Reign Recap: Gawdin Continues His Dominant Streak, This Time Against His Former Team.

Glenn Gawdin came back to San Diego for the first time since signing with the Reign, and he put up another impressive night.

By Anthony Collazo

Coming off an important win Wednesday night, the Reign traveled to San Diego to take on their long-time rivals, the San Diego Gulls.

Unlike Wednesday, this game started at a much faster pace. There was less dump-and-chase, leading to more frequent big chances.

Samuel Fagemo got the scoring started for the Reign. A nice backhand pass from Jack Studnicka from behind the cage, finding Fagemo in front, who wristed it into the back of the net.

Immediately after, Studnicka made a nice move to give himself a clear shot, shooting a changeup that had Gulls netminder Oscar Dansk mixed up to make it a 2-0 score.

The Gulls would answer back in the second. Roman Kinal came out of the penalty box, got the puck on his stick, and shot a snipe to catch Portillo on his far side.

Fortunately for the Reign, Jeff Malott would score a greaser in the third, followed by a Charles Hudon empty netter for the 4-1 win.

Here are my takeaways from the game

Gawdin Going Wild

Glenn Gawdin faced off against his former team for the first time since coming to the Reign in this game, and he did not disappoint.

Another three-point night for the 27-year-old, who is making a case to be a potential call-up for the Kings this season.

Not only is Gawdin putting up a lot of points, but he does all the little things right, playing his role that allows the rest of the guys to succeed as well.

Additionally, Gawdin has been the best center in the faceoff circle this year, and this game was no different, going 13-21 (62%).

If Gawdin continues to play the way he has been, it will be tough not to at least give him a look.

Studnicka Gets Rewarded

At this point in the season, we start to see who the better players are on the ice. Studnicka has been one of them.

However, the recent points have not precisely correlated with his performance.

Well, Studnicka had two points in this tilt. He started with a primary assist and followed up with a goal of his own, a sneakily savvy one at that.

It will be interesting to see if and when Gawdin, Studnicka, and Fagemo all get going simultaneously.

Erik Portillo Exceeds

It was a week and a half since Portillo was in between the pipes for a live-action game. There was some concern that some cobwebs needed to be dusted off.

In a shocking move, Portillo was called up to the Kings last week instead of the experienced Pheonix Copley.

Unfortunately, Portillo did not get to make his NHL debut and was sent back down in exchange for Copley Saturday afternoon.

In his first game back, Portillo saved 33 of 34 shots, an impressive showing.

On Sunday morning, while many Kings fans were probably at church, Portillo was called back up to the Kings, and Copley was back with the Reign.