Home game dates for first-round playoff series out

The Reign may not know who they’re playing in the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs, but now they know their home game dates at least.

The Reign have secured home-ice advantage in the first round, which is a best-of-five series. The opponent and opening road games are TBD, but the dates and times for games at Citizens Business Bank Arena are as follows:

Game 1 on road) TBD
Game 2 on road) TBD
Game 3 at home) Thursday, April 28, 7 p.m.
Game 4 at home) Friday, April 29, 7 p.m.**
Game 5 at home) Sunday, May 1, 3 p.m.**
**If necessary

Ontario (43-18-4-1, .689 winning percentage) recently won the Pacific Division title and is on a four-game winning streak. The Reign will cap their regular season with a back-to-back in San Diego starting Friday.

If the season were to end today, the Reign would face the Charlotte Checkers, a No. 5 Central Division crossover. Due to the fact that there is one more team in the Central (9) than the Pacific (8), if the No. 5 team in the Central has a higher winning percentage than the No. 4 team in the Pacific, then they instead make the postseason.

The fight for that last spot with the chance to face Ontario is most likely down to Charlotte and the San Jose Barracuda. Charlotte (36-30-3-5, .541; 3 games remaining, magic # 4) and San Jose (30-25-8-3, .538; 2 games remaining, magic # 5). The Stockton Heat remain in contention, but their magic number is a lofty 10 with three games remaining. The Heat play at Bakersfield tonight at 7 p.m.

For more on the AHL playoff picture, the league puts out an outstanding daily primer and today’s can be found here.