Ontario Reign hockey is back, even if only for one more tune-up before the games start counting.
The Reign head to Coachella Valley on Saturday for an early evening exhibition at Acrisure Arena, coming off Friday’s 4-3 overtime win against San Diego. It’s the final preseason game for Ontario, but this one carries a little extra edge. The Firebirds were the team that knocked the Reign out of the Calder Cup Playoffs last spring, sending them home in double overtime of a winner-take-all semifinal game.
That loss still lingers for a group that had just finished a franchise-best regular season and won the Pacific Division. Ontario expected a much deeper playoff run. Instead, the Firebirds ended it, and this will be the first time the teams have seen each other since that Game 5 heartbreak in May.
The biggest wrinkle tonight is in goal. Erik Portillo is expected to start for Ontario, which stands out for a few reasons. Kings GM Ken Holland has been exploring the possibility of the NHL club carrying three goalies to open the season, and Portillo was sent down to the AHL earlier today after not appearing in preseason action with the big club.
He could still be recalled to the NHL after this game, so this may end up being a one-game stop with the Reign.
Under normal circumstances, Ontario might have leaned on Hampton Slukynsky and Carter George for the final preseason reps. But with five pro goalies in the organization and only four total spots split between the NHL and AHL, the opportunities are limited, and someone has to get the crease tonight.
There’s also another meeting with Coachella Valley right around the corner. The Reign open their 2026-27 regular season next Friday and Saturday with a home-and-home series against the Firebirds, a matchup that should have plenty of bite.
Elsewhere on the roster, Ontario has already trimmed several training camp cuts this week, with a number of players headed to the ECHL. Those moves were expected, but there are still some forward decisions left to sort through, and Andrew Lord still has several options available up front.
Projected lineup for tonight:
Isogai - G. Slukynsky - Jamsen
Cihar - Pederson - Hughes
Guttman - Pinelli - Chromiak
Percival - Lawrence - Doty
Hicketts - Brzustewicz
Woolley - Millar
Perunovich - Mastrodomenico
Portillo
George
Likely scratches: (F) Connors, Gorman, Shea, Ward, Wright (D) Kirsanov and (G) H. Slukynksy
Injured: (F) Jenik (D) Dvorak, Salin
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Kings Still Have One Obvious Center Fix For Their Playoff Push
The Kings entered the 2026-27 season still carrying a familiar roster need down the middle, and the market naturally keeps pointing back to a Boston center who could fit the bill. A top-six pivot has been one of the clearest missing pieces for Los Angeles as it tries to keep pace in the West, and the Bruins are in a position where their own center depth matters almost as much as their future planning.
The wrinkle is that any discussion of a possible move has to account for contract timing, because the cost changes depending on whether an extension is attached to the deal. For the Kings, that makes the situation worth watching but not simple, since a player with that kind of profile can help a playoff push immediately while also forcing Los Angeles to decide how much it is willing to pay in assets for a fix that might not come cheaply. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Fans Got An Early Look At One Reign Trait That Matters
The Ontario Reign picked up a 2-1 shootout win over the Coachella Valley Firebirds at Acrisure Arena, and the game offered a familiar kind of reminder for Kings fans watching from above the fold. Ontario stayed alive late and then leaned on a steady effort in goal, with Erik Portillo making 18 saves in regulation to keep the Reign within striking distance long enough for the finish to come down to the extras.
Kenny Connors helped set that up by tying the game at the very end of regulation, and Ontario carried that momentum into the shootout. Taylor Ward supplied the lone shootout goal, while Portillo shut down all three Coachella Valley chances to seal the result, the sort of composed response that can matter just as much as the final score in an early-season look at organizational depth. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Opening Night Roster Still Has Two Late Twists
The Kings have started making the first cuts toward the NHLs 23-player roster deadline, trimming their training camp group by sending Kenny Connors, Jared Wright, Kirill Kirsanov and goaltender Erik Portillo to AHL Ontario. It is the usual late-September sorting-out process, but it also leaves a clearer picture of what the opening-night group is taking shape around as the team gets closer to the season opener.
Kevin Fiala is set to begin the season on injured reserve, and Joel Edmundson remains day-to-day with an injury, which means the roster still has some room to shift before things are finalized. With 22 active players currently on hand, the Kings are not quite at the point of locking everything in, and there may still be another move or two before the opener arrives. [Read more 🡒]