With one game remaining on their schedule before the AHL All-Star break, first-year coach Andrew Lord has guided his Ontario Reign to atop the Pacific Division and has them sitting second overall in the Western Conference.
After downing the Condors last night in Bakersfield, the two clubs are set to rematch tonight at Toyota Arena in Ontario. Should the Reign come out victorious, they’ll hold on to their Pacific Division lead, which currently stands at just one point over Colorado.
Combined with their previous victory over Tucson earlier in the week, almost like clockwork, Ontario is once again looking to put together a mild three-game winning streak — something that has been a hallmark of this season’s club thus far.
It’s also worth noting that the Reign are the first Pacific Division team to hit the 30-win mark. It’s a strong testament to just how impressive Lord and his team have performed up until this point of their 2025-26 campaign.
Digging a little further into the numbers, the Reign are also tied for first in the Pacific Division on the penalty kill. Ontario and San Diego both sit at an 84.2 percent success rate entering play on Saturday.
Last night in the third period, Lord made a small tweak that had a big impact. Glenn Gawdin and Kenny Connors swapped lines. The adjustment paid dividends moments later when Gawdin finished off a pass from Cole Guttman. It’s those timely buttons Lord continues to press that have shown him to be such a trusted presence behind the bench.
The move also reunited Connors with the team’s leading goal scorer, Andre Lee. Those two were part of the club’s most effective trio for much of the first-half this season (prior to Lee’s call-up to Los Angeles). Lee is also scheduled to participate in the AHL All Star Game festivities in Illinois coming up in few days.
Meanwhile, Kings prospect Aatu Jamsen has started to heat up, as well; showing flashes of the player the organization believed he could be last season. It’s worth remembering that Jamsen entered last year’s preseason as a popular ‘dark horse’ candidate to potentially crack the NHL roster down the road.
Jamsen briefly spoke postgame about getting stronger in preparation for this season. “After my first year in the U.S., that was hard,” he shared. “It’s a very different game than back in Europe. You need to battle more, and that’s what I worked on over the summer —- getting ready to battle more this year. That’s working right now.”
That effort is clearly translating on the ice. Jamsen has found the back of the net in back-to-back games; and scored four goals in his last six contests. After a somewhat slow start, the 23-year-old Finnish native is now up to 19 points on the season (11 G, 8 A).
In net tonight, veteran Pheonix Copley is expected to get the nod after an impressive performance in his last start, where he turned aside 18-of-19 shots.
Despite the win up in Bakersfield on Friday, the Reign once again struggled to generate offense in the third period, registering just three shots on goal. Over their last five games — in a stat that just doesn’t make much sense — Ontario has just 15 shots in the final frame, an area to monitor moving forward.
Reign Projected Lineup vs. Condors
If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Alexandrov – Gawdin – Guttman
Lee – Connors – Chromiak
Jamsen – Pinelli – Wright
Hughes – Lawrence – Doty
Hicketts – Millar
Bolduc – Rego
Kirsanov – Booth
Copley (starter)
Portillo
Likely scratches: (F) Brown, Ziemmer and (D) Dvorak, Salin
Recalled to LA: Ward
Injured: Burroughs
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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