TWTW: Reign Start Season with 5-Game Win Streak

Oct 26, 2015

The Week That Was...

The Ontario Reign pushed their season-opening winning streak to five contests and celebrated Opening Weekend at Citizens Business Bank Arena with a pair of wins over the Bakersfield Condors and San Jose Barracuda for a week record of 2-0-0-0 and an overall record of 5-0-0-0.

In front of a sellout crowd of 9,491 on Friday night, the Reign erased a 3-0 Condors lead with four goals in two minutes and 42 seconds and cruised to a 5-4 victory in the first AHL game in Inland Empire history. Forward Valentin Zykov netted two goals and forward Kris Newbury added a goal and an assist.

On Saturday, goaltender Peter Budaj grabbed his third shutout of the season making 24 saves in a 3-0 triumph over San Jose. Forwards Andrew Crescenzi, Adrian Kempe and Michael Mersch buried goals and forward Sean Backman sent his assist streak to five games (six assists).

The Numbers:

• Record: 5-0-0-0 (1st Pacific Division, 1st Western Conference)
• Home: 2-0-0-0
• Away: 3-0-0-0
• Last 10 Games: 5-0-0-0
• Streak: 5-0-0-0
• Goals: Michael Mersch (4) 
• Assists: Sean Backman (6)
• Points: Kris Newbury, Sean Backman (6)
• Penalty Minutes: Ryan Horvat (17)
• Power-Play Goals: Kris Newbury, Valentin Zykov, Adrian Kempe, Kevin Gravel (1)
• Power-Play Assists: Sean Backman (4)
• Power-Play Points: Sean Backman (4)
• Shorthanded Goals: N/A
• Shorthanded Assists: N/A
• Shorthanded Points: N/A
• Game-Winning Goals: Valentin Zykov (2)
• Wins: Peter Budaj (5)                          
• GAA: Peter Budaj (0.98)                    
• SPCT: Peter Budaj (.955)

League Leaders:

• Forward Ryan Horvat leads the AHL with three major penalties.
• Forward Michael Mersch is third in the AHL with 26 shots.
• Goaltender Peter Budaj is second in the league with a 0.98 goals-against average (GAA), third with a .955 save percentage and first with three shutouts and five wins.
• Forward Valentin Zykov is tied for first among AHL rookies with two game-winning goals.

Advocare Weekly Champion: 

Goaltender Peter Budaj

• Two Games Played
• Two Wins
• One Shutout
• Second in the AHL in GAA
• First in Wins (5) and Shutouts (3)