The Ontario Reign continued their hot streak of play into the first game of the Calder Cup playoffs, as they beat the Bakersfield Condors 5-1 at home and cruised to a 1-0 series lead. The Condors are now facing elimination on home ice.
Three Stars
In a game where Ontario had four different goal scorers and ten players registering a point, picking only three stars is a tough ask.
The first star of the game for me is Erik Portillo. In my series preview, I talked about the goaltending battle between these two teams, but Portillo came out on top of it in game one, with 30 of 31 saves. His only goal against was on the power play, where Bakersfield went 1 of 5. In the opposite net, Jack Campbell had a strong start, but ultimately allowed 5 goals on 35 shots, including two PPG and a SHG. The two teams were pretty evenly matched, but goaltending took the W for Ontario last night.
The second star of the game is Tyler Madden. He scored the game winner on the power play, and added a second goal in the final period. He finished the game a +1 and had three shots. After scoring only 4 points in the 7 regular season games in April, starting off with 2 points in the first playoff game is a good start for Madden.
The third star of the game is Charles Hudon. He only registered one assist on the night, but he led all skaters in shots on goal with 6, and it felt like he never left the offensive zone all night. Every time there was a dangerous play, Hudon was right there in the midst of it. With a (relatively) quiet night from Ontario’s top line of Samuel Fagemo, TJ Tynan and Alex Turcotte, seeing players like Hudon step up bodes well for this team’s chances.
Two Takeaways
Powerless Play?
One of the keys to this series was special teams. Both teams had hot power plays and shaky kills. However, Ontario stepped up, and Bakersfield tripped up. Ontario scored two power play goals and a short handed goal (on a 4 on 3) in seven PPG attempts. Bakersfield went just one for five on their PP attempts, and their lone goal came on the fifth try. Part of that was due to excellent work from Portillo, but the Condors will either need to be more disciplined, or stronger on the kill to continue. On average in the regular season, Bakersfield took 3.5 minor penalties a game. They took double that last night. They can’t keep doing that against the second best power play in the league.
Bad Blood
Much like their parent teams, these two teams do not like each other very much. There were a combined 64 PIMs handed out between the teams, including three ten minute misconducts, assessed to Ontario’s Brandt Clarke and Jacob Doty, and Bakersfield’s Cam Dineen, for continuing an altercation after another fight had occurred. These occurred with less than ten minutes left in the third period, and though there’s two days between games for this series, I expect that to bubble up early in Game 2, especially if the Reign come out as strong as they did in Game 1.
One Question
What Does Bakersfield Do In Net?
The good news for the Condors is, despite a poor showing from Campbell, they have a goalie waiting in the wings who was just as solid in the regular season: Olivier Rodrigue. A three game series doesn’t give anyone the opportunity for a very long leash. Do the Condors go with their guy in Jack Campbell? Or do they start Rodrigue and hope the Reign find him harder to solve than Campbell? Interesting to note, all three of the regular season series wins for Bakersfield belonged to Campbell.
No matter which goalie they go with, it’s going to be a tough ask. Ontario needs one win out of the next two to advance, and Portillo is red-hot. The Condors might require a shut-out from their goaltending to stand a chance in Game 2.
What’s Next?
The Ontario Reign and Bakersfield Condors face each other again at 7pm on Saturday April 27 in Bakersfield. Bakersfield needs a win to tie the series and send it to a winner takes all Game 3.
