REIGN PREVIEW 1/18 – Ontario vs. Henderson

WHO: Ontario Reign (21-12-0-1) vs. Henderson Silver Knights (9-25-2-0)
WHAT: AHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME #35
WHEN: Saturday, January 18 @ 6:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Toyota Arena – Ontario, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: KCAL+ / FloHockey – AUDIO: ESPN LA App / Reign Radio – TWITTER: @ShafReign & @OntarioReign

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Ontario Reign return home to the Inland Empire on Friday night for their penultimate meeting of the season against the Henderson Silver Knights at Toyota Arena.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Over the past eight days, the Reign have hit a rough patch, winning just one of their last four contests. They’ll look to come out of that funk on Friday when they face a Henderson team that they’ve won five straight against. Ontario’s pair of losses in Abbotsford earlier this week was the first time they’ve been swept in a road series this season. As a result from those struggles, the Reign have dropped into a tie for fourth place in the Pacific Division standings with 43 points alongside San Jose. Henderson has reached the midway point of its season and is at the bottom of the table with just 20 points. Ontario holds the sixth-highest scoring offense in the AHL, averaging 3.41 goals per game, while also posting the second-most shots on goal per contest (32.4). Henderson is the third-most penalized team in the league this season, averaging over 15 penalty minutes per game.

LAST TIME OUT: The Abbotsford Canucks (18-15-1-1) got 42 saves from goaltender Artūrs Šilovs on their way to a 5-2 win over the Ontario Reign (21-12-0-1) Wednesday night, earning themselves a second consecutive victory over Ontario to sweep the mid-week series between the two teams at the Abbotsford Centre. Both of Ontario’s goals came on the power play late in the third period, with Samuel Fagemo netting his team-leading 20th of the season while Jeff Malott scored for the second straight game and now has points in three consecutive contests. Despite the loss, the Reign out-shot Abbotsford 44-21.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Reign have won five of their six previous meetings with Henderson this season, outscoring the Silver Knights by a 23-15 margin. The shot totals have been more lopsided, with the Ontario putting 225 shots on net while the Silver Knights have managed 166. Both clubs have fared well against the other on the power play, each netting six man-advantage tallies against the other in the series. The Reign have a success rate of 27.3% (6/22), while Henderson has scored on 23.1% of its chances (6/26). Glenn Gawdin leads Ontario with nine points from the six previous contests against Henderson on three goals and six assists. Samuel Fagemo has also chipped in seven points in the series with four goals and three helpers, while Charles Hudon has registered three goals and three assists. The Silver Knights have been led by forward Tanner Laczynski and defenders Calen Addison and Robert Hagg in the series, who have each totaled five points. Laczynski has two goals and three helpers, while Addison and Hagg have each recorded five assists. 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.

GOOD GAWD-IN: Reign forward Glenn Gawdin a native of Richmond, British Columbia, posted a goal and an assist in his return to his home province Tuesday after recording his team-high fourth three-point game of the year Sunday afternoon with two goals and an assist in a win over Iowa. Gawdin also had an assist on Samuel Fagemo’s third period power play strike on Wednesday. The attacker leads the team with 36 points this season while appearing in each of the club’s 34 games and is on pace for his highest scoring pro season after finishing with a career-best 55 points as a member of San Diego during 2023-24. Gawdin’s current point total ranks second in the AHL this season and is tied for the most among active players alongside San Jose’s Andrew Poturalski and Rockford’s Cole Guttman. Gawdin’s three game-winning goals already equal the most he’s had during a single season and his 16.3% shooting percentage is the third-highest among active Ontario skaters. In 362 career AHL games split between three different clubs, Gawdin has totaled 272 points on 98 goals and 174 assists.

SCOUTING THE SILVER KNIGHTS: Henderson is aiming to turn the page as they move into the second half of their 2024-25 regular season. The Silver Knights failed to produce a win last weekend in Abbotsford, falling to the Canucks on back-to-back nights before dropping a Thursday night contest in Coachella Valley by a 6-3 score. Forward Tanner Laczynski leads the team in scoring with 24 points on seven goals and 17 assists while appearing in 23 of the club’s 36 games this year. Grigori Denisenko is just behind him with 21 points on eight goals and 13 helpers, while rookie forward Braeden Bowman has 17 points on eight goals and nine helpers. Robert Hagg and Calen Addison have led the team’s defenders on the offensive end with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Carl Lindbom has been getting more opportunities in between the pipes recently and has a team-high 0.912 save percentage. Akira Schmid has played in 19 of Henderson’s games on the year and has a save percentage of 0.889.

HOT SHOT HUDON: Forward Charles Hudon has picked up where he left off after missing four games while he represented Canada at the Spengler Cup in Davos Switzerland in the final days of 2024. Since his return, the sharpshooter has scored eight points in six games on two goals and six assists. Hudon has found the back of the net in two of his last three outings and is now tied for second on the Reign in goal-scoring with Glenn Gawdin. The Alma, Quebec native has multi-point efforts in five of his last eight contests, giving him 30 points in 30 games for Ontario this season along with a plus-six rating and a team-high five game-winning goals, which is tied for the AHL league lead. The former fifth-round selection by Montreal in 2012 is coming off a 2023-24 campaign where he finished with 54 points in 56 outings on 20 goals and 34 assists. Hudon scored 10 of his 20 goals on the power play a season ago and previously led the AHL in power play goals when he totaled 17 as a member of the Colorado Eagles during 2022-23.

HOME SWEET HOME: Although they got off to a shaky start, the Reign have won six of their last eight inside Toyota Arena since the calendar turned to December and currently have an 11-7-0 mark in front of their home fans this season. Ontario has outscored opponents at home by a 64-56 margin during games in the Inland Empire this year.

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, 4-3 W – Full Recap
Wed., Jan. 8 at Henderson, 2-1 W – Full Recap
Sat., Jan. 18 vs. Henderson, 6 p.m.
Sun., Mar. 16 vs. Henderson, 3 p.m.