Here’s how a 3-1 lead turns into a 4-3 overtime loss:
1. A short pass goes off a Reign stick and onto a Colorado stick. Shot, goal.
2. A hard pass goes off a Reign skate (possibly a body) and into the net.
3. An ill-timed line change results in an odd-man rush the other way for Colorado. A long, high shot — the Eagles’ only shot of overtime — goes into the top of the net.
Plenty of bad luck was involved in the final outcome, but it’s easier to say the Reign squandered a point Saturday than gained one. Leading 3-1 going into the third period, Colorado converted back-to-back power plays on a pair of good bounces to tie the game at 3. Luck aside, the same stifling defense that the Reign used in the first two periods (and in Friday’s win over Stockton) was conspicuously absent from the third period Saturday.
“We’re not stepping into the shot. Sticks weren’t into the lanes,” head coach Jason Christie said when talking about the overtime goal, but he may as well have been discussing the third period too.
Catch all the game details in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin. The Reign will visit the scrappy first-year ECHL franchise Friday and Saturday in Colorado, their first back-to-back road games of the season.
Some notes and observations:
- Dylan Yeo’s short-handed goal was the first shortie of the season for the Reign. The speed he displayed in going from the high slot in the Reign zone, all the way to the Eagles’ net, was impressive. If Yeo isn’t the fastest-skating defenseman ever to play for this team, I’m not sure who is. Jason Fredricks probably comes close.
- Through five games, Yeo leads the team in assists (5), points (6) and shots (20).
- The Reign saw a streak of seven straight penalties killed come to an end in the second period, and finished 3-for-6 on the PK.
- J-F Berube is 0-2-1 with a 4.30 goals-against average and a .838 goals-against average. He’s not that bad; there’s no way a player can go 32-7-8/2.60/.902 in the QMJHL without another level in his arsenal. More likely, Berube is just slow to come around from the off-season hip surgery that delayed the start of his season; this is, in essence, his training camp. He seemed slow to anticipate the overtime goal, one of many this season that’s beaten him from a distance with no traffic in his line of sight. With a few more games under his belt, Berube will be into his “regular season” and out of excuses.
- Speaking of out of excuses … there was a Kings alumni game at 3 p.m. today, no high school football or World Series Game 7 to compete with, and an always-popular postgame jersey auction … yet the Reign drew just 5,203 tonight. To add some context: The ECHL average this season is 4,030; last season it was 4,339. The Reign average this season is 5,402, last season it was 6,683.
- Forget the specially-designed Kings affiliate jerseys the Reign wore tonight; check out Philippe Seydoux’s postgame threads:
