Connors Scores 17 Seconds Into OT, Reign Edge Eagles 2-1

In AHL three-on-three overtime, the outcome is often decided before the bench can react. Tuesday night at Toyota Arena, Pheonix Copley played the puck from behind his own net, found Martin Chromiak at the right wing, and watched him hit full stride up ice. Seventeen seconds after the extra period began, Kenny Connors had caught Chromiak's feed in the high slot, twisted a wrist shot past the glove of Colorado goaltender Trent Miner, and sent 5,273 fans home with a 2-1 Ontario Reign victory over the Eagles.

The sequence captured exactly how AHL overtimes end in 2026: a goaltender willing to handle the puck and start the break, a transition skater with the speed to make a full-rink play in seconds, and a finisher positioned where the shot lane opens. "Chromiak has a ton of speed," Connors said postgame. "He made a really good play coming up the ice. Just trying to get myself open a little bit, create some space." The goal, Connors' 14th of the season, came off his own three-game point streak.

The two points carried immediate standings weight. Ontario entered the night with a one-point edge over Colorado at the top of the Pacific Division. The win stretched that lead to two points, while a Colorado overtime win would have erased it entirely, leaving the clubs level with four games apiece remaining before April 19 closes the regular season. Ontario also reached 44 wins, tying the franchise record set during the 2015-16 season.

Regulation was a defensive grind through which Colorado seized the first lead. Ahcan's goal gave the Eagles a one-goal edge that lasted roughly four minutes before a Reign power play, carrying 70 seconds into the third period, produced an equalizer. Cole Guttman worked the puck from behind the net and fed Chromiak in the right circle, where a low wrist shot found the net for Chromiak's 26th goal of the season, his 10th on the power play. Coach Andrew Lord credited a full-season arc rather than just a single moment: "The amount he's grown over this season is immense. Just learned to be grittier and compete and really use his speed and his shot."

Copley stopped 26 of 27 shots and earned his fifth straight win. That run of form has coincided with Ontario's tightest late-season stretch, and his willingness to play the puck in overtime proved decisive: without that first touch to Chromiak, there is no 17-second finish.

Colorado's OTL point keeps them mathematically in the chase, but Ontario has now won six of eight regular-season meetings between these two clubs. With the margin at two points and the calendar down to four games, the Reign are firmly in control of their own fate.