REIGN PREVIEW 1/9 – Ontario vs. Henderson
WHO: Ontario Reign (22-10-1-1, 46pts) at Bakersfield Condors (18-10-6-1, 42pts)
WHAT: AHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME #35/72
WHEN: Sunday, January 11 @ 4:00 Pacific
WHERE: Dignity Health Arena – Bakersfield, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FloHockey – AUDIO: Reign Radio – TWITTER: @ReignInsider & @OntarioReign

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Ontario Reign and Bakersfield Condors square off in the fourth of eight total meetings this season, the third of four in Bakersfield at Dignity Health Arena.

Ontario picked up their fourth straight win on Friday night defeating Henderson by a final score of 5-4 in a shootout to wrap up a five-game homestand. Jacob Doty scored his first goal of the season while Koehn Ziemmer and Aatu Jämsen each scored on the power-play while they also finished with an assist. Jack Hughes notched two helpers for his first career multi-point contest while Otto Salin scored with 4:29 remaining tying the score at 4-4 with 4:29 remaining to force extra hockey. Erik Portillo stopped all three shootout attempts by Henderson and made 29 saves in the win while Kenny Connors scored in the shootout frame.

Bakersfield saw their five-game win streak ended last evening suffering a 4-3 overtime loss in San Jose. After falling behind 2-0 the Condors potted three unanswered goals from Josh Samanski, Viljami Marjala, and James Hamblin taking a 3-2 lead into the third period. The Barracuda struck in the front half of the third period and scored at 2:42 of the extra frame. Matt Tomkins made 28 saves on 32 shots.

HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES: The Reign are 3-0-0-0 vs. the Condors this season including 2-0-0-0 at Dignity Health Arena. Jared Wright has a pair of game winning scores including the overtime goal on Nov. 22 while Martin Chromiak paces the way with four points on two goals and two assists for Ontario. The Reign have outscored the Condors 10-4 going 2-for-13 on the power-play and 8-for-9 on the penalty kill.

PLAYERS TO WATCH: For Ontario, Glenn Gawdin saw his point-streak end at 12 games on Friday. He collected 16 points (3G, 13A) during the span and has 23 points (5G, 18A) in his last 23 games. He is tied for fifth with 23 assists while his 29 points are tied for 10th.  Nikita Alexandrov has a point in nine of his last 10 games (1G, 11A) and 15 points (4G, 11A) in 15 games with Ontario. He is tied for sixth with 22 assists and tied for 10th with 29 points. Koehn Ziemmer scored his first power-play goal of his pro career on Friday while notching an assist for his third multi-point game and has five points (2G, 3A) in his last seven games while Aatu Jämsen notched his first multi-point game of the year Friday and has four points (2G, 2A) in his last four games.

For Bakersfield, Quinn Huston is second in the AHL with 22 goals and tied for second with 10 power-play scores. His 36 points are tied for third in the league as he has a point in six of his last seven games (9G, 3A). Dating back to Nov. 8 he has failed to register a point in just three of 19 games producing 33 points (20G, 13A). Seth Griffith is tied for fifth in scoring with 34 points (11G, 23A) and tied for third with 12 power-play assists. He has nine points (4G, 5A) in his last seven contests. Josh Samanski was named to Germany’s Olympic roster earlier this week and has a goal in back-to-back games and 10 points (4G, 6A) in his last nine games.

BETWEEN TWO PIPES: For the Reign, Erik Portillo made 29 saves on Friday and has now won six straight decisions holding a 7-1-1 mark this season with a 2.19 goals against average and .916 save percentage. He returned to the lineup last Sunday for the first time since Nov. 12 after being sidelined with an injury and pitched a 19 save performance for his third career AHL shutout, his first since Jan. 5, 2024. Pheonix Copley has won back-to-back starts and seven of his last nine after starting the season just 2-5-0. He made his first NHL start in over two years back on Dec. 23 making 28 saves on 31 shots in a 3-2 loss vs. Seattle.

For the Condors, Matt Tomkins suffered the overtime loss last night making 28 saves and is now 3-1-1 in his last five starts with a season record of 10-5-4. Connor Ungar was recalled from the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears on Dec. 19 and has won his first four starts of the season holding a 1.71 goals against average and .944 save percentage. He made 21 saves Wednesday in a 2-1 win in Abbotsford.

QUICK HITS ONTARIO

Today marks the first of a season long six straight games on the road with the Reign possessing a 9-6-0-0 mark on the road compared to 13-4-1-1 on home ice. They’ve won four straight at Toyota Arena while having won three straight games on the road including both games this season in Bakersfield.
 The Reign have now collected a point in eight of their last 10 games, 7-1-0-1, and are 13-5-0-1 since Nov. 21. A win tonight would match their season long win streak of four games set back in games 20-23 from Dec.6-12.
Ontario is 12-3-1-1 in one-goal games having won nine of their last 11 and three straight. Ontario has played beyond regulation eight times this season with a 4-1 overtime record and a 2-1 shootout mark.
The Reign have now scored three or more goals in nine straight contests. They’ve scored first in three straight games, a season high, and are 13-2-0-0 when taking a 1-0 lead. Ontario ranks fifth on the AHL averaging 3.38 goals per game.
 Ontario has a season long five-game power-play goal streak where they’ve gone 6-for-19. and they are 22-for-24 on the penalty kill in their last seven games. The Reign are 14th in the AHL on the power-play clicking at 19.4% while 12th on the penalty kill at 82.2%

QUCIK HITS BAKERSFIELD

The Condors played their third straight road game last evening as today marks their first home game since Jan.3. From Jan.6-18 they will have played five of six on the road. They hold a 11-3-1-0 mark on home ice having won two straight while they’re 7-7-5-0 on the road.
Bakersfield has a point in six straight games, 5-0-1-0, and in 10 of 12 games since Dec. 12 with a 8-2-2-0 mark.
The Condors have scored three or more goals in seven of their last nine games. They’re second in the AHL averaging 3.62 goals per game.