Following a well-deserved holiday break, Andrew Lord’s Ontario Reign return to action on Saturday for their penultimate meeting with the San Jose Barracuda this season.
Earlier this week, the Reign headed into the break on a sour note, dropping back-to-back games to their Northern California rivals. The clubs will play twice more, tonight and on New Year’s Eve, to wrap up their eight-game slate in 2025-26.
On the positive side, forward Andre Lee avoided suspension from the AHL after receiving a game misconduct early in the first period for leaving the bench during an altercation.
Lee has been far and away Ontario’s best player of late. Having already eclipsed his career highs in both goals and points, losing him early in the last game — especially with the Reign already dealing with a slew of injuries — proved to be a recipe for disaster.
Speaking of injuries, defenseman Kyle Burroughs will be out of the lineup tonight for the first time since joining the Reign in early November, adding to an already lengthy injury list. Burroughs was most often paired with Kings prospect Angus Booth, and the duo had been very effective together.
Additionally, captain Joe Hicketts will also be absent from the blueline for a few weeks because he is representing Team Canada at the Spengler Cup.
As a result, Lord has some work to do on the backend, a collective group that has been a strength for the Reign all season. Expect 21-year-old rookie Otto Salin to slot back into the lineup, along with one of Tim Rego or Parker Berge; the latter pair were just recalled from ECHL Greenville.
In goal, Isaiah Saville is expected to get the nod tonight. In his last outing, he stopped 18-of-21 shots in a shootout loss. The team’s No. 1 starter, Erik Portillo, is still recovering from injury, but said to be coming along nicely in his recovery.
Speaking of injury, there is internal hope that Franky Pinelli could be ready as early as New Year’s Eve. More likely, he’ll be back for the home game against Coachella Valley a few nights later.
Reign Projected Lineup vs. Barracuda
If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Lee – Gawdin – Ward
Ziemmer – Alexandrov – Chromiak
Hughes – Connors – Wright
Jamsen – Hughes – Doty
Booth – Salin
Dvorak – Bolduc
Rego – Kirsanov
Saville (starter)
Sholl
Likely scratches: (F) Brown, Mastrodonato and (D) Berge
Injured: Burroughs, Lawrence, Millar, Parker-Jones, Pinelli, Portillo
Suspended: Guttman
On Leave: Hicketts
Key Game Info
Puck drop is set for 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time and will be streamed via FloSports. Additionally, a Reign radio feed is available here.
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