REIGN PREVIEW 11/1 – Ontario at Henderson

WHO: Ontario Reign (1-4-0-0) at Henderson Silver Knights (2-5-0-0)
WHAT: AHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME #6
WHEN: Friday, November 1 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Lee’s Family Forum – Henderson, NV
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FloHockey – AUDIO: Reign Radio – TWITTER: @ShafReign & @OntarioReign

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Ontario Reign and Henderson Silver Knights begin a two-game home-and-home series Friday night at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, NV. It’s the second of three contests between the two clubs in a week-long span which will conclude on Saturday evening in Ontario at Toyota Arena.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: The Reign are aiming to avenge a 5-1 loss to the Silver Knights on Sunday night in Ontario, where they allowed three second period goals to Henderson. Ontario is still looking to get its power play going in the right direction, having scored just once on the man-advantage in 24 opportunities during its first five contests. Prior to Sunday’s contest Henderson had struggled on the defensive side of the puck and has now allowed 28 goals in seven outings, an average of four per game. The Reign got back to their stingy shot suppression ways despite the loss on Sunday, allowing just 22 shots to the Silver Knights and now average the lowest shot total in the AHL through five games (24.6).

LAST TIME OUT: Three power play goals, including a pair from Gage Quinney, gave the Henderson Silver Knights a 5-1 win over the Ontario Reign on Sunday afternoon at Toyota Arena. Ontario’s lone strike came from Aatu Jamsen, who recorded his first North American professional goal at 15:35 of the first period during the losing effort with assists from Joe Hicketts and Jacob Doty.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Ontario won five of the eight matchups against the Silver Knights during the 2023-24 regular season, posting a record of 5-1-1-1 that included three multi-goal victories. Overall, the Reign outscored the Silver Knights by a 29-21 margin in last year’s series. Henderson held a 237-214 edge in shots on goal in the eight contests. Brandt Clarke led all Reign skaters against the Silver Knights last season with 10 points on three goals and seven assists, while Samuel Fagemo had eight points on three goals and five assists.

JAMSEN’S FIRST STRIKE: Forward Aatu Jamsen scored his first goal as a member of the Reign during Sunday’s contest by grabbing a rebound off an initial chance from Joe Hicketts and wristing the puck just underneath the bar to pull Ontario even in the first period at 1-1. Jamsen, a native of Lahti, Finland, has begun to showcase his offensive game, finding his footing three games into his AHL career. A former seventh round selection by the LA Kings in the 2020 NHL Draft, Jamsen posted back-to-back 14-goal seasons in Finland’s Liiga with the Pelicans and helped the team on a lengthy playoff run in consecutive years where they finished as the runner-up in the league in 2023 and 2024.

SCOUTING THE SILVER KNIGHTS: Henderson got its second win of the season on Sunday in Ontario and is aiming to move up the Pacific Division standings after a slow start to the 2024-25 season with one win in its first six games. The Silver Knights missed out on the Calder Cup Playoffs a year ago, finishing as the first team out of postseason competition, eighth place in the Pacific Division standings. Forwards Tanner Laczynski and Gage Quinney are tied for the team lead in scoring after seven contests, each recording seven points. Quinney has four goals and three assists, while Laczynski has three tallies and four helpers. Forwards Jonas Rondbjerg and Matyas Sapovaliv have also recorded two goals apiece to begin the year. Robert Hägg leads all Silver Knights defenders with six points on a goal and five assists. In goal, Akira Schmid has played in five of Henderson’s seven games and recorded his first win of the season against the Reign last weekend. Carl Lindbom has also seen action in two games and has a 0.911 save percentage in 120 minutes of play.

PERFECT TIMING FOR PINELLI: Forward Francesco Pinelli drove to the net and batted a rebound out of the air to score his first goal of the season last Friday in Coachella Valley at 6:27 of the third period. The second-year attacker, who also recorded his first point of the year on the goal, is looking to improve off a rookie campaign which consisted of 20 points on 13 goals and seven assists. The Stoney Creek, Ontario native was originally selected by the LA Kings in the second round of the 2021 NHL Draft at 42nd overall.

HICKETTS ASSISTING THE OFFENSE: Reign captain Joe Hicketts has picked up three assists in his first five games this season, which leads the club. The 28-year-old blueliner is coming off a season where he was held to only 30 regular season appearances, but he was active offensively during that time, totaling 20 points on a goal and 19 assists. Hicketts was also an important factor during Ontario’s two playoff series wins and the Kamloops, B.C. native earned six points in eight playoff outings on a goal and five assists. Now in his ninth AHL season, Hicketts has 220 total points during 454 games on 35 goals and 185 helpers.