Jon Francisco scored twice, and Jon Rheault added a short-handed goal, but the Reign lost in regulation for just the second time in the last 30 days.
A string of second-period penalties seemed to untrack the Reign as Bakersfield scored five unanswered goals. More details in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin, and check out Friday’s paper for a longer look at new defensemen Colten Teubert and Patrick Mullen.
Teubert (who was paired with David Walker) didn’t figure much into the final outcome. He saw some penalty-kill time, but decided to save his first earth-shaking hit for this weekend at The Bank. Mullen was paired with Chad Starling and figured into the scoring in the third period – for Bakersfield. He effectively sealed off the slot on a 2-on-1 breakaway, but accidentally deflected Adam Naglich’s centering pass between Curtis Darling’s legs.
Darling stopped 27 of 32 before giving way to Mike Zacharias (8-for-8) for the final 11:15.