The Ontario Reign had the lead twice Wednesday night, but they couldn’t hold off the San Jose Barracuda in a 3-2 overtime loss at Toyota Arena.
Taylor Ward and Kaleb Lawrence scored for Ontario, and Carter George turned aside 23 of 26 shots, but Cam Lund needed only 17 seconds in overtime to finish it for San Jose in front of 5,333 fans.
Ontario jumped first midway through the opening period when Ward found the low slot and buried his third goal of the season at 10:23. Cole Guttman and Jack Hughes picked up the assists, and George backed it up by stopping every San Jose shot in the first as the Reign carried a 1-0 edge into the break.
San Jose answered quickly in the second. Brendan Hoffman tied it at 2:26 with a shot from the left circle, set up by Carson Wetsch and Roland McKeown.
Ontario briefly regained control when Lawrence tucked in an unassisted goal at 11:36 for his second of the year, but the Barracuda erased that advantage before the period ended. Donavan Houle scored at 17:46 to make it 2-2 after Ontario had failed to cash in on a power play chance.
The third period stayed locked down from there. Ward and Anthony Vincent traded roughing minors at 10:55, but neither side found a breakthrough in the 4-on-4 stretch. After 60 minutes, the teams were still deadlocked, with San Jose holding a 25-24 shot edge.
Then overtime ended almost before it started. Lund drove the net and buried the winner 17 seconds in, sending Ontario to the loss.
Eric Comrie made 22 saves on 24 shots for the Barracuda. Ontario finished 0-for-1 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.
The Reign are now 5-6-1 and head north to face the Abbotsford Canucks on Friday, Nov. 6 at Rogers Forum at 6 p.m. PT.
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