REIGN PREVIEW 10/12 – Ontario vs. Tucson

REIGN PREVIEW 10/12 – Ontario vs. Tucson
WHO: Ontario Reign (0-0-1-0) vs. Tucson Roadrunners (1-0-0-0)
WHAT: AHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME #2
WHEN: Friday, October 10 @ 3:00 Pacific
WHERE: Toyota Arena – Ontario, CA

HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FloHockey – AUDIO: Reign Radio – TWITTER: @ReignInsider & @OntarioReign

TODAY’S MATCHUP: Less than 48 hours after the Ontario Reign suffered a 5-4 overtime loss to being their 2025-26 season, the team has an opportunity to get even with the Tucson Roadrunners in Game 2 Sunday afternoon at Toyota Arena.

LAST TIME OUT: The Roadrunners came from behind on Friday night when Kevin Rooney scored a six-on-four extra attacker power-play goal with 22 seconds left in regulation to force overtime where Sammy Walker called game 51 seconds into the extra session capping off a three-point game (2-1-3) on Opening Night Friday at Toyota Arena. Akil Thomas and Francesco Pinelli each scored a goal and tally an assist for the Reign while Andre Lee and Aatu Jämsen (PP) found the back of the net.

REIGN DEBUTS: Of the 18 skaters in the lineup for the Reign on Friday night, 15 of them had dawned an Ontario sweater before. Cole Guttman, Samuel Bolduc, and Kirill Kirsanov were the three new faces to the lineup. Guttman is in his fourth professional season after spending the past three years with the Chicago Blackhawks organization splitting time in the NHL and AHL. A year ago the Northridge, CA native served as an alternate captain for Rockford leading the club in points (57), goals (23), and assists (34) skating in 70 games. Bolduc is in his sixth professional season after spending the last five seasons within the New York Islanders organization. He totaled 35 points (9-26-35) in 69 AHL games with Bridgeport last season while skating in one NHL game with the Islanders. Kirsanov made his North American professional debut Friday evening after spending parts of the last five seasons in the KHL. The Tver, Russia native was selected by the LA Kings in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, 3^rd round, 84^th overall, and signed a two-year contact with the Kings on Jun. 1, 2025.

PUCKS TO THE NET: The Reign were held to just 18 shots in the overtime loss on Friday night collecting six in the first and second period and just five in the final 20 minutes of play. Last season Ontario ranked 6^th in the AHL averaging 31.06 shots for per game.

LIGHTS OUT: Andre Lee tied the game on Friday night at 1-1 with 13:39 remaining in the first period and immediately following the goal Jacob Doty dropped the gloves with Tucson defender Montana Onyebuchi.

EARLY TALLIES: Ontario will look to lock things down this afternoon to start each period after allowing early goals in all three periods Friday night. Ben McCartney gave Tucson a 1-0 lead 35 seconds into the game, Sammy Walker (PP) tied the score at 2-2 just 5:59 into the second period, and Owen Allard made it 3-3 just 2:09 into the third period on Friday.

WELCOME BACK KILLER: In his first AHL game since the Calder Cup Playoffs in 2024, Akil Thomas scored a highlight reel goal with 4:27 left in the contest Friday night to put Ontario out in front 4-3. The Toronto, ON finished with two points (1-1-2) setting up Lee’s strike in the first period winning the offensive zone face-off directly back to Lee. Thomas, drafted by LA in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, 3^rd round, 78^th overall, spent all of last season in the NHL with the Kings notching four points (1-3-4) in 25 games. He signed a two-year contract with LA on Jun. 26, 2024 and through his first five professional seasons he’s collected 95 points (47-58-95) in 158 AHL games with Ontario while registering seven points (4-3-7) in 32 NHL games with LA.

LEADERSHIP GROUP: Joe Hicketts enters his second season as captain of the Ontario Reign while we saw Glenn Gawdin and Jacob Doty with alternate captain patches on their jerseys Friday night. Gawdin is coming off a career year in his first season with Ontario from a year ago setting career highs in points (62), goals (26), and assists (36). Doty is in his 12^th professional season, his seventh with the Reign.