If there’s ever been a two-sided coin of a game in Ontario this season, tonight is it.
They will enter play at Toyota Arena holding first place in the AHL’s Pacific Division, riding a five-game win streak, and enjoying plenty of good vibes surrounding the club. However, first-year coach Andrew Lord may need to suit up and play forward tonight — his squad has been severely depleted up front. This will likely take the proverbial ‘collective team effort’ to keep their momentum going tonight against the Henderson Silver Knights.
Friday marks the first of a home-and-home weekend set, with a rematch scheduled for Sunday in Nevada.
First things first, though.
Tonight may be a tall task considering the Reign will be without four key forwards — including leading point producer, Nikita Alexandrov. This will be his second straight game missed due to an upper body injury.
Additionally, Kings prospect Aatu Jamsen has also been ruled out after getting banged up on Wednesday vs. Tucson. The 21-year-old native of Finland has been nothing short of impressive during his second pro season in North America. The young forward has six points (4G, 2A) in his last six games, six goals in his last 10 games, 11 points (8G, 3A) in his last 14, and 17 points (11G, 6A) over his last 23 contests. To add insult to injury, so to speak, Jamsen recorded two goals and added an assist in the season series vs. Henderson this year.
This, of course, comes on top of Ontario being without the services of arguably two of their best players this season, Kenny Connors and Jared Wright. Both players made their NHL debuts earlier this week with the Kings, earning universal praise. While technically, they were returned to the Reign roster earlier today, that’s more about the playoffs (see below for a full explanation).
Adding to the challenge ahead, the Silver Knights have been playing excellent hockey as of late. At 6-1-1 in their last eight games, Henderson enters tonight’s matchup riding plenty of momentum and confidence.
Further, they’re one of the few teams that have matched up well against Ontario this season. Despite holding just a 2-1-2 record in the five meetings between these division rivals, there’s a strong argument that Henderson has been the better team in all of those matchups.
Andre Lee has two goals and one assist against the Silver Knights this season; one of them may have been the biggest goal for the Reign this year. In the last meeting between the clubs, Lee scored the game-tying goal with just 25 seconds remaining in regulation, a moment that helped force overtime before Ontario eventually won in a shootout.
Reign Projected Lineup vs. Silver Knights
If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Lee – Gawdin – Guttman
Ziemmer – Pinelli – Chromiak
Isogai – Brown – Hughes
Mastrodonato – Lawrence – Doty
Kirsanov – Booth
Bolduc – Millar
Hicketts – Salin
Copley (starter)
Portillo
Likely scratches: (F) Alexandrov, Jamsen and (D) Dvorak, Rego
Injured: Burroughs
Key Game Info
Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time and will be streamed via FloSports. Additionally, a Reign radio feed is available here.
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