In a best-of-three playoff series, life comes at you pretty quickly. And after dropping the opening contest, it’s do-or-die time for the Ontario Reign. In an interesting plot twist, win or lose, they’re going home after Saturday night’s game.
A second straight loss to the San Jose Barracuda would end their season completely and likely frustrate coach Marco Sturm to no end. However, a victory would not only stave off elimination, but it would also even the series and send the Reign back to Toyota Arena on Monday night for a decisive Game 3.
To make the latter a reality, Ontario will need to play much better than they did last time out. Sturm referred to Game 1 as the team’s worst performances of the season. It wasn’t just the fact they were shut out 2-0 by Yaroslav Askarov, his club lacked and sort of real fight (especially considering the circumstances and potential consequences). After taking six penalties over the course of the game and managing just one shot on goal in the final period, it was no surprise Sturm bluntly called it “a sh*tty game” during his end of night media scrum.
Throughout the regular season, Sturm did a masterful job of getting his team to bounce back from significant losses. And a recent set against the same Barracuda team just a few weeks ago highlights this trend. After losing the opening game of a weekend pair in San Jose 4-1, Sturm’s squad bounced right back the following night with a 4-0 victory.
There was one key difference, though. In that pair of games, goaltender Pheonix Copley started the first one, while Kings prospect Carter George was between the pipes in the rematch. That won’t be the case this time around, as George is in Edmonton. We’re assuming Copley will get the start tonight. He more than earned it after being the team’s best player in Game 1, including stopping 23 of 25 shots faced and making several big-time saves in crucial moments.
However, if Sturm opts to make a change in net for some reason, Jacob Ingham is waiting in the wings and almost surely chomping at the bit to get back in. Of his six appearances for the Reign this season, he faced the Barracuda once and came away with a win back in January.
When asked about any potential lineup adjustments for Game 2, Sturm gave a rather interesting response, saying he “didn’t have too many choices.” On the surface, that wouldn’t appear to be the case, as at least five different players should be available to play — including forward Koehn Ziemmer and defenseman Jakub Dvorak.
One change that seems likely is the insertion of Jacob Doty, who was a healthy scratch on Thursday night. He would bring some veteran presence and leadership to the ice for Ontario — something they may have been missing a bit in Game 1.
Either way, with their backs against the wall, Sturm and the Reign players know exactly what has to be done. Bring more energy, play with discipline, and stay out of the box. It’s now or never. If the Reign take six more penalties tonight, beating the AHL’s top-ranked power play unit will be improbable.
REIGN PROJECTED LINEUP vs. BARRACUDA
Should there be any key changes during warmups, alignment below will be updated.
(purely a pregame guess at the moment)
Hudon – Gawdin – Chromiak
Lee – Studnicka – Ward
Olson – Pinelli – Fagemo
Element – Lawrence – Doty
Hicketts – Cecconi
Booth – Millar
Dvorak – Walsh
Copley (starter)
Ingham
Other roster options include: (F) Jamsen, Singleton, Wright, Ziemmer and (D) Jones, Rowe, Salin and (G) McKay
Injured: (D) Krygier and (G) Portillo
Puck drop is scheduled for 6:00 pm Pacific Time and the game can be viewed on KCAL+ and FloHockey. An audio only feed is also available on the ESPN LA app.
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Lead photo by Daniel Stopani
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