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Ontario Reign’s Tyler Madden react after losing to Coachella Valley Firebirds in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
LA Kings mascot, Bailey, waves a towel during Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series between Ontario Reign and Coachella Valley Firebird at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Coachella Valley Firebirds fans celebrate after defeating Ontario Reign in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Reign’s Joe Hicketts and Kim Nousiainen show dejection after losing to Coachella Valley Firebirds in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Reign’s goalie Erik Portillo enters the ice arena before the Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series against Coachella Valley Firebirds at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Coachella Valley Firebirds fans celebrate a goal against Ontario Reign in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Coachella Valley Firebirds team celebrates after defeating Ontario Reign 3-2 in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
A Coachella Valley Firebirds fan cheers during Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series against Ontario Reign at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Reign fans during Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series against Coachella Valley Firebirds at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Reign fsans react after a goal against Coachella Valley Firebirds in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Kingston, the Ontario Reign mascot attends Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series against Coachella Valley Firebirds at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
An Ontario Reign fan cheers during Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series against Coachella Valley Firebirds at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Logan Morrison dribbles the puck pressured by Ontario Reign’s Akil Thomas in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Reign’s Joe Hicketts enters the ice arena before Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series against Coachella Valley Firebirds at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Cameron Hughes dribbles the puck pressured by Ontario Reign’s Kevin Connauton in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Coachella Valley Firebirds’ John Hayden dribbles the puck pressured by Ontario Reign’s Joe Hicketts in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Devin Shore takes a shot guarded by Ontario Reign’s Brandt Clarke in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Reign’s Steven Santini dribbles the puck pressured by Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Devin shore in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Reign’s Brandt Clarke dribbles the puck guarded by Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Jimmy Schuldt in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Reign’s Charles Hudon looks to pass guarded by Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Ryker Evans in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Reign’s Akil Thomas is pressured by Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Jimmy Schuldt in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Reign’s Steven Santini dribbles the puck pressured by Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Devin shore in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Reign’s Brandt Clarke looks for a pass guarded by Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Marian Studenic in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Luke Henman dribbles the puck between Ontario Reign’s Kevin Connauton and Martin Chromiak during Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Reign’s Joe Hicketts dribbles the puck pressured by Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Devin Shore in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Luke Henman and Ontario Reign’s Brandt Clarke battle for the puck during Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Andrew Poturalski and Ontario Reign’s Joe Hicketts battle for the puck during Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Reign’s Bramdt Clarke and Jacob Doty shield the puck from Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Ryker Evans in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Devin Shore and Ontario Reign’s Akil Thomas battle for the puck during Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Ryan Winterton driblles guarded by Ontario Reign’s Kim Nousiainen in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Luke Henman and Ontario Reign’s Francesco Pinelli face-off during Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Reign’s Brandt Clarke looks for a pass guarded by Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Marian Studenic in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Reign’s Akil Thomas tries to control the puck between Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Marian Studenic and Gustav Olofsson in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Jacob Melanson driblles guarded by Ontario Reign’s Martin Chromiak in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Luke Henman and Ontario Reign’s Kim Nousiainen battle for the puck in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Luke Henman and Ontario Reign’s Kim Nousiainen battle for the puck in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Ontario Reign’s Brandt Clarke takes a shot guarded by Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Marian Studenic in Game 3 of the AHL Calder Cup playoff series at Toyota Arena on Sunday May 19, 2024. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
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ONTARIO – If you’re a Kings fan, the scene inside Toyota Arena Sunday night looked uncomfortably familiar: The team in black was on the wrong end of the season-ending handshake line.
This time it was the Ontario Reign congratulating a victorious opponent, after a 3-2 loss to the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the Seattle Kraken’s affiliate, to complete a sweep in the best-of-five AHL Pacific Division series. The difference here is that the Reign had won two rounds previously in the Calder Cup playoffs, which is two more rounds than the parent club has won in a decade since it had last hoisted the Stanley Cup.
So, the Players Who Would Be Kings have experienced both the joy of victory and the pain of defeat this spring. If that well-rounded experience turns out to be a motivator of sorts, why, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
“I really wanted to win with these guys,” forward Alex Turcotte said late Sunday night. “We have a really tight team, and that’s all I really cared about. It’s not a great feeling, going out this way, especially because we’re better than that. We let a couple games slip, too. So, it’s just tough how fast it ends.”
The season itself turned out to be a pretty solid comeback story for the Reign, which went through a 2-8-0-2 stretch from Jan. 20 through Feb. 21 (overtime and shootout losses are computed separately in the AHL, though each are worth a pity point in the standings). Ontario rallied to go 19-4-0-1 to the end of the season and finish third in the Pacific at 42-23-3-4.
The hot streak may have been spurred by a team meeting that included some reminders about the way they should be playing. Afterward, according to head coach Marco Sturm, “We had a lot of guys out. Guys were with the Kings, and (yet) it didn’t matter who was in and who was out of the lineup, how good we were. That train was still going, and we played the right way, the way I wanted them to play.”
The trick now, from the big club’s perspective, is how many of these players will ultimately be full-time Kings. There are three prospects who seem to be pretty sure things.
Turcotte, the team’s first-round draft pick in 2019, amassed 10 goals and 19 assists in 35 regular season AHL games this season and two goals and two assists in eight playoff games, and he seemed to flourish when paired with fellow prospect Akil Thomas (second rounder, 2018) in the team’s three playoff series. Each had a game-winning goal in the first two series, and both drew a good amount of praise from Sturm, the Reign’s second-year head coach.
“We were happy with (Turcotte’s) game, but he was on a wing,” Sturm said. “When he plays center, he’s a motor, right? He goes up and down. He plays the way we actually want him to play. … He did everything I was asking for, but I do think he’s a better centerman, yeah.”
Turcotte played 20 games with the big club, entailing the final two games of Todd McLellan’s tenure as coach in late January and 18 games with interim coach Jim Hiller, before returning to the minors. He had a goal and three assists in the NHL, and the goal and an assist came in his second game, a victory in Nashville on Jan. 31 which was also McLellan’s last as coach. Under Hiller his ice time fluctuated.
Thomas made his NHL debut in April, seven games in which he had three goals and four assists, including a game-winner in his second game, April 4 at San Jose. His first taste of the NHL seemed to have an effect when he came back to Ontario.
“He was very excited to be a King for a short time, but also he knew he had to put the same effort and the same game (that) he did up there, with us,” Sturm said. “And that’s what he does. He doesn’t cheat (from an effort standpoint) and he wants to get better, and he definitely did this year,”
The third prospect to watch, and maybe the closest to being NHL-ready, is defenseman Brandt Clarke. He played 50 regular season games in Ontario (10 goals, 36 assists) and 16 in L.A. (2 goals, including a game-winner, and 4 assists but a minus-6 in five-on-five situations).
“He’s a special player,” Sturm said. “He does a lot of things nobody else can do, and we know that. I think the one thing we always refocus on (with) him is playing good defense, because that’s what he needs to do to play for the Kings. And there’s still times he wants to gamble at the wrong time. That’s something, again, he has to learn as well.”
He’ll need to add some weight, too, his coach said. Clarke is listed on the Reign roster at 6-foot-2 and 187 pounds.
Among the Reign’s other potential prospects – emphasis on potential – is Swedish left wing Samuel Fagemo, who scored 43 goals in 50 games in his fourth season in Ontario and added two goals and three assists in the playoffs. He’s scored 103 AHL regular season goals and has had four brief stints in the NHL, three with the Kings (two goals in 17 games) and one at the start of the 2023-24 season with Nashville (one goal in four games) before the Kings reacquired him on waivers from the Predators Nov. 11.
“A guy like that, you just try to get him the puck and almost get out of the way at times,” said Reign captain T.J. Tynan. “He’s such a lethal shooter, and a lot of people don’t have that.”
The waning moments of Sunday night’s Game 3, with Ontario down a goal but with a 6-on-4 advantage inside the final two minutes, were an illustration. Fagemo set up in the left circle during the power play, his teammates fed him and he kept blasting away, four times in all plus a try from in front of the net. It didn’t result in the tying goal, but why not give your best scorer as many chances as possible?
Fagemo was a plus-10 this season, after being a minus-24 the year before. But, as John Hoven of the Mayor’s Manor website pointed out, his chances of sticking in the NHL may depend on having a coach that believes in his overall game.
Will that be in L.A.? Hard to judge. As far as anyone knows Hiller still carries the “interim” tag, and there has been no announcement otherwise.
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“I think I’m ready to take the next step,” he said. “I love what I do. I think I’m a really good head coach. … If nothing works out (in the NHL) I’m going to be here, and that’s where I want to be. That’s not my goal to be an (NHL) assistant. I think I am a better head coach than an assistant.”
Put it this way: A lot could happen between now and July, when the Kings gather their prospects in El Segundo for their annual development camp.
jalexander@scng.com
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