Tonight marks the second half of a back-to-back for Ontario up in San Jose. Just 24 hours after the two clubs played a game filled with firsts for a young Reign squad, the two teams will do battle on the ice again.
Friday’s 6-1 victory by coach Andrew Lord’s squad could be considered an early season statement win, as it came over the very team that ended Ontario’s playoff run last season.
Kings prospects Kenny Connors and Jakub Dvorak will be among the future NHL hopefuls coming into tonight off the highs of their first professional goals. Meanwhile, Koehn Ziemmer collected his first two professional points in only his second game of the season.
Back on the blueline, Angus Booth — who isn’t exactly known for lighting up the scoresheet — also chipped in with two helpers. It was Booth’s season debut Wednesday night in Henderson after overcoming a knee injury suffered during training camp.
Perhaps Lord will look to go with the same lineup as last night, sans his goalie. After Erik Portillo delivered a solid outing in the series opener, we’d expect him to have Pheonix Copley take over in net for this one. If so, the seasoned veteran will be looking to bounce back after surrendering six goals on 24 shots in his previous start.
If another lineup move or two is implemented, Otto Salin and Jacob Doty could factor in. The former has been out of the lineup since Booth’s return, so he could easily rejoin the blueline for night two of the back-to-back set. At forward, Doty was given Friday night off in place of Ziemmer; making him rested and ready, if needed.
Additional Pregame Notes
— The same two teams will play for a third straight time on Tuesday when the Barracuda visit the Reign at Toyota Arena. As if that’s not enough, they’re scheduled to meet a total of eight times before 2026 arrives, capped off with a New Year’s Eve game.
— With Warren Foegele’s recent injury, the Kings could be looking to recall a forward soon. Which Reign player may get the nod? We broke down the situation here.
— Forward Kaleb Lawrence is out month-to-month with an injury.
What You May Have Missed
Kyle Burroughs could be headed to Ontario as soon as Sunday afternoon, as explained here:
This Week’s Kings Prospect Tracker — Looking at all the top performances LINK
Kings Of The Podcast, Ep. 235 with Andrew Lord, New Reign Head Coach LINK
Reign Projected Lineup vs. Barracuda
If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Ward – Gawdin – Chromiak
Pinelli – Thomas – Guttman
Lee – Connors – Wright
Jamsen – Hughes – Ziemmer
Hicketts – Millar
Kirsanov – Booth
Dvorak – Bolduc
Copley
Portillo
Likely scratches: (F) Doty and (D) Rego, Salin
Injured: Brown, Lawrence, Parker-Jones
Key Game Info
Puck drop is set for 7:00 pm Pacific Time and will be streamed via FloSports. Additionally, a Reign radio feed is available here.
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