Bakersfield, CA – The Ontario Reign (38-15-4-1) took down the Bakersfield Condors (27-23-6-2) 5-2 Tuesday evening at Rabobank Arena. Five different Reign forwards
found the back of the net and goaltender Peter Budaj made a season-high 39 saves.
The Reign jumped on the scoreboard early in the contest as forward Joel Lowry snapped a wrist shot over the glove of Condors netminder Niklas Lundstrom (L, 23 saves on 27 shots) at 3:20 of the first period. Forward Andrew Crescenzi and defenseman Zach Leslie added assists. Less than half a minute later, forward Jonny Brodzinski made it a 2-0 Ontario advantage, catching a cross-ice pass for forward Michael Mersch for his 12th goal of the season. Defenseman Kevin Gravel chipped in the second assist. Forward Ryan Horvat continued the Reign’s first-period onslaught with his fifth goal of the season at 11:34 from defenseman Kevin Raine and forward Matt Leitner. The Condors slowed down the attack when forward Josh Currie slipped a shot between the legs of Budaj at 13:03.
In the second period, forward Justin Auger reclaimed a three-goal lead for the Reign, banking a shot off the pads of Lundstrom at 7:44. The Condors caught a lucky bounce late in the frame as defenseman Dillon Simpson’s shot from the left circle popped up and fell behind Budaj at 18:30.
Forward Sean Backman completed the game scoring with an empty-net goal from Mersch at 19:24 of the final period. Both sides finished the game 0-for-2 on the power play.

You must be logged in to post a comment.