It’s a SoCal showdown for the title of Pacific Division Champion.
The Ontario Reign are taking on the best team in the Pacific Division as they continue their quest for the Calder Cup. This will be their toughest test yet as they take on a team that always plays them close and was the regular season division winner. The Coachella Valley Firebirds are stacked with talent and are backstopped by a former NHL veteran who has made a lot of clutch saves in key situations. The Reign swept their first two series 5-0 while the Firebirds had a bye from the first round, going 3-1 to beat the Calgary Wranglers.
LA Kings Insider had a good rundown of the teams’ head-to-head this year, who split the series four games apiece. From their final match preview:
This year Ontario has won four of the first seven battles between the two clubs with a record of 4-2-0-1. The first two meetings were one-sided in favor of the Reign, who shut out Coachella Valley twice to open the series at Acrisure Arena before the teams skated to a split during a home-and-home weekend Dec. 1-2. Goaltender David Rittich manned the net in the first three contests for Ontario and posted shutouts in the first two with 41 saves on Oct. 25 and 24 on Nov. 21. The Reign have outscored CV 18-14 overall in this year’s series, going 5-for-23 on the power play (21.7%) and 20-for-23 on the penalty kill (87%). TJ Tynan has led the Reign in scoring against the Firebirds with 10 points on a goal and nine assists in the seven previous meetings this season, while Samuel Fagemo has five goals and an assist for six points in just five contests.
To help us preview this series, Sky On Air from Davy Jones’ Locker Room joins us to answer some questions.
- Chris Driedger posted a shutout to beat the Wranglers. How clutch has he been both in the regular season and this postseason for Coachella?
- Driedger’s been a gem for Coachella. He was a top 10 goalie for the Firebirds this year and bailed them out of some of their lesser habits like slow starts and some messy defensive play. Really, the biggest thing he did for Coachella was give them a chance to use their raw firepower, and give their young’uns a chance to screw up without it being a total bust. I’d say he’s been perfectly clutch this season. As for this playoffs? Well… Game 4 was probably a magnum opus in clutch goaltending; keeping the Wranglers off the board to get them to where they are now. Let’s hope that keeps up!
- Driedger’s been a gem for Coachella. He was a top 10 goalie for the Firebirds this year and bailed them out of some of their lesser habits like slow starts and some messy defensive play. Really, the biggest thing he did for Coachella was give them a chance to use their raw firepower, and give their young’uns a chance to screw up without it being a total bust. I’d say he’s been perfectly clutch this season. As for this playoffs? Well… Game 4 was probably a magnum opus in clutch goaltending; keeping the Wranglers off the board to get them to where they are now. Let’s hope that keeps up!
- CV was far and away the best team in the division during the regular season. What did they learn from their bye and from their series against Calgary?
- What they learned is that the curse of that bye is potentially very real. The rust was palpable from Game 1 against Calgary; they were sloppy as all get-out and they had to get their skating legs back under them; Game 2 was mired in controversy after how they won it (Devin Shore pushing it through Dustin Wolf amid a host of other potentially disqualifying things), Game 3 was a track meet, and it really felt like once they’d gotten used to what Calgary was throwing at them, they were finally able to slam the door shut and move on. Further, they got scoring from just about everywhere they could; Ryker Evans and Shane Wright have pitched in here and there, but guys like Devin Shore, Kole Lind, and Max McCormick, who’ve been down in Palm Desert all year, have once again risen to the occasion. They’re still gonna need more from their youths, but as they get more comfortable with the intensity of the playoffs, I think they’ll start to add more to the Firebirds’ attack.
- What they learned is that the curse of that bye is potentially very real. The rust was palpable from Game 1 against Calgary; they were sloppy as all get-out and they had to get their skating legs back under them; Game 2 was mired in controversy after how they won it (Devin Shore pushing it through Dustin Wolf amid a host of other potentially disqualifying things), Game 3 was a track meet, and it really felt like once they’d gotten used to what Calgary was throwing at them, they were finally able to slam the door shut and move on. Further, they got scoring from just about everywhere they could; Ryker Evans and Shane Wright have pitched in here and there, but guys like Devin Shore, Kole Lind, and Max McCormick, who’ve been down in Palm Desert all year, have once again risen to the occasion. They’re still gonna need more from their youths, but as they get more comfortable with the intensity of the playoffs, I think they’ll start to add more to the Firebirds’ attack.
- We all know special teams basically determines a team’s fate in the postseason. It was only one series so far, but what are some patterns that were discernible? (ex: Ontario tends to take a lot of penalties but their penalty kill has been pretty good thus far but their power play has been awful.)
- Well, if Round 2 was any indication, the Firebirds will give plenty of opportunity for the Reign to try and make it better. Coachella Valley had an…interesting relationship with officiating last round thanks to the circumstances of Game 2, but they’ve had some sloppy games here and there; with Ryker Evans taking special marks for getting caught high sticking over and over for whatever reason. Their power play has otherwise been up and down; always dangerous but not always getting the goal they want. Frankly, I’d just like to see what their power play looks like when it isn’t being juiced up by controversy, as was the case after Game 2 in Calgary. The entire series completely devolved past that point, and their playoff power play percentage is a bit skewed by having three of them dropped in a single period.
- Well, if Round 2 was any indication, the Firebirds will give plenty of opportunity for the Reign to try and make it better. Coachella Valley had an…interesting relationship with officiating last round thanks to the circumstances of Game 2, but they’ve had some sloppy games here and there; with Ryker Evans taking special marks for getting caught high sticking over and over for whatever reason. Their power play has otherwise been up and down; always dangerous but not always getting the goal they want. Frankly, I’d just like to see what their power play looks like when it isn’t being juiced up by controversy, as was the case after Game 2 in Calgary. The entire series completely devolved past that point, and their playoff power play percentage is a bit skewed by having three of them dropped in a single period.
- The regular season series between these two teams usually features a pretty tight score. Any thoughts / predictions what we can expect to see with more than 2 points on the line?
- Probably more of the same. Erik Portillo’s playing out of his mind and the Reign have a ton of talents feeding each other goals; they are deep and have quality goaltending that any good team wanting to go far needs. Problem is…Coachella just beat a team like that in Calgary; who swept through their earlier round competition. It will be a grueling test, I’m making no bones about that. I’m just saying that after coming out of the loopiness of that last series, the Reign will need to clamp down on every last puck they find, because the Firebirds have made it abundantly clear through four games that they will hunt every last one of them down.
- Probably more of the same. Erik Portillo’s playing out of his mind and the Reign have a ton of talents feeding each other goals; they are deep and have quality goaltending that any good team wanting to go far needs. Problem is…Coachella just beat a team like that in Calgary; who swept through their earlier round competition. It will be a grueling test, I’m making no bones about that. I’m just saying that after coming out of the loopiness of that last series, the Reign will need to clamp down on every last puck they find, because the Firebirds have made it abundantly clear through four games that they will hunt every last one of them down.
- Final predictions for Coachella Valley / Ontario?
- All 5 games and I tear my hair out as each one is an agonizing 3-2 victory between each other.
KEY PLAYERS
MATCH UP
| Ontario Reign | Coachella Valley Firebirds | |
|---|---|---|
| Season Record | 5-0-0-0 | 3-1-0-0 |
| Last 10 Games | 5-0-0-0 | 3-1-0-0 |
| Streak | 5-0-0 | 3-0-0 |
| Last Game | 4-3 W @ Abbotsford (2024-05-08) | 0-3 W vs Calgary (2024-05-10) |
| Home Record | 3-0-0-0 | 2-0-0-0 |
| Away Record | 2-0-0-0 | 1-1-0-0 |
| Goals For | 19 | 15 |
| Goals Against | 6 | 12 |
| Power Plays | 3/23 (13.04%) | 3/13 (23.08%) |
| Power Plays (Home) | 3/13 (23.08%) | 2/7 (28.57%) |
| Power Plays (Away) | 0/10 (0%) | 1/6 (16.67%) |
| Penalty Killing | 2/17 (88.24%) | 4/18 (77.78%) |
| Penalty Killing (Home) | 1/10 (90%) | 4/9 (55.56%) |
| Penalty Killing (Away) | 1/7 (85.71%) | 0/9 (100%) |
Thank you, again, to Sky for helping us with this preview. Good luck to both teams and go Reign!