Ontario Reign: Three takeaways from 1-0 win at Coachella Valley

Goal Breakdown

First period:

None

Second period: 

ONT: Kevin Connauton (1), ASST: Martin Chromiak (2)

Third period: 

None

Stats

Goals:

ONT: 1

CV: 0

Shots: 

ONT: 25

CV: 41

Power play:

ONT: 0/2

CV: 0/4

Here are the four takeaways from last night’s 1-0 victory

JAD returns

Yesterday afternoon, the LA Kings announced that Jaret-Anderson Dolan and Jordan Spence had been loaned to the Ontario Reign. Since the Kings don’t play until Friday, with two days off, the transactions made sense. While Spence didn’t draw into the lineup, Anderson-Dolan did and played on the third line with Francesco Pinelli and Akil Thomas.

It’s not easy for any player to try and make an NHL roster, rarely play, and get sent down to the AHL. Being the 13th forward last year, JAD earned praise from Kings head coach Todd McLellan for accepting his role and not complaining. He did just that last night and while the box score will show zero points and no shots on goal, I thought he did the little things well.

With the Reign on the penalty kill late in the third period, protecting their 1-0 lead, Anderson-Dolan won a faceoff that allowed the Reign to clear the puck and would block a shot near the blue line moments later to get another clear. He blocked about three or four shots in the game and got rewarded with ice time late as the Reign protected their one-goal lead.

Welcome to the family

Kevin Connauton was part of the three-team trade that saw the Kings trade Cal Petersen, which ultimately gave them cap space to re-sign Vladislav Gavrikov. The Kings, in return, got Hayden Hodgson and Kevin Connauton while retaining 30% of Ivan Provorov’s contract. Not known for his scoring, Connauton brings experience to the blue line.

The only goal of the game came at the 17:19 mark of the second period as Connauton’s slap shot from the blue line beat Firebirds’ netminder, Chris Driedger, cleanly with no traffic in front of him. It was Connauton’s first goal as a member of the Ontario Reign. Martin Chromaik got the lone assist on the goal and quietly has a four-game point streak.

David Rittich steals the show

David Rittich saw 41 shots and stopped every one of them, including 18 in the third period. From the opening faceoff, Rittich looked dialed in and made big saves throughout the night. Nothing seemed to phase him, not even a few slashes after the whistle from Firebirds captain Max McCormick on a few occasions. Facing 18 shots in the third period, the Reign needed to rely on Rittich to make key saves as the Firebirds came on with a big push, as we all expected them to do. He answered the bell to earn his first shutout of the season and the first star of the game honors.

The first two games of the year were a struggle for Rittich, and part of it had to do with how the team played in front of him. Now that Reign are playing more cohesively, it has helped Rittich out in his last two starts.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign will travel to Henderson to take on the Silver Knights, who are in first place in the Pacific Division. The game is on Friday at 11 AM PT and can be seen on AHLTV.