REIGN PREVIEW 12/31 – Ontario vs. SJ  

REIGN PREVIEW 12/31 – Ontario at San Jose
WHO: Ontario Reign (18-9-1-1) at San Jose Barracuda (17-10-1-1)
WHAT: AHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME #30/72
WHEN: Wednesday, December 31 @ 6:00 Pacific
WHERE: Toyota Arena – Ontario, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FloHockey – AUDIO: Reign Radio – TWITTER: @ReignInsider & @OntarioReign

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Ontario Reign and San Jose Barracuda square off in the eighth of eight total meetings this season, the fourth of four in Ontario at Toyota Arena. The Reign picked up a come from behind 3-2 shootout victory last night in Henderson. Trailing 1-0 going into the third period Taylor Ward tied the game on his 12^th of the season with 6:23 to play but the Silver Knights recaptured the lead 84 seconds later. Andre Lee buried an extra attacked score with 25 seconds left for his team leading 13^th of the campaign to force extra hockey. Cole Guttman scored the only goal in the shootout as Isaiah Saville stopped all three Silver Knights attempts and made 26 saves. After picking up a pair of victories following the holiday break Ontario opens their second five-game homestand of the season tonight. The Reign have collected a point in four of their last five games, 3-0-0-1, and are 10-3-0-1 since Nov. 21. The Barracuda haven’t played since their loss to Ontario Saturday just their second loss in their last six games. San Jose has played five of their last six games on the road and will have played nine of 10 away from Tech CU Arena from Dec.12-Jan.7.

HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES: The Reign are 3-3-0-1 vs. the Barracuda this season including 1-1-0-1 in Ontario. Tonight, will mark the third meeting in the last 11 days between the two clubs as Ontario will have played four of their last five against San Jose will have played four straight against the Reign. The win this past Saturday for Ontario snapped a three-game losing streak against San Jose. The Reign have outscored the Barracuda 22-20 in the series as they’ve scored three goals in four straight contests while San Jose has produced 14 goals in the last four games with shutout loss Saturday being their second of the season. The team that has scored first in each game has gone onto win the contest. Andre Lee paces the way for Ontario with five goals and two assists while Glenn Gawdin has notched seven assists. Martin Chromiak and Taylor Ward each have three goals and an assist while Koehn Ziemmer has tallied four of his eight points this season against the Barracuda with one goal and three assists. Jack Hughes has both of his goals this season against San Jose. Jimmy Huntington and Colin White lead the way for the Barracuda with a goal and four assists against the Reign while four different skaters have two goals. San Jose is 6-for-25 on the power-play having scored a man advantage goal in of the last three games while Ontario is 4-for-23 on the power-play, 0-for-8 in the last three meetings. Gabriel Carriere and Jakub Skarek each have two wins in between the crease for San Jose while Erik Portillo two victories for Ontario and Isaiah Saville has one.

PLAYERS TO WATCH: For Ontario, Glenn Gawdin has an eight-game point streak (3G, 7A) and has 17 points (5G, 12A) in his last 18 games. His 17 assists are tied for eighth in the AHL as the Reign are 12-5-0-1 when he records a point. Andre Lee has five goals and an assist in his last five games and 18 points (10G, 8A) in his last 18 games. He is tied for eighth in the league with 25 points, tied for sixth with 13 goals, and tied for fifth with five power-play goals. Ontario is 7-1-1-1 when he scores and 15-2-1-1 when he tallies a point. Taylor Ward tied his career high in goals with his 12^th last night as the Reign are 10-1 when he finds the back of the net and 13-1 when he records a point. Nikita Alexandrov has a five-game point streak (1G, 5A) and nine points (4G, 5A) in nine games with Ontario. For San Jose, Oliver Wahlstrom is tied for third in the AHL with seven power-play goals and has a point in three of his last four games (2G, 2A). Lucas Carlsson is tied for second among AHL defensemen with seven goals while his three on the power-play are tied for second. Luca Cagnoni is tied for fifth among league defenders with 19 points, tied for second with three power-play goals, tied for fourth with 11 power-play points, and third with 71 shots.

BETWEEN TWO PIPES: For the Reign, Isaiah Saville improved to 6-1-1 on the season with his win last night as he has two shutouts in his last four starts and has started five of the last six games. Pheonix Copley was assigned on loan yesterday from the Kings after being recalled on Dec. 16. He made his first NHL start in over two years making 28 saves on 31 shots in a 3-2 loss vs. Seattle on Dec. 23. Prior to his callup, he had won three straight games and five of his last six after starting the year just 2-5-0. Mattias Sholl made his AHL debut on Dec. 21 making 21 saves on 25 shots in a 6-3 loss vs. San Jose. Erik Portillo has missed 15 straight games with an injury. For the Barracuda, Jakub Skarek has won eight of his last 10 starts dating back to Nov. 6 having allowed three or fewer goals in all 10 games while Gabriel Carriere has won five of his last eight games after making 26 saves on 29 shots in the win vs. Ontario on Dec. 21.

 HOME COOKING: Ontario opens a five-game homestand tonight, their second of the season. The Reign have been one of the best teams in the AHL in front of their home fans with 9-3-1-1 record outscoring their opponents 45-39. They lost two straight home games to San Jose before the holiday break, 4-3 in a shootout on Dec. 20 and 6-3 the following day after having won three straight at Toyota Arena and eight of their last nine.

REIGN STRONG IN THE OPENING NUMBER: It’s a quick turnaround for the Reign after busing from Henderson to Ontario following the 3-2 shootout win over the Silver Knights less than 24 hours ago. Ontario has put up an impressive 6-1-0-1 in game one of a back-to-back series outscoring their opponents 33-18 but will look to rewrite the script in game two as they’re just 3-4-0 having been outscored 25-17.

 CLOSING OUT DECEMBER: The Reign look to ring in the New Year and cap off which has been a very impressive month of December having posted a 7-2-0-1 mark in 10 games. They’ve outscored their opponents 34-25 as Andre Lee (7G, 4A) and Glenn Gawdin (3G, 7A) have led the way offensively for the club. Lee’s seven goals in the month are tied for second among AHL skaters while his 11 points rank tied for third. Gawdin’s seven assists and 10 points are tied for fourth. The Reign have struggled on the power-play clicking at just 13.3% (4-for-30) and are 0-for-11 in their last four games and 1-for-16 in their last six contests. The penalty kill has been stellar however at 87.9% (29-for-33).