REIGN PREVIEW 11/20 – Ontario at Henderson

WHO: Ontario Reign (6-7-0-0) at Henderson Silver Knights (4-9-0-0)
WHAT: AHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME #14
WHEN: Wednesday, November 20 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Lee’s Family Forum – Henderson, NV
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FloHockey – AUDIO: ESPN LA App / Reign Radio – TWITTER: @ShafReign & @OntarioReign

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Ontario Reign line up for their fourth meeting of the 2024-25 season against the Henderson Silver Knights at Lee’s Family Forum on Wednesday night. Ontario took two of the first three meetings between the teams during a series that took place three weeks ago.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Since the series the two teams contested earlier this month, the Reign have a record of 3-3-0, while the Silver Knights have gone 2-2-0, splitting a series on the road in Calgary and a home set against Tucson. Ontario remains in seventh place in the Pacific Division standings with 12 points and Henderson is at the bottom of the table with four wins and eight points from 13 contests. The Silver Knights have struggled in their home building, going 1-6-0 in seven contests that have been played in Henderson. Ontario ranks fifth in the AHL offensively, averaging 3.54 goals per game. Henderson has also had more success on the offensive end than in their own zone, posting 3.08 goals per night. The Silver Knights are right in the middle of the league rankings on the power play, scoring on 18% of their 61 chances this season, while Ontario is just below them with a success rate of 16.7% on the man-advantage.

LAST TIME OUT: The Ontario Reign erased a two-goal deficit early in the third period, but a strike by Devante Stephens moments later pushed the Colorado Eagles back in front for good on their way to a 6-4 win on Saturday at Blue Arena. Ontario leaves Colorado with a split from a two-game series after Glenn Gawdin and Reilly Walsh each scored for a third straight game, Angus Booth netted his first professional goal and Jeff Malott added two assists.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Already Ontario’s most common opponent, the Reign have now outscored Henderson 13-9 from the three previous meetings they’ve played this year. The shot totals have been more lopsided, with the Ontario putting 120 shots on net while the Silver Knights have managed just 77. Both clubs have scored four times on the other during special teams situations in the series. Three Ontario skaters have each posted four points against Henderson in the series, including Samuel Fagemo (2-2=4), Charles Hudon (2-2=4), and Glenn Gawdin (1-3=4). The Silver Knights also have three skaters with four points against the Reign, including Tanner Laczynski (2-2=4), Mason Morelli (2-2=4) and Calen Addison (0-4=4). A year ago, the Reign won five of the eight matchups against Henderson during the 2023-24 regular season, posting a record of 5-1-1-1 that included three multi-goal victories.

OH MY GAWDIN: After scoring two goals and an assist during last Wednesday’s win over Tucson, forward Glenn Gawdin continued his recent hot streak in Colorado over the weekend by scoring on a shorthanded breakaway in the third period Friday and posting a goal and an assist on Saturday. His breakaway goal held up as the game-winner, while his two points the following night now have him at over a point-per-game pace this season with 14 points in 13 contests (6-8=14). After a slow start with only one point from his first five games in a Reign sweater, Gawdin had three straight multi-point outings during the team’s three-game win streak from Nov. 1-6. Since the calendar turned to November, Gawdin has 13 points in eight games, which ranks second-most in the AHL, along with a plus-8 rating. The former fourth-round pick by St. Louis in 2015 is coming off a career-high of 55 points last year with San Diego, scoring 22 goals and 33 assists in 70 outings. In 341 games during his AHL career with Stockton, the Gulls and Ontario, Gawdin, a Richmond, B.C. native, has totaled 250 points on 91 goals and 159 assists.

SCOUTING THE SILVER KNIGHTS: Henderson is aiming to move out of the basement in the Pacific Division standings after a slow start to the 2024-25 season. The Silver Knights missed out on the Calder Cup Playoffs a year ago, finishing as the first team out of postseason competition in eighth place in the Pacific Division standings. Forward Tanner Laczynski leads the team in scoring with 11 points on five goals and six assists while appearing in 12 of the club’s 13 games this year. Grigori Denisenko is just behind him with 10 points on three goals and seven helpers, while Mason Morelli also has five goals to his name along with four assists. Calen Addison leads all Silver Knights defenders with eight points in eight games on a goal and seven assists, which includes a three-assist performance against Ontario on Oct. 27. In goal, Akira Schmid has played in seven of Henderson’s games and recorded his only win of the season against the Reign. Jesper Vikman has also seen action in two games and has won them both with a 0.918 save percentage in 120 minutes of play.

MALOTT MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Forward Jeff Malott has recorded points in seven of his last eight games for Ontario and is now second on the team in overall scoring with 12 points on a goal and 11 assists. Malott had the lone assist on Glenn Gawdin’s game-winning shorthanded breakaway goal in Colorado on Friday night and then added a pair of primary helpers on goals by Gawdin and Angus Booth the following evening. The fifth-year forward has appeared in all 13 of the Reign’s games this season and has recently formed a formidable trio alongside Gawdin and Charles Hudon on Ontario’s top forward line. Malott, a Waterdown, Ontario native, had a career-high 52 points in 70 games a year ago while playing for the Manitoba Moose, scoring 22 goals and 30 assists. It was his third consecutive 20-goal season with Manitoba, where he played from 2020-24, totaling 237 AHL games. An undrafted attacker out of Cornell University, Malott made his NHL debut with the Winnipeg Jets in March of 2022.

HICKETTS HELPING OUT: Reign captain Joe Hicketts has picked up 10 assists in his first 13 games this season, which trails only Jeff Malott for the club lead. Last weekend, the defender earned the primary helper on forward Kaleb Lawrence’s first pro goal late in the second period on Friday night before producing another first assist on Shawn Element’s game-tying third period goal. Hicketts is coming off a season where he was held to only 30 regular season appearances with Ontario, but he was active offensively during that time, totaling 20 points on a goal and 19 assists. The 28-year-old defender was also an important factor during Ontario’s two playoff series wins, earning six points in eight playoff outings on a goal and five assists. In his ninth AHL season, Hicketts has 227 career points during 462 games, with 35 goals and 192 helpers.