Three takeaways from the Ontario Reign’s 5-1 win against the Gulls

Originally posted on Hockey Royalty | By Kyle Garcia | Last updated 4/14/22

The Ontario Reign came into San Diego and left with two points in a 5-1 over the San Diego Gulls Wednesday night.

Goal breakdown

1st period:

ONT: PP Martin Frk (35) ASST: T.J. Tynan (75), Jaret Anderson-Dolan (23)

2nd period:

SD: Benoit-Olivier Groulx (11) ASST: Trevor Carrick (20), Greg Printz (10)

ONT: PP Martin Frk (36) ASST: T.J. Tynan (76), Christian Wolanin (14)

3rd period:

ONT: Christian Wolanin (1) ASST: Frederic Allard (5), Martin Frk (32)

ONT: Taylor Ward (2) ASST: Nelson Nogier (4)

ONT: EN Martin Frk (37) ASST: Brett Sutter (11), T.J. Tynan (77)

Stats

Goals:

ONT: 5

SD: 1

Shots:

ONT: 28

SD: 23

Power-plays:

ONT: 2/4

SD: 0/6

Three takeaways from last night’s win:

1. Frk and Tynan lead the way

At this time of the season, you need your best players to be your best players. For the Ontario Reign, Martin Frk and T.J. Tynan both led the way offensively last night. Frk had four points including a hat trick while Tynan had three assists and assisted on all three of Frk’s goals. Two of Frk’s goals came on the man advantage off his signature slap shot from the left circle. These two are like peanut butter and jelly. They just compliment each other.

Here’s @Frky91’s power play goal that got us going tonight! pic.twitter.com/si4QI7oEzF

— Ontario Reign (@ontarioreign) April 14, 2022

Frk’s hat trick gave him a total of 37 goals on the year as he passed Abbotsford Canucks forward Sheldon Dries for second in the league. He is currently four goals behind Chicago Wolves forward Stefan Noesen, who has 41 goals on the year. As for Tynan, his three assists gave him a total of 77 on the year, and is now number one in scoring in the league with 90 points. He is ahead of Chicago Wolves forward Andrew Poturalski by two points.

2. Penalty kill 6-for-6

The Achilles heel for the Reign all year long has been their penalty kill. On Sunday they got two big kills in the third period and overtime session against the Stockton Heat. Last night the Ontario Reign penalty kill went 6-for-6 including killing off three first-period penalties after taking a 1-0 lead. With only six games remaining in the season and the playoffs right around the corner, the Reign will have to continue to build a solid penalty kill unit.

3. Matthew Villalta solid in net

Matthew Villalta was brilliant between the pipes last night for the Ontario Reign. After the Reign got off to a great start with a 1-0 lead, they needed Villalta to stand tall. The only goal Villalta allowed was off a redirect by Benoit Olivier-Groulx from a shot by Trevor Carrick. Other than that, he had a great night making big saves when needed. It was Villalta’s 10th straight start for Ontario and the 5-1 win earned him his 26th victory of the year.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign return home on Friday to play their final home game of the season. They will match up against the San Diego Gulls at 7:00 PM PT.

(Main photo credit: San Diego Gulls)

This article first appeared on Hockey Royalty and was syndicated with permission.

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