A ton of energy filled Acrisure Arena on Tuesday, but for the second consecutive game the Coachella Valley Firebirds could only muster a single goal in a loss.
The Firebirds led the Ontario Reign, as they had in each of the three games in their best-of-five Calder Cup Playoffs series. But two quick Reign goals in a two-minute span in the third period did in Coachella Valley, leading to a painful 2-1 loss in front of a crowd of 6,515.
The Reign now lead the series, 2-1, with Game 4 inside Acrisure Arena on Thursday. A potential Game 5 would be Saturday in Ontario.
“I thought our game was good enough to win,” Firebirds head coach Derek Laxdal said. “Overall I really liked our guys’ game. If we can bottle that up and bring that on Thursday I like what will happen.”
Coachella Valley won the first game, 3-0, in Ontario, before the Reign won Game 2, 5-1.
Played on Cinco de Mayo, a Mariachi band performed during the starting lineups and for the national anthem, and the crowd, while not the biggest, was the arguably the loudest it has been all season for the Firebirds.
Forward Jani Nyman scored the lone goal for the Firebirds, at the 16:50 mark of the first period. The goal was assisted by Forward Jagger Firkus. Firkus noted after the game that Ontario is a tough defensive team and that it’ll take a strong offensive effort on Thursday to keep the series alive.
“They’re just a front-block team,” Firkus said. “They block a lot of shots. I think they eat a lot of pucks and that’s a big reason it’s so hard to score on them, because you’ve got to get it through layers to get it on net.”
Nikke Kokko saved 22 shots in the loss and held Ontario without a goal for the first two periods, while the Firebirds controlled possession and outshot the Reign, 22-16.
But Aatu Jämsen scored early in the third period off a rebound, and not long after Logan Brown scored on the rush to give Ontario its first lead of their game with 13 minutes remaining.
The Firebirds were unable to convert on their two power play opportunities. Coachella Valley went on a power play with 2:12 remaining and pulled Kokko to play 6-on-4, but was unable to score despite five shots on goal.
They are now 3-0 in these playoffs when they score on the power play and 0-3 when they do not.
“Obviously we’re going to need to score on the power play going forward,” Laxdal said.
Reign goalie Erik Portillo, who was 0-4 in playoff games against the Firebirds prior to Tuesday, had a strong game, saving 27 shots. Portillo was the Reign goalie in Game 1 and Pheonix Copley replaced him for Game 2. Then, the Reign went back to him Tuesday.
“Portillo played a great game,” Laxdal said. “We had some looks in the third where he was lying on his chest and he had no idea where the puck was. We just couldn’t get a shot off.”
Thursday’s Game 4 will have a 7 p.m. puck drop at Acrisure Arena. The Firebirds also faced two elimination games in the first round, winning both games at Acrisure Arena 5-4 and 6-2.
Schedule for Coachella Valley Firebirds vs. Ontario Reign
[This story has been updated to add new information.]
Andrew John covers the Firebirds for The Desert Sun and USA TODAY. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Firebirds drop pivotal Game 3 to Reign in deflating home setback
Reporting by Andrew John, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
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