There’s been some interesting symmetry between the AHL and NHL schedules of late. Last week, the Reign took on Vegas’ affiliate right after the Kings had played the Golden Knights. Now, coach Marco Sturm and his squad will host the Canucks on Wednesday night, just 24 hours before the Kings host their parent club.
It was the Kings organization coming away with victories in the previous games, including Ontario sweeping a home-and-home series with the Silver Knights this past weekend. Those games also served as the first consecutive Reign victories this season. A win tonight would bring them even on their 2024-25 campaign, giving them a 4-4 record. However, to get there, they’ll need to take out an Abbotsford team who won half of the games played between the clubs last season.
Staying in the positive end of the pool, Sturm may have found some chemistry with some of his line last weekend, after moving several players around to see what may gel early on. Guys like Sammy Helenius have already been used in both top-6 and bottom-6 roles, while Sammy Fagemo has actually seen playing time on three different lines. A pair of goals last time out, though, may have the Swedish sniper ready to go on a role like he had last year.
If the forwards start to settle in, they’ll align with a defensive group that Sturm has essentially put together using the same five defensemen on a fairly regular basis, along with one other spot being occupied via a rotation of three guys.
Goaltending has been a little more wonky, largely due to external circumstances more than anything else. Second-year pro Erik Portillo was out sick for over a week, and with Pheonix Copley temporarily up with the Kings, Jacob Ingham was recalled from ECHL Greenville for a few games. That’s all in the past, though. Last weekend saw the usual split of Portillo and Copley in back-to-back games, with the former backstopping his team to a 4-1 victory followed by the latter veteran netminder standing tall in an 8-3 win the next day.
Coming off that success — and based upon how things were structured at practice yesterday, we’re not looking for any changes tonight. Maybe, rookie Aatu Jamsen draws in. We just don’t expect it.
About the only change of note is that Portillo is expected to debut a new mask design any day now. We posted some pictures and video here.
After tonight, Abbotsford will not return to Ontario until the final regular season game at Toyota Arena in mid-April. The Pacific Division rivals will also play a two-game set in British Columbia in mid-January. It’s a reduction from eight games against each other last season to just four this year to make room for the addition of four Ontario vs. Iowa matchups this season. And who is Iowa? That’s Minnesota’s AHL affiliate — yes, the team LA just played last night. Another connection.
REIGN PROJECTED LINEUP vs. CANUCKS
Should Sturm opt to make any key changes during pregame warm-ups, this article will be updated.
Hudon – Gawdin – Malott
Madden – Studnicka – Fagemo
Ward – Pinelli – Chromiak
Element – Helenius – Doty
Moverare – Millar
Booth – Hicketts
Dvorak- Walsh
Portillo (starter)
Copley
Other roster options include: (F) Jamsen, Lawrence (D) Krygier, Parker-Jones, Rowe
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 pm Pacific Time and the game can be viewed on KCAL+, as well as on FloHockey. An audio only feed is also available on the ESPN LA app.
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