REIGN PREVIEW 12/21 – Ontario vs. San Jose

REIGN PREVIEW 12/21 – Ontario vs. San Jose
WHO: Ontario Reign (16-8-1-1) vs. San Jose Barracuda (16-9-1-1)
WHAT: AHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME #27/72
WHEN: Sunday, December 21 @ 3:00 Pacific
WHERE: Toyota Arena – Ontario, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FloHockey – AUDIO: Reign Radio – TWITTER: @ReignInsider & @OntarioReign

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Reign and Barracuda wrap up a back-to-back this afternoon after San Jose edged out Ontario 4-3 in a shootout less than 24 hours ago.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Today marks the fifth of eight total meetings this season between the Reign and Barracuda, the third of four at Toyota Arena. Ontario is 2-2-0-1 against San Jose this season having outscored the Barracuda 16-14, 7-0 in the second period. Andre Lee recorded his second two-goal game against the Barracuda last evening while recording an assist and leads all skaters in the series with six points (4-2-6). Glenn Gawdin has five assists while Martin Chromiak and Taylor Ward have each scored three goals and added an assist. The Reign are 4-for-19 on the power-play in the series while the Barracuda are 5-for-19.

SPECIAL TEAMS THE STORY OF THE NIGHT: San Jose continued their success on the power-play this season going 2-for-8 as Egor Afanasyev tied the score at two late in the first with a man advantage strike and Oliver Wahlstrom giving San Jose a 3-2 lead in the back of half of the third period. For Wahlstrom it was his eighth on the power-play this season, second most in the league, as San Jose has scored a man advantage goal in 20 of their first 27 games sitting second in the league at 27.2%. The Reign headed into the contest having killed off 14-for-15 in their previous six games but sit just 20th in the league at 80% on the penalty kill.

WHAT A WIN MEANS: It’s the final game before the holiday break as the Reign and Barracuda each sit with 34 points in the Pacific Division. The two teams will meet in San Jose on Dec. 27 and back in Ontario to conclude their season series on Dec. 31. Ontario holds the head-to-head tie breaker with 12 regulation wins to San Jose’s 11, so they sit in second place despite having the same number of points. The Reign have played 26 games while San Jose has competed in 27.

So, who will hold second place in the division heading into the break? It’s simple a Reign victory and they stay in second. A Barracuda win and they bump up to second.

THEY FORGOT ABOUT DRE: Forward Andre Lee picked up his team leading third multi-goal game of the season last night scoring Ontario’s second short-handed goal of the season in the first period and tying the contest at 3-3 with just 43 seconds left in regulation on an extra attacker marker. He also tallied an assist for his first three-point contest of the campaign. The 25-year-old leads Ontario with 23 points while his 12 goals are tied for the team lead, and his 12 assists are third. The Kings seventh round draft pick from 2019 has 16 points (8-8-16) in his last 15 games dating back to Nov. 8.

CHROMIE CONTINUES TO CLICK: Forward Martin Chromiak made the teddy bears fly last night tying the game at 1-1 midway through the first period as he has goals in back-to-back games for the first time this season. The 23-year-old is tied for the team lead with 11 goals and five power-play scores while his 20 points are tied for second. The Kings fifth round draft pick from 2020 is has 12 points (6-6-12) in his last 13 games after notching eight points (3-5-8) in the first 15 contests.