Well, the Reign were not ready to get Wild in Iowa Friday night.
Following a 4-1 loss to the Iowa Wild last night, head coach Andrew Lord and the Reign have quietly hit a rough patch over the past couple of weeks.
While it marked the first time in over a month that Ontario failed to earn a point, the bigger concern is losing four of their last five games, with their lone win coming against the last-place Abbotsford Canucks.
Furthermore, what was the AHL’s eighth-ranked power play just a couple of weeks ago has since gone cold. Ontario is now 0-for-15 over its last seven games, a cause for concern with the playoffs around the corner.
Still, the Reign remain atop the Pacific Division, but they’ll need to start turning more games into two-point efforts. Their play over the final 10 minutes of the third period last night more closely resembled the Reign hockey fans have come to expect this season, highlighted by a Franky Pinelli goal with about five minutes remaining In regulation.
We could see significant lineup changes for the rematch (unconfirmed without a morning skate). Lord shuffled his lines to start the third period in yesterday’s game, and that’s the alignment used in our projection below. Pheonix Copley will get the start this afternoon, as he looks to secure his fifth win in his last six outings.
Later during this road trip, we’d expect Ontario’s newest defensemen to make his AHL debut:
Reign Projected Lineup vs. Wild
If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Lee – Gawdin – Chromiak
Alexandrov – Connors – Guttman
Brown – Pinelli – Jenik
Ziemmer – Hughes – Doty
Kirsanov – Booth
Novikov – Millar
Hicketts – Salin
Copley (starter)
Portillo
Likely scratches: (F) Isogai and (D) Dvorak
Injured: Burroughs, Jamsen
Recalled to NHL: Wright
Key Game Info
Puck drop is set for 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time and will be streamed via FloSports. Additionally, a Reign radio feed is available here.
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