ONTARIO, Calif. -- The Ontario Reign end their three game win streak as the Coachella Valley Firebirds defeat them 4-3 on Friday night at Toyota Arena.
The game was a back and forth chess match meeting, which differs from their matchup two weeks ago where the Firebirds beat the Reign 5-2.
The Reign displayed a new jersey colorway with purple trim to celebrate Hockey Fights Cancer night. The intensity from the crowd and team did not disappoint, but it wasn’t enough.
Ontario went 0-for-3 in power play opportunities and fell to 0-2 against Coachella Valley in the season thus far.
“We had no speed, we had no momentum,” coach Marco Sturm said in postgame interviews. “We didn’t create anything…but again it comes down to little mistakes.”
The Coachella Valley Firebirds began the scoring as Eduard Sale scored during a power play. But four minutes later, Glenn Gawdin scored his second goal of the year to even the score.
Both teams gained one more score in the second period. A goal from Taylor Ward and one from Coachella Valley’s Ville Ottavainen.
A quarter into the third period, Jacob Doty scored his second goal of the season with help from Luke Rowe and Taylor Ward.
But just five minutes after Doty scored, the Firebirds tied the score once again with a goal from Jani Nyman.
“They (Coachella Valley) play fast, they transition quickly,” Ward said. “They capitalize on mistakes that you make…so just making sure that we’re on our details and playing smart can alleviate a lot of that pressure, but not enough tonight.”
Jagger Firkus scored the game-winning goal with only two and a half minutes left to play, and Ontario was unable to come out with a victory.
“(It’s) disappointing,” Ward said. “We had the lead a couple times, obviously not the outcome we wanted. But, to be honest I don’t know if we were good enough to win tonight anyways.
The Reign and Firebirds have conjured up a bit of a rivalry these past few years, and Ward emphasized how disappointing the loss was.
“I don't think we ever like losing no matter who it is,” Ward said. “But we don’t like those guys and I don't think they like us very much, so games like this are always very competitive and high-spirited.”
The Reign have a day off before they hit the road for another matchup against the Firebirds on Sunday November 10 at 3 p.m. at Acrisure Arena.