The Ontario Reign had chances early, chances late, and plenty in between, but the Texas Stars still walked away with a 5-2 win Saturday night at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.
Ontario’s power play never broke through, going 0-for-7, and the Reign dropped to 5-3-0-0 while splitting the two-game set. Lane Pederson scored both Ontario goals, and Cole Guttman picked up two assists for the second straight night.
Hampton Slukynsky made 14 saves on 18 shots in the loss. The Reign now head to Henderson for the final stop on a three-game road stretch Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m.
PST.
Texas struck first after Ontario had already failed to cash in on an early man advantage. Justin Ertel was called for high-sticking at 6:53, but the Reign came up empty.
Artem Shlaine then opened the scoring at 13:03, finishing a setup from Trey Taylor and Dylan Hryckowian. Ontario got two more power-play looks in the period, including chances after an Ellis Rickwood delay-of-game minor at 13:30 and a Bertucci slashing minor at 17:23, but couldn’t convert any of them.
Even with an 11-9 edge in shots through 20 minutes, Ontario still trailed 1-0.
The Reign finally got even in the second when Pederson scored his third at 8:23, with Guttman and Kirill Kirsanov drawing the assists. Ontario kept pressing and outshot Texas 10-4 in the period, but another power play went unused after Kenny Connors and Taylor were both sent off for roughing at 9:29, with Harrison Scott also taking an extra high-sticking minor. Aatu Jämsen was called for cross-checking at 19:34, sending a penalty into the third, and the game remained tied 1-1 despite Ontario’s 21-13 shot advantage through two.
Then the third period turned sharply against the Reign.
Ontario killed off Jämsen’s penalty and a Scott Perunovich slashing minor at 2:38, but after Hryckowian was whistled for tripping at 5:47, Michael Sgarbossa burned them shorthanded at 6:15, putting Texas ahead 2-1. Connor Punnett followed at 10:13, Ellis Rickwood added another at 11:21, and suddenly the Stars had stretched it to 4-1.
Pederson answered again at 12:07 for his fourth of the season, trimming it to 4-2 off feeds from Kenta Isogai and Guttman, but Ontario couldn’t take advantage of a Scott slashing minor at 14:42. Perunovich then picked up his second slashing minor at 16:14.
With Ontario still trying to claw back, Sgarbossa went off for hooking at 17:46 and Slukynsky headed to the bench for an extra attacker. Shlaine finished the night with his second goal, scoring into the empty net at 19:04 from Taylor. Vojtěch Čihař took a hooking minor at 19:43, and Lawrence and Becker dropped the gloves at the final horn.
Brandon Halverson earned the win with 25 saves on 27 shots. Ontario finished 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and was outshot 27-19 overall.
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