Martin Chromiak delivered the kind of night the Ontario Reign had been waiting for, scoring twice in a 3-2 win over the Calgary Wranglers on Tuesday night that gave Ontario its first home victory of the season.
The Reign entered the matchup with the deck stacked against them. They were sitting in eighth place and still searching for a win on home ice, while Calgary arrived in first place with a 5-3-0 record and 10 points. But Ontario looked like a different team right from the opening faceoff.
“No one liked the game against Henderson,” Chromiak said. “So we had a good practice, we got right back to it and I thought it was a much better effort from everyone. We played the whole 60 (minutes) and got the job done.”
That tone carried through the first period, when the Reign came out with far more pace and bite than they had shown in their previous opener. Ontario put 12 shots on goal in the first, a sharp jump from the four shots they managed in the opening period of their last game.
“You could tell right from the drop of the puck we were ready to go,” Ontario coach Andrew Lord said. “We’re playing faster, way more energy on the bench. It was a really good performance against a really, really good team.”
The first period stayed scoreless, and neither side took a penalty before the intermission. That calm didn’t last long.
Ontario once again found itself chasing the game on home ice when Tyson Gross scored two minutes into the second period, with William Stömgren and Axel Hurtig drawing the assists.
The Reign answered with a power-play goal midway through the period, as Cole Guttman tied it with help from Scott Perunovich and Chromiak. But Calgary struck again before the horn, with Rory Kerins scoring seven seconds before intermission to send the Wranglers into the third up 2-1.
That set the stage for Chromiak to take over.
He tied the game 18 seconds into the final period, then buried the winner at 17:10 to finish off the comeback and hand Ontario a much-needed victory at home.
“I’m happy that the coaches trust me and they’re putting me out there,” Chromiak said. “Today was me, next game it could be someone else.”
In net, Carter George picked up his second win of the season with 24 saves. Lord was quick to praise the 20-year-old goalie after the performance.
“Electric. (He) reads the game so well, so poised, so calm.
Such an old man demeanor for such a young kid and it’s really impressive. It’s fun to be a part of it.”
The win pushes Ontario into third place in the AHL Pacific Division at 4-2-0 for 8 points. The Reign head to Texas next for a Friday-Saturday series against the Stars, with both games set for 5 p.m. PT.
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