Ontario Reign vs Lake Erie Monsters
Series: Reign trail 0-1 (best of 7)
Day: May 22, 2016 (Citizens Business Bank Arena)
Time: 7:00 PM PST
Listen: Mixlr
Watch: AHL Live
Recaps: Game One
Ontario Reign Lines
(Projected, based on last game)
Mersch – Dowd – Amadio
Lowry – Kempe – Backman
JST – Cresc – Auger
Horvat – Newbury – Bissonnette
Kurtis MacDermid – Vincent LoVerde
Derek Forbort – Kevin Gravel
Jeff Schultz – Zach Leslie
Ontario scratches: F Brett Sutter, F Jonny Brodzinski, F Sam Herr, F Matt Leitner, G Jack Flinn, D Nick Ebert, D Kevin Raine, D Alex Lintuniemi, D Paul LaDue
- Hockey ops announced today that Jonny Brodzinski had wrist surgery. Brodzinski has been out since the last game of the San Jose Barracuda series.
- This is a pretty big blow to the Reign, who have managed to get along fine without their budding sniper. However, with such a slim margin of error and a much more anemic offense than years prior, losing him for the summer is tough for the Reign.
- Some uncharacteristic breakdowns defensively gave the Monsters a quick 3-1 lead in the second period. The final dagger came in the third period with an assist from burgeoning superstar Zach Werenski.
- Per the Ontario Reign Insider, it was only the fourth time all season long that the Reign had allowed three goals in a period. As good as the Monsters are, it’s not likely that they’ll score three goals in one period on Ontario again.
- Update: Sutter appears to be in, flanking Kempe and Backman. LaDue took warm-ups, but it looks like Ebert will skate with Schultz tonight. Horvat and Leslie are the odd men out tonight.
- Per John Hoven, LaDue is in instead of Ebert./
Lake Erie Lines
(Projected, based on last night)
Broadhurst – Chaput – Zaar
Rychel – Tynan – Anderson
Hannikainen – Sedlak – Bjorkstrand
MIlan – Vogel Huber (A) – Craig(C)
Falk – Sifers (A)
Heatherington-Werenski
Kukan – Eminger
Scratched: McCarthy, Cundari, Paliotta, Moutrey, Bittner, Yevenko
- Forsberg was great in Game 6 of the Central Division finals and got the nod last night.
- He held off the Reign and made 30 saves, quelling any late comeback hopes for the home team.
- As predicted, Werenski was great in the first game of the series.
- The most underrated team in the AHL showed up last night. The heavy favorites… Not so much.
- Will Ontario be able to rein in Lake Erie or will the upset kids manage to use their speed to scare their way into the Calder Cup Finals?
- Update: Paliotta taking warm-ups, and he’s in for Sifers. Sifers was a regular this season, so perhaps he’s banged up./