Postgame Reign notes and quotes.
-- On paper, the Reign outshot the Thunder 14-2 in the final period. They looked just as good in real life. Of course, that means they were outshot 21-15 over the first two frames, which doesn't even take into account the defensive lapses that allowed Stockton to go up 4-1.
-- Karl Taylor said he had no thoughts of pulling Jeff Zatkoff, who sprinkled in more than enough tough saves among his 17 on the evening to validate that decision.
-- Darren McMillan was back in the lineup and Dan Knapp, who had a nice assist Friday night on Jon Rheault's breakaway goal, was scratched.
-- Bud Holloway's hat trick brought a cavalcade of hats to the ice, as well as one shoe and a T-shirt. It's only my opinion, but when something other than a hat hits the ice, it's more embarrassing than amusing.
-- Colten Teubert got into his first fight of the playoffs. After getting under their skin plenty the night before, Teubert was seen jawing with Stockton during the first period (and even during warmups). But he waited until the third period to dance with Craig Valette. The 6-1 Valette landed a few small punches before the 6-4 Teubert landed on top of Valette when they fell to the ice, which couldn't have felt good, but I'm sure hockeyfights.com will declare Valette the winner.
The game finished perilously close to deadline, so here are the condensed quotes I was able to get from the Reign:
Karl Taylor:
We weren't prepared to play. We thought it was going to be easy. That's my responsibility as a coach. I take full blame for the first two periods -- I didn't have the guys prepared.
Bud Holloway:
We didn't draw that up, but we said we're not going to quit out there. We didn't want to give up the four-goal lead. We came off our game plan a little bit. We just got out of the gate a bit slow.
On where to go from here:
You've just got to wipe the slate clean. It's a best-of-five series now.
Comments
At first I felt the same thing about the hat tricks, but then again, some teams have weird traditions. Det
Detroit has octopi, maybe throwing shoes and shirts can be Ontario's?
Posted by: Fyzzix | April 11, 2009 11:19 PM
Coach Taylor can shoulder the blame all he wants but the fact is the whole defense corps was awful the first 40 minutes tonight. All six of them. Starling, who's usually a rock back there, had just a terrible night, to the point Taylor was sending Teubert out without him. Mistakes happen but there's no excuse for getting out-hustled.
Posted by: jack walsh | April 11, 2009 11:48 PM
First off...weird traditions. I know Detroit throws the an Octopuss, but where do we as Reign fans draw the line on articles of clothing other than hats and caps. Shoes and shirts?? The next thing you know thongs will be billowing down from the rafters...ugh.
Defense cost the Reign in game 2. As much as I've come to love and support this club, the past month or so, the team is nothing more than Jekyll and Hyde. Each game lately is based on which Reign team shows up. Both nights, they get tied up in their own zone in the early stages. Stockton missed some good chances in game 1 early on. The Reign found themselves in the same situation last night in game 2. It just caught up to them. The team doesn't play an entire 60 minutes and this is the time of the season where it's going to cost you.
I'd love to see the Reign get out of the gate and pound away with the same fervor they displayed in last nights 3rd period and for most of the upcoming periods up in Stockton. It can be done. Let's play desperate hockey from here on out!
Posted by: Tom Ingalls | April 12, 2009 9:59 AM
My thoughts exactly... the Reign appeared to be chasing the Thunder all evening, and were definitely out-skated, out-hustled, & out-played for a good 50 of the 60 minutes. Their usual tough defense was almost embarrassing to watch, as they looked like they were shorthanded the majority of the night.
Time to regroup and play the hard-nosed/blue-collar way we've seen before... hopefully they have learned a lesson!
Posted by: IE Sports Fan | April 12, 2009 6:51 PM