REIGN PREVIEW 4/11 – Ontario at San Jose

WHO: Ontario Reign (40-23-3-1) at San Jose Barracuda (34-25-4-4)
WHAT: AHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME #68
WHEN: Friday, April 11 @ 7:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: Tech CU Arena – San Jose, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FloHockey – AUDIO: ESPN LA App / Reign Radio – TWITTER: @ShafReign & @OntarioReign

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The final road weekend of the year for the Ontario Reign begins on Friday night when they battle the San Jose Barracuda at Tech CU Arena in the opener of a two-game series.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Ontario is a single win away from clinching a home-ice position for the first round of the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs, ensuring at least a fourth-place finish in the Pacific Division standings. The Reign are currently in third place with 84 points, just one behind the Abbotsford Canucks for second and four back of first-place Colorado with five games remaining on the schedule. San Jose is coming off an overtime win over Coachella Valley on Wednesday and sits in fifth place with 77 points. The Barracuda are one point away from punching their ticket to the postseason and remain three points back of the Firebirds for fourth place. Ontario has fared well in close games this season, earning a record of 18-3-3-1 in one-goal outcomes, while San Jose is one of the top offenses in the AHL, ranking third with an average of 3.41 goals per game and first in the league with 32.34 shots on net per contest.

LAST TIME OUT: Martin Chromiak bookended the scoring for the Ontario Reign, who never trailed on their way to a 3-2 win over the Calgary Wranglers on Sunday afternoon at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Ontario’s 40th win of the 2024-25 season was their sixth of the year against Calgary, finishing their season series with a 6-1-1 mark against the Wranglers. While playing on consecutive days, goaltender Pheonix Copley stopped 21 shots to record his 23rd victory of the season for the Reign.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Reign hold a 4-2-0 record from their six previous meetings with San Jose this season, a series that began with a split in Ontario on opening weekend, Oct. 12 and 13. Ontario then defeated the Barracuda 5-4 in a shootout on Dec. 15 before splitting another pair of games in February with a 6-4 win at Tech CU Arena and a 3-1 defeat at Toyota Arena. While Ontario wasn’t able to score on the power play in the first three games of the series, they broke out for three man-advantage tallies in the December road win. San Jose on the other hand, has converted on eight of its 24 man-advantage chances, giving them the best power play success of any team against the Reign this season. Charles Hudon leads Ontario with six points in the series on a goal and five assists. Martin Chromiak and Aatu Jamsen have also been effective on the offensive end, each posting four goals and an assist. Andrew Poturalski (1-5=6) has the same offensive scoring numbers as Hudon to lead the Barracuda with six points in the series, while Ethan Cardwell (2-3=5) and Filip Bystedt (1-4=5) have both totaled five points. Ontario was at its best against the Barracuda last season, producing an unblemished 8-0-0 record to secure the 16 standings points available to them.

CALLING ON CHROMIAK: Forward Martin Chromiak both tied and surpassed his previous AHL career-high of 15 goals on Sunday in Calgary, scoring early in the first to open the scoring and late in the third to break a 2-2 tie and give Ontario a regulation victory. The Ilava, Slovakia native has also set high marks in both assists and points this year, with 19 and 35, respectively. Five of Chromiak’s tallies have come on the power play, while his most recent strike was his first game-winner of 2024-25. The former fifth round selection by the LA Kings in 2020 has come on as of late after being promoted to play alongside veterans Glenn Gawdin and Charles Hudon, posting 11 points from his last 11 games on five goals and six helpers since Mar. 16.

SCOUTING THE BARRACUDA: After falling to Ontario in its first game of April last week, San Jose recovered to split a pair of matchups in Colorado against the Eagles before knocking off the Firebirds on Wednesday in a game that was 0-0 throughout regulation before Filip Bystedt broke through 53 seconds into overtime. Veteran forward Andrew Poturalski has missed the team’s last five contests but continues to lead the way both on his team and in the AHL with 73 points in 59 games on 30 goals and 43 assists. Ethan Cardwell has also been a threat on the offensive end with 47 points from 60 games on 11 goals and 36 assists. Rookie defender Luca Cagnoni has paced the team’s blueliners on the offensive end with 49 points on 14 goals and 35 assists and has returned to the Cuda roster after making his NHL debut with the Sharks in late March. No. 1 goaltender Yaroslav Askarov has seen action in 21 AHL contests this season and is coming off a shutout in Coachella Valley after returning from an injury that kept him out from late February until earlier this month. While Askarov was out, Gabriel Carriere emerged as a go-to replacement, appearing in 19 games and posting a record of 8-8-3 along with two shutouts.

GIVE IT TO GLENN: Forward Glenn Gawdin enters Friday’s matchup on a five-game point streak, scoring four times and adding two assists during the run. The Richmond, B.C. native scored Ontario’s lone goal on Saturday after coming up big for the Reign the week prior with three tallies during the team’s two home wins over Colorado. Gawdin’s assists have both come on goals by linemate Martin Chromiak, with the first coming on an opening-minute goal in San Jose last Wednesday and the most recent on a game-deciding strike late in the third period of Sunday’s victory in Calgary. Looking deeper into his scoring success, Gawdin has posted 16 points from his last 14 games on 10 goals and six assists, setting new career-highs in goals (25) and points (59) in the process. The seventh-year center has appeared in all 67 of the Reign’s games this year since signing a two-year contract with the LA Kings last summer and leads the club with a plus-22 rating. Gawdin is also just one helper shy of tying his previous high mark of 35, which he achieved as a member of the Stockton Heat during the 2021-22 campaign.

PHEONIX TAKES FLIGHT: Reign netminder Pheonix Copley has remained steady in between the pipes despite a heavy workload over the past month, starting in 18 of Ontario’s last 21 games dating back to Feb. 19. The netminder has allowed two or less goals in five of his last seven appearances in the past three weeks. Copley is over the 20-win mark for the first time in his AHL career, accumulating 23 victories from 39 appearances with Ontario. The goaltender has earned a goals-against average of 2.42 to go along with a 0.907 save percentage and two shutouts in over 2,200 minutes of action. He is just two games away from matching his career-high of 41 appearances, which he had in both 2016-17 and 2017-18.

Reign Check Gameday Forecast

2024-25 Head-to-Head Schedule vs. San Jose (all times Pacific):
Sat., Oct. 12 vs. San Jose, 0-5 L – Full Recap
Sun., Oct. 13 vs. San Jose, 4-3 W – Full Recap
Sun., Dec. 15 vs. San Jose, 5-4 SOW – Full Recap
Wed., Feb. 19 at San Jose, 6-4 W – Full Recap
Sat., Feb. 22 vs. San Jose, 1-3 L – Full Recap
Wed., Apr. 2 at San Jose, 3-2 W – Full Recap
Fri., Apr. 11 at San Jose, 7:30 p.m.
Sat., Apr. 12 at San Jose, 6 p.m.