Martin Chromiak scored the crucial goal in overtime to cap a comeback in the late third period and gave the Ontario Reign (28-17-2-1) a 4-3 win over the San Diego Gulls (14-35-0- 0) ) on Saturday evening in the Pechanga Arena. With the win, Ontario ended their four contests in San Diego during the 2022-23 regular season with a perfect 4-0-0.
Chromiak’s winner was his second goal of the game, while Lias Andersson also scored twice for Reign in the win and continues to lead the team with 23 goals this year. TJ Tynan assisted three of Ontario’s four goals to take the 60-point mark for the season with the win.
BOX RESULT
More from head coach Marco Sturm and Chromiak below.
Chromiak has as many as 12 goals of the season and five goals in five games against the Gulls now in his rookie year. Matt Villalta earned the win at the net for Ontario by stopping 27 shots to earn his 10th win of the season.
Rocco Grimaldi led San Diego in a loss and scored three goals to become the second player this season to score a hat-trick against Ontario.
The Reign took the lead first when Chromiak converted a breakout chance after 9:13 of the opening period, passing goaltender Gage Alexander and backhanding the puck into the net. Jack Becker earned the only assist of the game and scored his first career AHL point in his third game with Ontario.
San Diego leveled the score at 1-1 with Grimaldi’s first goal of the night, deflected off the side of the net after a Michael Del Zotto pass to make it 15-12.
During a last-minute first-minute power play, Andersson tapped home a feed from Tyler Madden, which bounced off the right post and put Ontario back 2-1 up. Tynan collected the second assist of the game, his first assist of the contest.
While Reign successfully fended off three minor penalties in the second game, Grimaldi deflected his second of the evening at 2:17 p.m. of the middle period to equalize 2-2. With the help of the three-man superiority, the Gulls overtook Ontario 14:3 in the middle phase.
Grimaldi then completed the hat-trick to put San Diego ahead for the first time, with his third goal of the game at 9:56 of the third to make it 3-2.
As time was running out in the third, Tynan threw a shot at goal from the right wing during a charge in the offensive zone. The rebound was kicked straight to Andersson, who tied the game to 3-3 at 3:28 on the clock and eventually forced an overtime.
Chromiak failed on his second breakaway of the night after two minutes of overtime but didn’t miss his second chance on his next shift. The rookie ducked under a defender on the left wing and wired a wrist shot into the top right corner of the net to give Reign their 28th win of the season.
Ontario had the only power-play goal of the evening, Andersson’s first of the game late in the opening period, finishing the game 1-2 with man advantage and holding San Diego 0-3 against their chances. The Gulls controlled 30-20 shots on goal in the contest, resulting in Alexander deflecting 16 shots in his second AHL start during a loss.
Marco Storm
About his team’s play in a game where they found a way to win
Yes we have got that. But it wasn’t our best game today. We played a really good game last night and it took a lot of our energy and you could see that today, but still, these are the games that you have to grind and you still have to perform and you have to be sharp . It doesn’t matter who you play against. We should have been better today, but we’ll definitely get the two points.
On whether there is growing confidence in his team when the game goes to OT
Yes, but today felt a bit different because it felt like the guys were tired. But you still have to find a way to produce again and when it’s not on the ice it might be on the bench with different things but it’s been a quiet evening for us as a unit on the ice and off the ice and again , for no reason. These are the games where you have to work hard and we certainly have to learn that.
To the game of TJ Tynan giving all his energy late in the game
It’s very easy to see, this guy plays his heart out every night and you can see after every game he’s exhausted. And guess what, he’ll do it again tomorrow. That’s great but because of that he’s one of the best or best players in the league and we’re glad we have him and hopefully it’s good for our little kids too. And for the rest of the team to see a guy like him playing with passion too and we can all learn from him, that’s for sure.
To the game of Jack Becker, who came back from injury with a great game
He was outstanding. I mean the boys are cheering him on, the boys got him the puck after the game. He’s a good boy, he’s very happy to be here and it shows. He works and he played a great game, a great game by him. That’s what we need and that’s all I ask. As a coach. That’s all you ask to give us good minutes. Good tough minutes and he never really got into trouble once that good for him.
Martin Chromiak
The Reign are back in action Monday for a Presidents’ Day matinee in Palm Desert against the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Puck Drop is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at Acrisure Arena.
Source: lakingsinsider.com
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