their last nine home games and have recorded points in all nine games after starting the year 7-11-4 on home ice. The Reign have picked the perfect time to catch fire on home ice as the playoffs are right around the corner. If the Reign can grab home-ice advantage in the first round, which is a best-of-three series and all games are in the higher seed’s arena, winning home games and making it a hard place for opponents to play in will be helpful.

NOTES:

*The magic number to clinch a playoff spot for the Reign is four points. A win and a San Diego Gulls regulation loss on Wednesday, and they are in.

*Jacob Doty set a new career-high in goals in the second period with his fifth of the season.

*Akil Thomas recorded his 20-goal season since turning pro in 2021.

*Nikita Pavlychev recorded his second multi-point game of the season.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign travel to San Jose to take on the Barracuda for the seventh time this season. The game starts at 7 PM PT and can be seen on AHLTV.