REIGN PREVIEW 12/31 – Ontario at Henderson

WHO: Ontario Reign (17-8-0-1) at Henderson Silver Knights (8-21-0-0)
WHAT: AHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME #27
WHEN: Tuesday, December 31 @ 5:00 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 wrap up the 2024 portion of their schedule on Tuesday night when they face the Henderson Silver Knights in a New Year’s Eve matchup at Lee’s Family Forum.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: The Reign enter Tuesday’s contest in a tie for third place in the Pacific Division standings alongside Colorado with 35 points apiece. Ontario is just a single point back of San Jose for second and can move ahead with a win from tonight’s game. This season the Reign have posted an 8-3-0-1 record away from home, including a 2-0-0 mark in Henderson against the Silver Knights. Henderson is coming off a 5-2 win over the Barracuda on Sunday afternoon but is still at the bottom of the standings with the lowest current points percentage in the AHL (.276). Ontario holds the third-highest scoring offense in the AHL, averaging 3.58 goals per game, while posting the fourth-most shots on goal per contest (31.69). The Silver Knights are the only team in the league that has not played in an overtime game yet this season.

LAST TIME OUT: A 3-for-3 performance in the shootout gave the Ontario Reign a 4-3 win on the road over the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Saturday night at Acrisure Arena. Jeff Malott and Samuel Fagemo each recorded goals in both regulation and the shootout, while Francesco Pinelli tallied his third goal of the weekend in the victory for Ontario that was backstopped by 19 saves from Pheonix Copley in the crease.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Reign have won three of their four previous meetings with Henderson this season, outscoring the Silver Knights by a 17-11 margin. The shot totals have been more lopsided, with the Ontario putting 150 shots on net while the Silver Knights have managed just 100. Both clubs have fared well against the other on the power play, with the Reign netting five man-advantage tallies in the series to earn a success rate of 27.8%, while Henderson has four PP tallies, scoring on 21.1% of its chances. Glenn Gawdin leads Ontario with seven points from the four previous contests against Henderson on two goals and five assists. Samuel Fagemo has also chipped in six points in the series with three goals and three helpers, while Charles Hudon has registered three goals and two assists. Calen Addison has led the Silver Knights in the series with five assists against Ontario, while forwards Tanner Laczynski and Mason Morelli have each registered four points on two goals and two helpers. 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.

2024 YEAR-END WRAPUP: With one game remaining on their 2024 calendar, the Reign have a lot of good results to look back on from the past year, which has included a total regular season record of 43-21-0-4 from 68 games, giving them a points percentage of 0.661. A win on Wednesday would make December the team’s best month of the year, while a loss would have it ranked just behind March when Ontario won 10 of their 13 games and finished with a .807 points percentage. Samuel Fagemo has been the team’s highest-scoring player of 2024, posting 66 points from 65 games on 48 goals and 18 assists. Charles Hudon ranks second in the past year with 59 points on 22 tallies and 37 helpers. Tyler Madden has also been impressive with 46 points (18-28=46) while playing more games than any other Reign skater (75). Taylor Ward has earned the best rating during the year with a +32 from 72 contests.

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 19 points on six goals and 13 assists while appearing in 17 of the club’s 29 games this year. Grigori Denisenko is just behind him with 18 points on six goals and 12 helpers, while rookie forwards Braeden Bowman and Matyas Sapovaliv each have 13 points on six goals and seven helpers apiece. Calen Addison and Robert Hagg are tied for the team lead among Silver Knights defenders with 12 points each. In goal, Akira Schmid has played in 16 of Henderson’s games and has a save percentage of 0.897.

PINELLI STAYS HOT: Forward Francesco Pinelli scored twice during the first period of Ontario’s 4-3 shootout loss in San Diego on Friday night for his first-career multi-goal effort. He followed that performance up with the team’s first goal on Saturday in Palm Desert and has found the back of the net five times during December, the best month of goal scoring in his AHL career. The Stoney Creek, Ontario native now has seven tallies while appearing in all the club’s 26 games so far during his sophomore season. The former second-round selection by the LA Kings in the 2021 NHL Draft has 13 total points to his name (7-6=13). Through 93 career AHL contests over the past two campaigns, Pinelli has 20 goals and 13 assists for 33 points.

COMEBACK KINGS: Ontario has been very comfortable with coming from behind during its recent stretch of hot play which includes seven wins from the last eight outings they’ve contested. In each of the seven wins, the team successfully eliminated a deficit before coming out on top, including their most recent victory in Coachella Valley on Saturday where they trailed twice at 1-0 and 2-1. In total, 10 of the team’s 17 wins have been in come-from-behind fashion, including eight when they’ve surrendered the first goal of the game. With their success coming late in games, the Reign have outscored opponents a combined 34-20 in the third period this season.

Reign Check Gameday Forecast


2024-25 Head-to-Head Schedule vs. Henderson:
Sun., Oct. 27 vs. Henderson, 1-5 L – Full Recap
Fri., Nov. 1 at Henderson, 4-1 W – Full Recap
Sat., Nov 2 vs. Henderson, 8-3 W – Full Recap
Wed., Nov. 20 at Henderson, 4-2 W – Full Recap
Tue., Dec. 31 at Henderson, 5 p.m.
Wed., Jan. 8 at Henderson, 7 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 18 vs. Henderson, 6 p.m.
Sun., Mar. 16 vs. Henderson, 3 p.m.