Reign 4, Bakersfield 2.

Playing their third game in three days, the Reign turned in their only win of the weekend in Bakersfield.

Aaron Lewadniuk, Shawn Germain, David Walker and Chaz Johnson scored goals on Josh Tordjman (20 saves), and Reign goalie Mike Zacharias stopped 49 shots to match Beau Erickson’s season-high total from two days earlier.

Jordan Morrison had three assists, including pretty feeds to set up Johnson and Germain on the breakaway. Justin Taylor had a pair of assists, and Kyle Kraemer and Michael Pelech had one helper each.

Playing his first game of the weekend, Zacharias succeeded against the same barrage of shots that Erickson saw Friday and Saturday. The Condors had their share of odd-man rushes (while also surrendering a few to the Reign), but Zacharias didn’t seem to face the same amount of net-front pressure that kept Erickson from seeing the puck in a 7-3 loss the night before.

Considering Bakersfield registered 157 shots on goal this weekend, the Reign were lucky to escape with three points. By going 1-1-1, the Reign (19-30-2-3, 43 points) lost a
point in the standings to sixth-place Bakersfield (26-24-2-1, 55 points)
but gained a point on seventh-place Victoria (24-27-1-2, 51 points).

The Salmon Kings were shut out 4-0 in Stockton on Sunday.

A few more notes:

• Johnson’s team-leading 18th goal extended his point streak to six games. He has six goals and two assists in that span. Collymore saw his six-game point streak end; he had five goals and five assists in that span. Kraemer had one assist (on a nice feed from behind the net to Lewadniuk) for the third straight game.

• Walker’s second-period, 5-on-3 power-play goal put him in a tie for the ECHL lead in power-play points by a defenseman (18). He’s also tied for third in the league in points by a defenseman (30).

• Karl Taylor won his 200th game as a head coach in the ECHL and left with an unfortunate souvenir. With about two minutes left in third period, a puck was knocked into the Reign’s bench and struck Taylor on the left side of his head. Trainer Bobby Walls quickly gave Taylor a white towel and the coach held it against his head for the remainder of the period. For now, we can only assume that Taylor is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

• The Reign skated six defensemen for the first time since Feb. 4,
having used five defensemen in the last eight games. Pat Bowen went back
into the lineup after sitting out the last two and was paired with Luke
Beaverson at even strength. Maybe the extra help on the blue line contributed to the final score,
but the shot count (51-24) was still lopsided.

• With six defensemen in the lineup, left wing Brett O’Malley was the odd man out after playing Friday and Saturday. Alex Bourret (head) and Jordan Hill (leg), both on IR, did not appear in a game the entire weekend.