REIGN PREVIEW 11/22 – Ontario at Bakersfield
WHO: Ontario Reign (9-6-1-0) vs. Bakersfield Condors (7-6-3-0)
WHAT: AHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME #17/72
WHEN: Saturday, November 22 @ 7:00 Pacific
WHERE: Dignity Health Arena – Bakersfield, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FloHockey – AUDIO: Reign Radio – TWITTER: @ReignInsider & @OntarioReign

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Ontario Reign and Bakersfield Condors wrap up a home-and-home series from Bakersfield this evening after the Reign collected a 3-2 victory last night at Toyota Arena.

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Reign jumped out in front 2-0 after the first period as Taylor Ward put home his team leading eighth goal of the season from Akil Thomas and Martin Chromiak at 6:23 while Kenny Connors enhanced the lead at 11:18 from Andre Lee. Jared Wright made it 3-0 at 11:45 of the second period from Lee. Both goals for Bakersfield came with less than three minutes to play in regulation. Viljami Marjala found the back of the net with 2:30 remaining before Quinn Huston potted a six-on-four tally 52 seconds later.

LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR: Rookie forwards Kenny Connors, Koehn Ziemmer, and Jared Wright all dropped the gloves last evening in the victory notching their first professional fighting majors. All three fights came in the third period as Connors squared off against Matt Copponi 40 seconds into the stanza, Ziemmer went toe-to-toe with Max Jones at 6:18, and Wright danced with Riley Stillman at 10:45. The 25 penalty minutes racked up by the Reign were the most in a game this season while the Condors 31 were the most by an opponent Ontario has faced this year with the grand total of 56 combined penalty minutes being the most combined in a contest this year that the Reign have played in.

ROOKIE ROYALTY: Reign rookie forwards Kenny Connors and Jared Wright are quickly making names for themselves. Connors leads all AHL rookies with a +13 rating, second overall in the league. In his first 10 games this season he collected four points (1-3-4) but in his last six games he’s tallied seven points (3-4-7) including a four-game point streak (2-4-6). The Glen Mills, PA native was selected by LA in the 2022 NHL Draft, fourth round, #103 overall, and signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the Kings on Apr. 3, 2025 after accumulating 77 points (26-51-77) in 109 games in three years at UMass-Amherst. Wright is tied for second among AHL rookies with a +11 rating having yet to be a minus in 16 games this season and has three points (2-1-3) in his last four games after scoring two goals in the first 12 contests. The Burnsville, MN native was selected by LA in the 2022 NHL Draft, sixth round, 169th overall, and signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the Kings on Apr. 14, 2025. He finished last season with the Reign collecting one assist in three games after a three-year career at the University of Denver where he tallied 54 points (32-22-54) in 122 games helping lead the Pioneers to the 2024 National Championship. For the Condors, Quinn Huston is tied for first among AHL rookies with 16 points (8-8-16) after stretching his point streak to six games (6-7-13) last night scoring in his third straight games. The North Barrington, IL native was undrafted and signed a two-year, entry-level contract with Edmonton on Apr. 14, 2025 after three seasons at Boston University where he produced 114 points (56-58-114) in 117 games. He played two games for the Oilers last spring. Issac Howard who was last year’s Hobey Baker winner playing at Michigan State University has three straight multi-point games (2-4-6) after notching two assists. Howard led all of college hockey last season with 1.41 points per game (37GP, 26-26-52). He played 17 games with the Oilers to start the season where he collected three points (2-1-3) before being assigned to Bakersfield last Friday. The Hudson, WI native was drafted by Tampa Bay in the 2022 NHL Draft, first round, 31st overall, but was traded to the Oilers from the Lightning on Jul. 8, 2025.

HOME COOKIN: After tonight the Reign will play five straight games at Toyota Arena. Ontario picked up their third consecutive victory on home ice last night improving to 5-1-1 on the season in their own building. The Condors are the only team in the AHL still with a perfect home record as they look to improve to 7-0-0 this season at Dignity Health Arena. Bakersfield is just 1-6-3 on the road this season while Ontario is 4-5-0.

GONE STREAKIN: Kenny Connors stretched his point streak to four-games (2-4-6) last night with a goal and an assist while he also has an assist in four consecutive contests. Akil Thomas recorded an assist for his second straight game and has a point in four straight (1-3-4). Andre Lee has back-to-back multi-point games now after scoring two goals last Saturday while tacking on two helpers last night. Martin Chromiak notched an assist last night and now has a point in three straight games (1-2-3).

WHAT TO WATCH FOR ONTARIO: The Reign had scored just two first period goals in their previous six games heading into last night, but they were able to get on the board twice in the opening 20 minutes of play. Ontario held Bakersfield to just 17 shots on net last evening, the second fewest they’ve surrendered to an opponent this season, including three shots in the middle frame which tied a season low as the Condors had just seven shots through 40 minutes. Last Saturday the Reign went 3-for-5 on the power-play after going 0-for-8 in their previous three games but they failed to convert on seven-man advantage opportunities last night. The Reign will look to capture back-to-back wins for the first time since they won three straight from Oct. 19-26.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR BAKERSFIELD: The Condors saw their six-game point streak (4-1-1) come to a close last night after they had won back-to-back games as they’ve yet to lose two straight games in regulation this season. They went 1-for-4 on the power-play last evening having now scored a power-play goal in five straight games (6-for-21) as they sit eighth in the league at 25.4%. Bakersfield had allowed a power-play goal against in four straight games (15-for-21) heading into last night but killed off all seven over their penalty kills last evening. Prior to last night they had scored three or more goals in six consecutive contests.