REIGN PREVIEW 12/7 – Ontario at San Diego

WHO: Ontario Reign (10-8-0-0) at San Diego Gulls (6-12-1-1)
WHAT: AHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME #19
WHEN: Saturday, December 7 @ 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: The SoCal Series returns to San Diego as the Ontario Reign take on the Gulls at Pechanga Arena. Saturday night’s matchup is the second of the season between the two rivals. Ontario claimed a victory in the first meeting on Nov. 23 by a 4-1 score.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: A good stretch of play in November has the Reign in a tie for sixth place in the Pacific Division at the quarter pole of the 2024-25 campaign with 20 points. San Diego is in ninth place in the standings with a mark of 6-12-1-1 and 14 points. The Reign are 5-5-0 away from Toyota Arena, while San Diego is just 2-5-0-1 in their first eight games in front of their home fans. Ontario ranks seventh in the AHL on the offensive end, averaging 3.56 goals per game. The Gulls, who are coming off a 5-3 win over Bakersfield on Friday night, are 4-2-0 in games played on the second day of a back-to-back. The two teams have very similar power play percentages, with the Reign converting on 16.7% of their chances to score 12 goals while San Diego has a success rate of 17.3% and 13 man-advantage tallies. Ontario has moved into the league’s top 10 in penalty killing, discarding 85.7% of opponent chances which ranks seventh. The Reign have done that by killing off 27 of their last 28 over a nine-game span.

LAST TIME OUT: The Texas Stars got two goals from Arttu Hyry and defeated the Ontario Reign in come-from-behind fashion by a score of 5-3 on Tuesday night at Toyota Arena. Francesco Pinelli had a goal and an assist in the loss for Ontario, while Samuel Fagemo and Angus Booth each also found the back of the net for the home team.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: In their only prior meeting this season, Ontario defeated San Diego 4-1 at Pechanga Arena, scoring twice in the final five minutes of the first period and remaining in front the rest of the way. Glenn Gawdin led the offense for the Reign with three assists against his former team, while Jack Studnicka and Jeff Malott each posted a goal and an assist and goaltender Erik Portillo stopped 33 of 34 shots to earn the win. Last year’s SoCal Series was an even one, with each team earning four victories from the eight games against their rival. The Reign suffered back-to-back losses to San Diego to open the season before claiming a 3-2 win in the third matchup and coming up short in overtime by a 4-3 final on Dec. 28. Ontario then went into San Diego and secured a 3-2 win on Feb. 24 and then shut out the Gulls 3-0 on the first night of March. San Diego defeated the Reign 2-1 at Pechanga Arena on March 13 before Ontario closed the series with an OT triumph on a game-winner from Samuel Fagemo on April 12. Charles Hudon (2-5=7) and Joe Hicketts (0-7=7) had a share of the team scoring lead in last year’s series, each with seven points, while Samuel Fagemo scored a team-high six goals. The Reign had nine power play goals against the Gulls for a 25.7% conversion rate last season, while San Diego scored six times on the man-advantage in the series (24%).

FAGEMO’S 5-GAME RUN: With his 11th tally of the season just 3:02 into Tuesday’s game, forward Samuel Fagemo extended his current goal-scoring run to five games, which is tied for the longest active run in the AHL. The run consists of six total goals, more than half of his team-leading number. After finding the back of the net twice last Friday, Fagemo added a power play goal during the first period the following night in Bakersfield. Fagemo, already the team’s all-time leading goal scorer with 114 goals in his AHL career, is also just below a point-per-game pace this year with 17 in 18 contests. The Goteborg, Sweden native got off to a slow start, going without a goal in his first six games before netting four in a two-game span to open November. His 10 goals during the month were the most among all AHL skaters. A year ago, Fagemo set career-highs with 43 goals and 62 points in 50 games and led the league with 19 power play goals, the most any skater has ever scored in a Reign sweater.

SCOUTING THE GULLS: San Diego comes into Saturday’s contest after a win over Bakersfield on Friday and is looking to get back in the mix for a playoff spot this season after missing the dance each of the last two campaigns. Forward Ryan Carpenter is the team’s active leading scorer among attackers with 13 points in 20 games on four goals and nine assists. Yegor Sidorov has also chipped in with four goals and six helpers through 19 games and Pavol Regenda has also reached double-digits in scoring with 10 points on three goals and seven helpers. The club is without Jansen Harkins and Sam Colangelo, who both recently earned recalls to Anaheim after scoring 17 and 15 points respectively. Roland McKeown leads all Gulls defenders with 13 points in 20 games on eight goals and five assists. In goal, Calle Clang has played in 14 of San Diego’s contests and has a goals-against average of 2.94 along with a 0.899 save percentage. Oscar Dansk has also seen action in nine games.

PORTILLO RETURNS TO REIGN: The LA Kings announced Wednesday that goaltender Erik Portillo had been returned on loan to Ontario in the AHL. Portillo, 24, made his NHL debut last Friday in Anaheim, stopping 28 shots while backstopping the Kings to a 2-1 victory over the Ducks. The second-year netminder has a 4-2-0 record with Ontario in six appearances this season, owning a 2.68 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage. He has built on an impressive rookie campaign a year ago when he went 24-11-3 in 39 games for the Reign as a rookie during 2023-24 with a 2.50 GAA and a .918 SV%.

GAWDIN EARNS AHL PLAYER OF THE MONTH: Forward Glenn Gawdin capped off an outstanding month of November with two goals in the first period of Ontario’s win over Bakersfield last Saturday night. His efforts were rewarded on Monday when the American Hockey League announced he had been selected as the league’s Player of the Month. Gawdin led all skaters in the league with 21 points, scoring nine goals and 12 assists, and finished with a plus-13 rating in 12 games for Ontario during November, sparking a Reign offense that averaged 4.4 goals per game for the month. Gawdin had eight multiple-point outings in November, beginning on Nov. 1 when he notched two assists in a 4-1 win at Henderson. He registered a goal and an assist in an 8-3 win over Henderson on Nov. 2, had two more helpers in an 8-4 victory over Abbotsford on Nov. 6 and scored shorthanded goals in consecutive games during wins over Tucson on Nov. 13 and in Colorado on Nov. 15. Gawdin then had back-to-back three-point nights on Nov. 20 at Henderson and on Nov. 23 at San Diego before scoring his third game-winning tally of the month on Saturday. The Richmond, B.C. native is currently tied for eighth in the AHL with 22 points (nine goals, 13 assists) in 18 games for the Reign this season.