Allen Reigns in Ontario 8-2 for series opening win

ALLEN, Texas – The Allen Americans opened up their Western Conference Finals with an impressive showing on Sunday afternoon, reining in the Reign with eight goals on just 22 shots to take game one of the best-of-seven series 8-2. The Americans did it in one of the few instances of the team taking its fewest shots in the post-season, while also being outshot 28-22.

Allen scored early and often, lighting the lamp three times on their first four shots to chase Ontario’s number one goaltender, Jussi Olkinuora, from the crease less than nine minutes into the contest. Gary Steffes, Chris Crane and Ian Schultz tallied on the first, second and fourth shots on Olkinuora by the 8:54 mark. Late in the period Matt White brought the Reign some hope, cutting the Allen lead to two with his marker at 16:19, but the Americans answered right back with a power play goal from Chad Costello with just seconds remaining in the period. The teams were level in shots at seven each, but Allen held the important 4-1 lead at the first intermission.

In the second period Allen increased their lead by two with goals from Greger Hanson and Patrik Valcak, while the Reign pulled ahead of the Americans in the shot count, 12-9 for the period and 19-16 over two periods of play.

The Americans notched a pair of power play goals in the third period from Hanson and Steffes to increase the lead to 8-1 before the Reign capitalized on a turnover in the Allen zone, leading to the second Reign goal from Garry Nunn. Allen finished 3-for-6 with the man advantage while blanking Ontario in their five tries with the extra man. The Reign outmatched the Americans in shots 9-6 in the third for a three period total of 28-22, but faced a stingy Riley Gill between the pipes for Allen who turned away 26 of the attempts.