REIGN PREVIEW 3/8 – Ontario at San Diego

WHO: Ontario Reign (31-18-3-1) at San Diego Gulls (22-25-5-3)
WHAT: AHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME #54
WHEN: Saturday, March 8 @ 6:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Pechanga Arena – San Diego, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FloHockey – AUDIO: ESPN LA App / Reign Radio – TWITTER: @ShafReign & @OntarioReign

TODAY’S MATCHUP: After a tight contest that ended in overtime on Friday, the Ontario Reign and San Diego Gulls will wrap up their weekend home-and-home series Saturday night at Pechanga Arena. The penultimate meeting of 2024-25 between the two SoCal rivals will give one club an edge in the season series, which has seen each team claim three victories against the other from the six contests.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: San Diego has been one of the hottest clubs in the AHL recently, despite its ninth-place position in the Pacific Division standings. The Gulls have points in 10 of their last 11 contests, going 9-1-0-1, and are now seven points back of the final playoff spot. On the other hand, Ontario has lost four straight, currently occupying a tie for third place in the division after a pair of losses in Colorado last weekend and a Wednesday defeat at the hands of Tucson before falling in overtime to San Diego on Friday. The Reign are still just four points behind Coachella Valley and the top spot in the table with three games in hand. Despite its recent struggles, Ontario still averages the third-most shots on goal in the league (32.02) while allowing the second-lowest total per game (25.87).

LAST TIME OUT: Ryan Carpenter knocked home a rebound in overtime to give the San Diego Gulls a 3-2 win over the Ontario Reign on Friday night at Toyota Arena. Francesco Pinelli let Ontario in the game with a goal and an assist, while Samuel Fagemo found the back of the net on the power play in the first period.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Ontario has earned points in all six contests against San Diego this season, going 3-0-2-1 in the series. The first three meetings took place at Pechanga Arena, where the Reign claimed a 4-1 victory on Nov. 23, a 2-1 win in a shootout on Dec. 7 and suffered a 4-3 shootout loss on Dec. 27. The Reign picked up another winning 4-1 result in the first battle of the year at Toyota Arena on Jan. 3 before falling in overtime in the two most recent clashes, 5-4 on Feb. 8 and 3-2 on Friday. Francesco Pinelli leads Ontario with five goals and seven points in the series against the Gulls, while Jeff Malott also has six points on an even three goals and three assists. Jan Myšák is one of San Diego’s leaders in the series with four points on two goals and two assists, while defender Tristan Luneau has earned five helpers and Ryan Capenter has scored a team-high four goals. The Reign have killed 22 of the Gulls’ 24 power play chances in this year’s series (91.7%).

POWERFUL PINELLI: Reign forward Francesco Pinelli scored his second shorthanded goal of the season in Friday’s overtime loss to San Diego and added a primary assist on Samuel Fagemo’s power play strike during the first period. The second-year attacker’s tally gave him 13 goals in 52 games this season, tying his output from 67 contests during his rookie year in 2023-24. The helper also put him into double digits in assists this year, with Pinelli totaling 23 points overall. The Stoney Creek, Ontario native hit his stride in December, scoring six goals, before tallying just two each in January and February. Friday’s multi-point effort was the seventh time Pinelli has had two points in a game during 2024-25 and the ninth such effort of his pro career, which now includes 119 games and 43 points (26 goals, 17 assists).

SCOUTING THE GULLS: San Diego’s recent winning stretch has it back in contention for a postseason appearance for the first time since 2021-22. The Gulls are led by forward Sasha Pastujov, who took over the team’s scoring lead after a 19-point January that earned him AHL Player of the Month honors. Pastujov now has 42 points on the year with 17 goals and 25 helpers. Captain Ryan Carpenter has been the hottest forward on the team of late, winning the AHL’s Player of the Month in February by recording six goals, 10 assists and a plus-12 rating in 11 games. Carpenter has also scored back-to-back overtime-winning goals for San Diego in its most recent two victories over San Jose and Ontario this week to give him 40 points on the year (17 goals, 23 assists). Forward Jan Myšák has also been an important offensive factor, totaling 33 points on 15 goals and 18 assists in 51 games. Tristan Luneau leads all Gulls defenders with 41 points in 42 games, which includes a team-best 35 assists. In goal, Oscar Dansk and Calle Clang have played 29 and 28 games, respectively, combining to earn 20 of San Diego’s 22 wins. Recently, Anaheim added Ville Husso in between the pipes, who won two of his first three appearances after coming over in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings. Husso was recalled on Friday due to an injury to John Gibson.

REIGNING ON THE ROAD: Ontario will aim to continue its success away from Toyota Arena on Saturday when it hits the road and travels south to San Diego. The Reign have lived up to their name this season away from home, posting the best points percentage in the Pacific with 33 points from 24 contests outside of the Inland Empire (0.688), which includes 16 wins, the second most in the Western Conference behind Texas’ 17. Only Hershey (0.792) and Rochester (0.717) have done better on the road in the AHL this season. Ontario’s road record of 16-7-0-1 also includes a 9-0-0-1 mark in one-goal games. 10 of those victories have come when the Reign have outshot their opponent (10-4-0).

WARD WEDNESDAYS: Reign forward Taylor Ward has been an impact player this season, scoring 20 points on an even 10 goals and 10 assists while appearing in 49 games on the wing. With the lone Reign goal in the team’s contest on Wednesday against Tucson, Ward has now scored five points on Wednesdays, earning three goals and two assists to help Ontario to a 7-3-0 record. The Reign’s points percentage on hump day is their highest on any single day this season other than Monday, which has only seen one game contested, a 3-2 overtime win in Calgary. Ward’s 10th tally of the year put him just a single strike away from tying his career-high of 11, which came during 71 games in his second pro campaign of 2023-24 when he finished with 32 points and a team-best plus-23 rating.

Reign Check Gameday Forecast

2024-25 Head-to-Head Schedule vs. San Diego:
Sat., Nov. 23 at San Diego, 4-1 W – Full Recap
Sat., Dec. 7 at San Diego, 2-1 W – Full Recap
Fri., Dec. 27 at San Diego, 3-4 SOL – Full Recap
Fri., Jan. 3 vs. San Diego, 4-1 W – Full Recap
Sat., Feb. 8 vs. San Diego, 4-5 OT – Full Recap
Fri., Mar. 7 vs. San Diego, 2-3 OT – Full Recap
Sat., Mar. 8 at San Diego, 6 p.m.
Fri., Apr. 18 vs. San Diego, 7 p.m.