The Coachella Valley Firebirds defeated the Ontario Reign on Friday night at Toyota Arena in a shootout by the final score of 4-3. Kole Lind, Logan Morrison, and Marian Studenic all scored in regulation for the Firebirds while Chris Driedger turned away all three Reign attempts in the shootout to extend Coachella Valley’s point streak to ten straight games.
Kole Lind opened the scoring for the Firebirds 4:32 into the game. Lind’s wrist shot beat Aaron Dell to put Coachella Valley on top for his 13th of the season. Cale Fleury and Andrew Poturalski each were awarded assists on the strike.
Ontario scored twice in the first seven minutes of the second period, Samuel Fagemo netted his league-leading 36th goal of the season just 17 seconds into the middle frame and Martin Chromiak gave the Reign their first lead of the game with a 4-on-4 tally.
Coachella Valley tied the game thanks to Devin Shore and Shane Wright working to find Logan Morrison in front of the net. Morrison made no mistake on the shot from close quarters to bury his 15th of the season at 7:12. Marian Studenic capitalized off a Reign defensive miscue and fired a wrist shot past Dell to put the Firebirds back on top at 12:45.
Reign captain T.J. Tynan tied the game with 1:13 left in the third period after his team pulled their netminder for a 6-on-5 advantage. The game needed overtime and more to decide a winner.
After a goal-less overtime period, the Firebirds and Reign went to a shootout. Logan Morrison scored the lone goal of the skills competition and Chris Driedger denied all three Ontario chances to grab the extra point for Coachella Valley.
The victory moves Coachella Valley’s record to 36-13-5-3 (80 points) and gives them points in 20 of their last 21 games. The Firebirds finished 0-for-2 on the powerplay and the penalty kill went 4-for-4.
The Firebirds outshot the Reign 28-25. The win also extends the Firebirds’ lead in the Pacific Division standings to nine points and extends their lead in the Western Conference to five.
For the game’s full box score, click HERE.
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