Justin Auger’s goal 13:12 into the second period stood up as the difference as the Ontario Reign knocked out the San Jose Barracuda with a 4-1 win at Citizens Business Bank Arena on Friday night.
The Reign move on to the second round after a 3-1 series triumph.
Nic Dowd scored his second goal of the series for Ontario, and Jordan Samuels-Thomas picked the top corner with 4:27 left in regulation to put the game out of reach. Andrew Crescenzi, who also had a pair of assists, added an empty-net goal with 1:27 remaining.
Peter Budaj (3-1) made 18 saves for the Reign, setting up a meeting with San Diego in the Pacific Division Finals.
Jeremy Langlois scored for San Jose, which played four tight contests with the division champions after not qualifying for the postseason until the final night of the regular season.
Aaron Dell (1-3) was admirable again in net for the Barracuda, finishing with 31 saves on 34 shots. Dell had a .939 save percentage in 12 meetings against Ontario this season.
Ontario outshot San Jose by a 35-19 margin in Game 4 and 151-80 for the series, and finished 8-0 at home against the Barracuda on the season.
Pacific Division Semifinals – Series “G” (best-of-5)
P1-Ontario Reign vs. P4-San Jose Barracuda
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 22 – Ontario 2, SAN JOSE 1
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 23 – SAN JOSE 3, Ontario 2
Game 3 – Thu., Apr. 28 – ONTARIO 3, San Jose 1
Game 4 – Fri., Apr. 29 – ONTARIO 4, San Jose 1
Justin Auger regains the lead for the @ontarioreign #ONTvsSJ pic.twitter.com/0krmmAkWxl
— AHL (@TheAHL) April 30, 2016
