The Henderson Silver Knights brought the energy to Lee’s Family Forum on Wednesday night. The Silver Knights beat the Ontario Reign for the second time this season, 6-2. Henderson has now won five straight games.
Cameron Whitehead, who earned his first AHL win on Saturday, started in goal for Henderson for the third time this season. The Reign started strong with multiple shots on goal. Possession-wise, the teams were about even. The Knights fell short in taking shots early on, but it didn’t give much of an advantage to the Reign. Ontario’s Aatu Jämsen scored halfway into the period, giving the Reign a 1-0 lead. Less than a minute later, Jared Wright scored a second goal for Ontario. The Knights struggled to get set in a formation to take a shot until the final four minutes. In a jumble at the net, Kai Uchacz found the puck and snuck into the goal. This was Uchacz’s first goal of the season. The competition heated up as the Knights controlled the puck for the remainder of the period, outshooting the Reign 12-8.
The Knights returned to the ice for the second period with energy. It only took the men 1:42 to tie the game 2-2 with a goal from Ben Hemmerling. A breakaway from Thomas Uronen less than two minutes later put Henderson ahead 3-2. As the Knights heated up, so did the Reign. A player from each team was put in the penalty box for roughing. That didn’t stop Henderson’s momentum. Dylan Coghlan scored his second goal of the season, slipping the puck slowly but surely in between the pads of goalie Phoenix Copley. Ontario began to take some puck control midway through the period. They went on to outshoot Henderson 14-6, but couldn’t find the back of the net.
With a 4-2 lead, the Knights had no thought of backing down in the third period. Braeden Bowman scored his fourth goal in the last four games, putting the Knights up 5-2. The Reign tallied two shots in the first six minutes while Henderson scored yet another goal. Bowman made it a 6-2 game for the Silver Knights. Six goals is the most scored by the Knights in a game so far this season. Henderson had its first power play but didn’t end up getting a shot in. Jackson Hallum was penalized for interference, and the Knights killed the penalty.
The game ended with the Knights tallying 24 shots. Whitehead had 31 saves in goal. Henderson is now 5-2 overall and 2-0 against Ontario this season.
