Stockton 3, Reign 2.

If you’ve seen the Reign play recently, neither the game nor the result were out of the ordinary – a few too many pucks off the post, a few too many scoring chances on the other end (they were outshot 31-27) and, at the end, a loss – their fourth in five games.

Karl Taylor said afterwards he felt the team deserved better, and the law of averages says the Reign probably should have more than one win to show for their last five games. It won’t get any easier tomorrow with a 2 p.m. date in Bakersfield. In fact, the team boarded a bus immediately after the game to head north.

Taylor tried some creative things – he pulled Darling with seven minutes left to create a 6-on-4 power play, and it worked when Mike Egener scored 12 seconds later. He also shifted Tim Kraus to right wing on the second power-play unit, and that worked too – the natural center scored to break a four-game drought in the third period.

But for most part it was another offensively frustrating effort. More details – including an update on defenseman Shawn Germain, who did not play – in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin.