Reign drain the Lakers in final home games of the season

Tuesday, February 22 Game Recap

The Reign played a make-up series against the Lake Tahoe Lakers and the first game on Tuesday afternoon was a great performance for the Reign as they keep their playoff hopes alive after a 4-3 win over the Lakers. A very tight contest between the two teams led to a back and forth game. The game picked up early as Braedon LeGrandur scored the first goal of the game just 4 minutes and 25 seconds into the game. But, ten seconds later, Jett Arminen scored his 39 goals of the season to tie up the game quickly. At 6:26 of the first period, Ben De Hass got a short-handed breakaway goal to give the Reign the lead. After the second period, the game was tied and stayed tied and looked like the game was going to overtime until the hero of the night Aidan Szautner scored the go-ahead goal from a great pass from Brendan Bauer with 20.5 seconds left in the game to give the Reign the win. Goaltender James Palmer played a very solid game making 29 saves on 32 shots and allowing 3 goals on the night. 

The Lake Tahoe Lakers weren’t able to come into Ontario to play spoiler as they lost a close back and forth game. The Lakers got most of their offensive production from their top players in Jett Arminien and Nick Lippman both getting a multi-point night. Lakers goaltender Carson Shrimpton made 45 saves on 48 shots and allowed 4 goals. 

Wednesday, February 23 Game Recap:

The Reign came into Wednesday morning game still looking to keep their playoff hopes going as they came through grinding out a 3-2 win. Brendan Bauer continued his dominance by scoring two goals in the second period. Both coming off of a breakaway and making a gorgeous right to left deke to wait out the Lakers goaltender John Hughes. Ben De Haas kept himself on the scoresheet as well with scoring a goal early in the third period and assisting Bauer’s second goal. The Reign got an outstanding performance in net from Antonio Tarantino, his first start for the Reign this season. Tarantino made 26 saves on 28 shots and allowed 2 goals, making the saves needed to give the Reign the win. 

The Lakers couldn’t come out of Ontario with a win and were unable to play spoiler. The Lakers came out fast and physical like the Reign and were able to score the first goal late into the first period, coming from Jett Arminien his 40th goal of the season. But the Reign took control of the game from the start of the second period and couldn’t catch up until the late moments of the third when Lucas Colombin scored his 4th goal of the year. Goaltender John Hughes made 36 saves on 39 shots and allowed 3 goals. A very chippy and physical game throughout, but picked up in the third period when three misconducts were handed out, two to Lake Tahoe, and one to Ontario. As well as two disqualifications for the Lakers late in the third period.