Friday and Saturday night the Reign were back in action at home after the all-star break. The opponent? Division rivals the San Jose Barracuda. With the Kings on a lengthy break while preparing for their infamous Grammy road trip, it was a packed house on both Friday and Saturday at CBBA. The fans were treated to two victories from the home team, a 1-0 goaltending battle on Friday, and a high paced 3-2 comeback win on Saturday.
The two victories put the Reign at 28-10-3-1 on the season, and the team are currently on a 8-1-1-0 run in their past 10 games. They are certainly pulling away in the Pacific standings in point percentage currently.
The Barracuda are on a tough stretch currently, and are still looking to get coach Roy Sommer the AHL all-time record in wins. The Reign were having nothing of it this weekend. In our recaps we generally go player by player for a bit of prospect and player updating, so lets get right to it.
Nic Dowd
Dowd continues to be surge. His January was outstanding, posting 17 points and 7 goals in 14 games on the month. He notched an assist on the weekend on Michael Mersch's lone game winner on Friday. While it was a bit more of a quiet weekend statistically for Dowd, he continues to be a catalyst offensively for the Reign. His puck possession play in the offensive zone has really come together as the season has progressed and he is playing with a lot of confidence and assertiveness on the puck. Teamed up with Michael Mersch since his return from Los Angeles, the duo have been one of the more threatening forward pairs for Ontario.
Michael Mersch
Mersch scored about the Merschiest Mersch goal you could imagine on Friday. Take a look thanks to Sheng Peng's GIF.
Get to the net and good things happen. The winger is noticeable route one as a hockey player. There is not much flash, but a dogged approach to getting to the net and attempting to make things happen. His mindset and work ethic have not changed one bit from Ontario to LA and back again. While his skating does noticeably need a bit of work, especially on transition, the 23-year old has returned to the AHL as an effective power forward presence yet again. He had a pair of goals on the weekend, bringing his season total to 18 in 30 games.
[VIDEO] @ontarioreign's @mikemersch25 puts @SBacks16's pass off the crossbar and in for 18th G https://t.co/WC6pnIkWo7 #AHL
— ieProSports (@ieProSports) February 7, 2016
Johnny Brodzinski
The winger potted his 6th goal of the season on Saturday night on a nice feed from Kris Newbury. The goal was Brodzinski's first since January 8th, and his second in the last 15 games.
[VIDEO] @Brodzyy finishes off odd-man rush for 6th G of season https://t.co/urMAjHkZmd @ontarioreign #AHL
— ieProSports (@ieProSports) February 7, 2016
Despite the low offensive totals, Mike Stothers was incredibly complimentary of the rookie forward on his season so far.
On Brodzinski's development this year:First of all, he’s a guy that you can play in a lot of different lines. He’s not pigeon-holed into one line or one category. I think he does a lot of things well. Although he got off to a slow start before he scored his first one, I still think in that individual is a goal scorer. Just because of the way he can shoot a puck, his release, his nose for the net. And I think that’s going to come in time. Consistency is probably one of the things you deal with with a lot of young players. Maybe the fact that I do move him around quite a bit from line to line, as a young player you look at it like, ‘oh geez, I’m not here, I’m there and everywhere else.’ Whereas maybe if he had a little more experience he’d go, ‘geez, coach is trusting me in this situation, or coach wants me to play with these guys tonight.’ That to me, that’s just my experience because I’m older than him, quite a bit older than him. I’m looking at it as this guy’s pretty valuable. We can play him in a lot of places. He’s been very good. I just think it’s a matter of experience and him getting some minutes and getting some touches. Can he be a little bit better in the defensive zone? Sure. Can he have a better finish in the offensive zone? Sure. But I think you noticed late in the game I was using him and Kempe on either side of Newbury late in the game, so there’s some trust building.
Andrew Crescenzi
Dowd and Crescenzi have been big reasons why the Reign penalty kill has been exceptional this season (2nd overall, 86.9%). Both centers play a wise defensive game and are relied upon heavily by Stothers on the PK and on big D-zone faceoffs. While Dowd had some rare struggles in the latter category this weekend, Crescenzi was an impressive 14-for-25 (56%) on faceoffs over the weekend (3-6, 11-19). He notched an assist on Saturday night grabbing his 10th point of the season. Crescenzi also stands out as probably the team's best shot blocking forward. The PK was 6-for-7 over the weekend.
Valentin Zykov
Zykov was a healthy scratch for both games in favor of Joel Lowry. However, when asked about it after the game by Reign Insider Lindsay Czarnecki, Stothers implied it was more about the play of Lowry than anything poor about Zykov
I’ve liked Lows game, I thought the last time we were in San Jose, Lowry had a really, really strong game for us. And then we went and played San Jose last night here and we had a good game, a win, and didn’t really want to change anything. Basically a numbers game. Come Wednesday, who knows, could be Brodzinski out. Just to keep you guys on your toes.
Joel Lowry
There has been a long storied injury recovery for Joel Lowry since the abrupt end to his Cornell hockey career due to back surgery. However, he has been a blue collar workman-like player for Stothers this season when called upon. He does not get a chance to get in that many games for the Reign (20 on the season), but when he is called upon he is a pretty low-risk grinder on the fourth line.
Kevin Gravel
Even with the return of Derek Forbort, Kevin Gravel remains the most impressive and dynamic defenseman the Reign have. Everything with the big defenseman is sharp. His decision making, his passing, his offensive outbursts, his stick work in lanes, his physical play on forwards in the defensive zone. Quite frankly, he may be the most NHL ready defenseman the Kings have right now in their system. He plays an all-around solid game, and showed great examples of that over the weekend. It seems like his decisions are split second, and usually not wrong. He had several plays over the weekend where he jumped up into attacks, making 2-on-2 breaks 3-on-2s. With an assist on Mersch's lone Friday night marker, Gravel put up his 16th point of the season.
Kurtis MacDermid
Nick Ebert and Zac Leslie are both healthy, but Stothers keeps going back to the big physical defenseman. You have to suppose that that alone says something about his level of play. It was a rough around the edges kind of weekend for MacDermid though. He had a couple of shaky decision making plays in his own defensive zone but was bailed out by partner Vincent LoVerde and his forward group. On the flip side, he also made several good step up plays at the opposing blue line and on his own blue line in order to break up entry plays. He, of course, also throws the occasional big hit to get the crowd going. The edgy, peaks and valleys, style of play that MacDermid showcases is intriguing. If the valleys get fewer and further between (Cleaning up the penalties would help also), he could very well be the surprise of the season in at least this bloggers opinion.
Justin Auger
Like Brodzinski, Auger had not scored in quite some time. However, in the second period of Saturday night's game, while Dave Joseph was still announcing the Reign's 2nd goal, Auger tucked home his first since January 5th on a net front scramble.
[VIDEO] @justinauger20 keeps pounding puck until it finds daylight, nets game-winning G for @ontarioreign https://t.co/K9JVIpKfyS #AHL
— ieProSports (@ieProSports) February 7, 2016
Notice in the video (The awesome HD thank you forever and ever IE Pro Sports you are not AHL Live 'Video'), that Auger tried and nearly succeeded at the high skill between the legs play. A goal is a goal though, and that had to feel good for the big winger. He had an overall active weekend, troubling San Jose defenders with his size on numerous occasions. On one particular play Friday Night, Auger blew by San Jose's Mark Cundari on a power move at the circles. It was a nice display of both skating and strength from Auger. He has been a bit up and down this year, but when he asserts himself he can be a real problem for opposing defenses to deal with.
Sean Backman
On Friday night something happened with Sean Backman that had not happened all year.
He was held without a shot.
That's right, in all 42 games this season for the Reign, Backman has posted at least one shot on goal. In fact, he has 142 shots this season which is an average of about 3.5 a game. So to be held shotless on Friday is a big deal for the diminutive winger. He has been an altogether steady and productive player for Ontario, and he came back the next night with five shots on a goal and an assist. He also got a few stitches for his troubles on Saturday as Nic Dowd bounced a dump pass in off the side of his head. He may have logged more stitches than shots total on the weekend, which would be another first.
Peter Budaj
What can you say about Peter Budaj this year? Easily the Reign's MVP. He posted a shutout on Friday night, which was his third consecutive null contest. The streak ended shortly into Saturday night's game. In both games, Budaj had to come up with some extremely big saves late to preserve the Reign lead. When we say big saves, we are talking point blank chances from right between the circles and below the hash marks with seconds left in the game.
From a human standpoint, this has to be a refreshing year for the 33-year old when taking in the scope of his last season.
He is on a one-year deal with the Kings currently, and this is probably a good enough season to get him a sniff at an NHL tandem or backup job at some point next season. There is still fuel left in that tank for sure.
For any other questions on the weekend games or the Kings prospects, feel free to ask in the comment section!
The Reign play again at home this Friday against the Bakersfield Condors, while the Kings begin their road trip in Boston tomorrow night.
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