Martin Chromiak took over in the third period, scoring twice as the Ontario Reign slipped past the Calgary Wranglers 3-2 Tuesday night at Toyota Arena.
Ontario got a goal and an assist from Cole Guttman, while Carter George stopped 24 shots to earn the win in front of 4,812 fans. The Reign will head to the Texas Stars on Friday, Oct. 23 at 5 p.m. PST.
The game stayed quiet through the opening 20 minutes. Neither side scored, neither side took a penalty, and the shot count sat even at 9-9.
Calgary broke through early in the second. Tyson Gross scored at 2:22, with William Strömgren and Axel Hurtig picking up the assists. A little more than 20 seconds later, Kaleb Lawrence and Nikita Pavlychev dropped the gloves at 2:48.
Ontario answered on the power play midway through the period. With Hunter Brzustewicz serving a holding penalty, Cole Guttman buried his third of the season at 13:44 off feeds from Scott Perunovich and Chromiak to square things up.
The Wranglers nudged back in front with seven seconds left in the period when Rory Kerins scored his fourth, set up by Dryden Hunt and Artem Wiebe. Calgary took a 2-1 lead into the third and had a 20-18 edge in shots after two.
Ontario flipped the game fast after intermission. Chromiak tied it just 18 seconds into the third, finishing a play from Guttman and Lane Pederson for his third of the season.
From there, the Reign kept pressing. They killed off a late Lawrence holding minor, then Chromiak struck again at 17:10, this time from Kirill Kirsanov, to put Ontario ahead for good at 3-2.
Calgary outshot Ontario 7-5 in the third, but the Reign held on the rest of the way. George finished with 24 saves on 26 shots, while Kirill Zarubin made 13 saves on 16 shots in the loss.
Ontario went 1-for-2 on the power play and was perfect on the penalty kill, finishing 2-for-2.
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