Reign Take Down Barracuda 4-1 in San Jose

San Jose, CA – The Ontario Reign (35-14-4-1) rolled over the San Jose Barracuda (26-21-6-3) 4-1 Sunday evening at SAP Center. Forwards Andrew Crescenzi (two assists), Sean Backman (two assists), Nic Dowd (one goal, one assist) and Michael Mersch (one goal, one assist) each scored two points. Reign

Box Score

The Reign opened the scoring 6:55 into the contest as forward Brett Sutter grabbed his first goal with the Reign and fifth of the season after Crescenzi forced a turnover in the neutral zone.

Mersch gave the Reign a 2-0 lead early in the second period with his team-leading 21st goal of the season, tipping a Dowd shot under the blocker of Barracuda netminder Troy Grosenick (L, 19 saves on 23 shots) at 1:09.  Backman added the second assist. Later in the frame, Backman and Mersch found Dowd between the faceoff circles for a three-goal advantage at 13:15.

The Barracuda jumped onto the scoresheet as forward John McCarthy backhanded a shot off the shin pads of Sutter and between the legs of goaltender Peter Budaj (W, 18 saves on 19 shots) at 8:53 of the third period. Moments later, forward Justin Auger reclaimed a three-goal lead for the Reign and completed the game scoring with a shorthanded goal at 14:58 with help from Auger. The Reign finished the game 0-for-1 on the power play while the Barracuda went 0-for-4.

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