
TWTW: Reign Start Season with 5-Game Win Streak
Oct 26, 2015The 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)