ONTARIO, Calif. – Captain Craig Valette broke a 1-1 tie with a goal coming with 52.3 seconds left in regulation, lifting the Stockton Thunder (4-4-0, 8 points) to their fourth straight win and a 3-2 victory over the Ontario Reign before 4,503 fans at Citizens Business Bank Arena on Wednesday night.
 

The Thunder, who finished a three-game road trip at a perfect 3-0-0 record, received additional goal-scoring support from Colton Yellow Horn (first in a Thunder uniform) and James Bates in the second period. Goaltender Bryan Pitton secured his first win of the year with 35 saves.
 

Ontario struck first with a power-play goal from Geoff Walker with 9:33 left in the first period, lifting his team to a 1-0 lead when he followed up Bryan Pitton’s save on a Tim Kraus one-timer at the left goal line and banked the puck off the goaltender’s right skate and into the net.
 

Yellow Horn leveled the score at 1-1 with 7:17 left in the second period for his first goal in a Thunder uniform, taking a post-to-post pass from Craig Valette and burying the puck past Ontario goaltender Mike Zacharias’ blocker side.
 

The Thunder penalty kill thwarted five Reign power-plays in the period, including two 5-on-3 situations with Pitton making 13 saves to uphold the 1-1 tie.
 

Bates snapped the 1-1 tie with 3:32 gone in the third period after picking up a rebound at the right circle and rifling it under the crossbar. Jon Rheault answered with his seventh goal of the season to knot the score at 2-2 with 9:10 left in regulation, burying a rebound from the right circle.
 

Valette netted the game-winner when he set a screen in front of the net and caught a piece of Jordan Bendfeld’s drive from the high slot, re-directing the shot past Zacharias for the game-winning goal.
 

After a penalty to Daryl Marcoux, Pitton sealed the game on a kick-save at the buzzer on Geoff Walker, killing off a 6-on-4, empty-net situation.

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