REIGN FINAL – Reign 5, Gulls 1 – Sturm, Doty - LA Kings Insider

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• News post

• Jared Shafran

Jacob Doty and Rasmus Kupari each netted a goal and an assist and goaltender Matt Villalta stopped 33 shots as the Ontario Reign (4-1-0) defeated the San Diego Gulls (1-3-0) by a 5-1 score Saturday night at Toyota Arena to claim a sweep of their most heated rival in a home-and-home series this weekend.

• Jacob Doty
• Matt Villalta

• Marco Sturm

# Marco Sturm

I think you could tell that both teams were not really sharp [at the beginning]. I think the game yesterday took a lot of energy out of both teams. They had the better start in the first period, but after that, I think we played pretty solid. Our goal is to play 60 minutes. It was nice to see how we responded. We want to put a team like that beside us right away. Hopefully we’ve learned a lesson and now we’re going to move on.

[Matt Villalta] was really solid. He controlled a lot of rebounds and other stuff because they go to the net really hard. I thought Matty was really good today. Two big games and we got two big goaltending [performances] our of those two games. That was one of the big reasons why we won those two games.

Right now, everyone is contributing something and that’s what we need. I think if you look at our lineup, that’s where we are right now. We have to tighten up a few things and we did a little bit better job today, but there’s still work to do. We know that we still have to play better, but playing back-to-back against San Diego is not easy, especially to go there for their home opener. Tight games like yesterday are not easy, so we’re glad we came home with four points.

# Jacob Doty

It’s nice. We play those guys a lot. I don’t know how many off the top of my head, but it’s a lot, and I can tell you that. Anytime you can take four of four from them, it’s a good feeling. Especially, a nice one on the road last night and this one was obviously a little more open for us, and we’ll take that. It was a good team win.

Their guy tried to come off the wall and beat me to the middle and I was lucky enough to get a stick on it. I had a step and went to the backhand and made a move. I was actually trying to go five hole but got hooked a little bit. It ended up going off the post and in, but don’t ask how, right?

It’s always nice to contribute, but that’s not necessarily my gig and I understand that. I have no issues with what I do. Obviously its nice to chip in, but I’m not going to change my game. It’s been going well, but we’ll see what happens.

Back in Montana, there’s no permanent ice where I live until September 1. That’s a huge disadvantage for a professional hockey player. The decision for my family and I to stay in LA and train and workout was awesome, and it seems to be paying off. I feel really good. I had a great summer and I’ve just got to keep it going.