The Ontario Reign got exactly what they needed Saturday night: a shutout from Carter George and just enough offense to put Abbotsford away 3-0 at Rogers Forum.
George was the story from the start, turning aside all 29 shots for his second AHL shutout in his seventh career game. Ontario, meanwhile, cashed in at key moments. Koehn Ziemmer opened the scoring late in the first period, Francesco Pinelli added a penalty-shot goal in the second, and Aatu Jämsen finished things off with an empty-netter in the third.
Ontario came out of the night at 6-7-1 and now turns its attention to a five-game homestand that begins Saturday, Nov. 14, at 6 p.m. PT against Abbotsford at Toyota Arena.
The first period had plenty of whistles before the Reign finally broke through. Ziemmer was sent off for tripping at 1:52, but Ontario killed that one.
Jack Millar then picked up a hooking call at 4:18, though Abbotsford’s power play was shortened when Kirill Kudryavtsev was whistled for tripping at 5:37. Ontario couldn’t score on its own abbreviated man advantage, but it didn’t need long to find the net at even strength.
Ziemmer scored his fifth of the season at 18:49, with Jack Hughes and Joe Hicketts drawing the assists. Ontario outshot Abbotsford 10-7 in the opening frame, with George stopping seven and Young making nine saves.
The second period stayed tight, and both teams had chances on special teams without much payoff. Sawyer Mynio took a delay-of-game penalty at 1:38, but the Reign power play came up empty.
Matthew Stienberg’s high-sticking minor at 8:12 gave Ontario another look, and the Canucks survived that one too. Jämsen was then called for roughing at 18:15, sending Abbotsford to the power play and carrying that advantage into the third.
Abbotsford outshot Ontario 11-7 in the period and held an 18-17 edge after two.
Ontario killed off the rest of Jämsen’s penalty to start the third, then kept pressing. Mynio was called for holding at 3:31, but Abbotsford erased that chance.
Lane Pederson was then penalized for slashing at 5:55, and just over two minutes later Kudryavtsev tripped Francesco Pinelli at 8:01, setting up the penalty shot that Pinelli buried for his second goal of the year and a 2-0 Reign lead. Jämsen put it away with an empty-net goal at 19:28.
Ontario finished 0-for-4 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
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