Ontario coach Marco Sturm has guided his club to an 8-2-0 record over their past 10 games. No other team in the AHL has outperformed them, yet they enter action on Wednesday night only sitting in seventh place among the 10 Pacific Division teams. This is a bit of an illusion, though. The Reign have played the fewest games among all teams in the Western Conference. Their .619 points percentage is third-best in the division and fifth-best in the conference.
No matter how all the numbers are sorted, it’s the Calgary Wranglers who sit atop the AHL in nearly every statistical category. Special teams may be their only perceived weakness, and they still sit top-three in the Pacific when it comes to power play conversion and penalty kill percentage.
Oh, and the Wranglers are in town for their first matchup with the Reign this season.
Looking back to last year, Sturm’s squad picked up victories in five of the eight games during their 2023-24 season series with Calgary.
Turning to more recent times, the Reign escaped Sunday’s home game with a victory — but it wasn’t easy. A rather disastrous second period saw them trailing 3-1 entering the final frame of regulation. The comeback began on a goal scored by Sammy Fagemo, with an assist from Arthur Kaliyev. Eventually tied 4-4, the Reign won in a shootout, where Kaliyev scored a highlight reel goal (see here).
Wednesday’s game will prove to be the next step in his recovery. Game 2 of a conditioning assignment can often be the most difficult. Getting through the initial outing can almost be easier because of the extra adrenaline players get in their first game back. And the 23-year-old forward clearly had his legs working in the third period that night. Now comes the hard part – not only repeating that performance but actually elevating your game. Things then ratchet up another level in a few days when the Reign play on consecutive nights vs. Coachella.
Rookie Aatu Jamsen had the game-tying goal in the third period last time out and also picked up an assist earlier; giving him his second two-point night of the season. Unfortunately, he didn’t practice yesterday and we’re hearing he’s day-to-day after being banged up a little coming out of the game vs. San Jose.
He was credited with a Gordie Howe hat trick on Sunday and Sturm was talking up Jamsen sliding over to play center.
“I trust him in the middle because I think he has the puck more, and he’s a guy who needs the puck on his stick a lot,” said Ontario’s bench boss. “There’s a lot of things — the faceoffs and all the little things he has to get better at — but overall, I think he’s getting comfortable too.”
With Jamsen out of the lineup tonight, Jacob Doty will draw in on the fourth line (which also gives the club a heavier presence). Either Shawn Element or Tyler Madden will slide over and play the middle on that line.
Sturm will have some other lineup decisions to make, both on defense and in net. Out on the blueline is where things are most intriguing heading into tonight’s contest. Normally, we would expect Cole Krygier to rotate in, as he’s been doing all season. However, with Caleb Jones in Ontario now, that wouldn’t appear to be such an obvious move. Add to that, 6-foot-7 John Parker-Jones was just recalled from ECHL Greenville, and he practiced as a defenseman on Tuesday. Playing him and Doty against the Wranglers would be sending quite the message to their opposition.
In goal, we’re projecting Pheonix Copley to get the nod largely because he hasn’t played in 10 days now and both goalies will be needed for the back-to-back games coming up this weekend. Even so, it wouldn’t be that surprising to see Erik Portillo start tonight instead, as at some point he’s going to begin getting a heavier workload.
REIGN PROJECTED LINEUP vs. WRANGLERS
If there are any key changes during pregame warm-ups, this article will be updated.
Hudon – Gawdin – Malott
Kaliyev – Studnicka – Fagemo
Chromiak – Pinelli – Ward
Element – Madden – Doty
Hicketts – Millar
Jones – Walsh
Booth – Rowe
Copley (starter)
Portillo
Other roster options include: (F) Jamsen (D) Krygier, Parker-Jones
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 pm Pacific Time and the game can be viewed on FloHockey. An audio only feed is also available on the ESPN LA app.
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