PREVIEW – Ontario @ San Jose

WHO: Ontario Reign (10-17-3-2) @ San Jose Barracuda (21-7-1-3)
WHAT: AHL REGULAR SEASON GAME
WHEN: Friday, January 11, @ 7:00 PM
WHERE: SAP Center – San Jose, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: AHLTV – AUDIO – Mixlr (Away Feed) – TWITTER: @ontarioreign & @reigninsider

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Ontario Reign continue their Northern California swing this weekend with a Friday night faceoff against the San Jose Barraciuda. Tonight’s action is a rematch off of Wednesday evening’s game, a 3-1 victory for the Barracuda to begin the Reign’s trip.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Ontario enters this evening’s game on a six-game losing skid, with losses from 11 of its last 12 games and no wins in regulation in its last 14 games. The Reign and Barracuda have met four times this season to date, with the Reign falling in all four contests, including Wednesday night. Across the four meetings, each team has fired exactly 123 shots on goal, however the Barracuda have outscored the Reign by a 14-5 margin, including a 7-2 differential at SAP Center. Ontario is scheduled for a morning skate today in San Jose at 11 AM.

MINIMIZING DAMAGE: The Barracuda enter tonight’s game as the least penalized team in the AHL. San Jose has amassed just 357 penalty minutes and has been shorthanded just 107 times, 12 fewer than its nearest opponent. The Barracuda also boast the AHL’s fourth ranked penalty-kill unit and have allowed just 15 PPG’s this season, the fewest in the league. Ontario has gone 1-of-11 on the man advantage against San Jose in their four meetings this season.

BEST BRETTS: Reign forward Brett Sutter scored his eighth goal of the season on Wednesday, a third-period tally with his team shorthanded. Sutter’s goal was his second shorthanded goal and fourth shorthanded point of the season, tying the veteran forward for the AHL lead in shorthanded points. Overall, Sutter has amassed 23 points (8-15-23) this season and is on pace for his highest scoring season as a professional.

SHORTHANDED BANDITS: Sutter’s shorthanded tally in Wednesday’s defeat was Ontario’s sixth shorthanded marker of the season, tying the Reign for fourth in the AHL in shorthanded goals. Sutter is tied with teammate Kyle Bauman for the Reign lead with two shorthanded goals apiece, while forward Sam Herr (1-1-2) and defenseman Alex Lintuniemi (0-2-2) have each collected multiple shorthanded points.

GO SEE CAL: Ontario once again received a solid goaltending performance from Cal Petersen, who stopped 26-of-28 in the defeat on Wednesday. Petersen has lost each of his three decisions since returning from the NHL, but has compiled a .920 save percentage and a 2.39 goals against average in that span. Dating back to his three AHL appearances in November, Petersen has posted a .916 save percentage, rebounding off of a slow start in October.

INJURY UPDATE: Defenseman Daniel Brickley left Wednesday’s game against San Jose with an apparent lower-body injury, suffered on an awkward collision into the corner early in the third period. Following the game, Ontario Head Coach Mike Stothers deemed Brickley “hurt” and yesterday morning, Kings General Manager Rob Blake said that Brickley would be re-evaluated later in the day, per Curtis Zupke.

UPDATE – Brickley’s injury has been deemed “week-to-week” by Blake, per The Athletic’s Lisa Dillman.

An update on the Daniel Brickley injury. Per Rob Blake, Brickley (lower body injury) is week to week. https://t.co/GxmBFm7re3

— lisa dillman (@reallisa) January 11, 2019