Life without Mike kicked off on LA Kings Night at the Vault, as the Reign sported variations of classic Kings duds. But missing their main man, would Ontario's performance sink to traditional Forum blue and gold lows?
The only stretch of time that this game ever seemed in the balance was about 10 minutes into the first. It was this tightly contested: Shots were 5-5 and ES scoring chances just one apiece. It was so even that when Jonny Brodzinski took the game's first penalty, two seconds into the Bakersfield man advantage, Anton Slepyshev interfered with Andrew Crescenzi.