Eagles Can’t Solve Villalta

The Colorado Eagles went into Ontario, California last night for a short, one-game set. The two teams were playing the sixth game out of their eight scheduled regular season games. Before last night, Ontario led the series 3-2 and hoped to maintain that lead. The Reign’s starting goaltender Matthew Villalta is a mystery that the Eagles just cannot seem to solve. He has them figured out. 

First Period

The first period started out on the right foot for the Eagles. About two minutes in, Jean-Luc Foudy tried to enter the zone and had to curl back out with a dump pass to Sampo Ranta. He screamed down the slot with Alex Galchenyuk on his left wing. Ranta sauced the puck to the left for Galchenyuk, who slammed a goal home past Villalta. Unfortunately, that was the only good thing in the period for Colorado. New Eagle Ryan Merkley would head to the box for interference and start a landslide of Ontario goals.

Reign Strike Back

Ontario was holding the puck in the zone during the Merkley penalty. Martin Chromiak gained a rebound and dropped it back to Jordan Spence, who threw a hard one past Colorado goaltender Justus Annunen. The next goal came as the Reign were cycling the puck around the Eagles’ zone. T.J. Tynan was coming from behind the net and up the boards and passed to Spence at the point. Spence sent a hard pass to Frederic Allard and he scored for the same exact spot and the first Ontario goal.

The third goal came with a Ontario dump into the zone and puck battle behind the net. Alan Quine kicked the puck in front of the net to Taylor Ward, who then put the dagger into Annunen’s night. Jonas Johansson would come into the Eagles crease after the Ward goal. With about four minutes left, Ontario entered the zone 4-on-3. Quine dropped the puck to Ward and he attempts a shot from the left point. A scramble happened in front of the crease and Aidan Dudas tapped it in for the Reign’s fourth goal.

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Second Period

The Eagles dramatically cleaned up their play in the second period. Colorado only allowed five total shots compared to the eleven in the first. The Eagles had two chances on the power play, both times getting multiple shots on goal. Villalta would walk out the better, keeping Colorado scoreless on the man advantage. The Reign would get a chance of their own on the power play with a too many men called on the Eagles, but they were held off of the board as well.

Third Period

During the third, the Eagles tried to fight back. They peppered Villalta with shot after shot and could only break through once. Josh Jacobs worked his way up the far side boards and sent the pass cross-ice to Nate Clurman. The defenseman caught the pass as he was sinking down the slot and tossed it over Villalta’s shoulder. With 3:54 left, the Eagles pulled Johansson for the extra attacker, but could not maintain possession. Ontario scored right away on an odd man rush with an empty-net goal from Ward.

Conclusion

The Eagles did exactly what you could ask of them in this situation. The Merkley penalty was a momentum killer and the Reign took advantage. I hate to blame this one on goaltending, but Annunen dug a hole that Colorado could not get out of. Last season, the goal support was there in games like these. This year? Not so much.