Reign playoff-bound for a second straight season

The Reign are headed to the postseason for a second straight season since the Ontario-based team became the Los Angeles Kings’ AHL affiliate.

Heading into Friday, the Reign’s magic number to clinch a Calder Cup playoff berth was at three and they needed to earn at least a point in San Diego and get a little help from Bakersfield to secure a spot.

Bakersfield lost 4-3 in San Antonio just shortly after 8 p.m. PT and the Reign took their 4-0 win in San Diego final nearly an hour and a half later to make it official. The Reign converted twice on a four-minute power play in the second period on goals by Vincent LoVerde and Mike Amadio just 53 seconds apart, and goalie Jack Campbell made 30 saves for his fifth shutout and 30th win to lead the Reign to the playoff-clincher.

The Reign and Gulls, the Kings and Ducks affiliates respectively, appear as though they will face one another in the best-of-five first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs. The Gulls (40-19-3-2; 664 winning percentage) sit at second in the Pacific and the Reign at third (34-20-10-0; .609). No. 1 and 4 seeds (currently San Jose and Stockton for the Pacific) in each division face one another in the first round while seeds 2 and 3 meet.

The two also meet three more times in the Reign’s last four regular season games, including Saturday night in Ontario at 7 p.m. With Friday’s win, the Reign improved to 5-3-1-0 on the season against the Gulls.

In 2015-16, the Reign defeated the Gulls four games to one in a seven-game second round series but were swept by eventual champ Lake Erie, now Cleveland, in the Western Conference Finals. The previous season the Kings’ AHL team was based in Manchester, N.H., and won the organization’s first Calder Cup before the affiliate moved to California.