Two defenseman joining Reign.

The Reign have received defenseman Patrick Mullen from the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs and have been assigned defenseman Colten Teubert by the Kings. Both will be in uniform tonight when the Reign play the Bakersfield Condors tonight (6 p.m., Rabobank Arena).

Teubert was the Kings’ first-round draft pick (13th overall) in 2008 and finished last season with the Reign, notching two assists in 14 games between the regular season and the playoffs. The recently-turned 20-year-old just completed his final season with the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats.

Mullen, 23, recorded three goals, eight points and 14 penalty minutes in 36 games during his rookie season with the Monarchs.

The 6-foot, 181-pound native of Pittsburgh played four years at the University of Denver. from 2005-09, collecting 81 points (20-61=81) and 148 penalty minutes in 152 games. The Kings signed Mullen two a two-year entry-level contract in April of last year and have been using him exclusively as a defenseman in Manchester after splitting time at forward in college.

Mullen’s father, Joe, played in the NHL for 16 seasons with four different teams (Blues, Flames, Penguins, Bruins). The first American-born hockey player to score 500 goals and register 1,000 points, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000.

The Web site Hockey’s Future didn’t have much to say about Mullen but rated him a 6.0, and ranked him as the 19th-best prospect in the Kings’ system.

Bakersfield getting two blueliners back.

The Bakersfield Condors will face the Reign tonight with two of their better players back from the American Hockey League.

Defensemen Sasha Pokulok and Mark Mitera were playing for Abbotsford and San Antonio, respectively, the last time these teams faced each other in February, but will be back in the lineup tonight at Rabobank Arena.

According to the Bakersfield Californian, Pokulok has 28 points in 39 games with the Condors but played in just
three of the last 26. Mitera has 13 points in 32 games but has been gone
for the last 20 games

Kilburg placed on waivers.

Rookie defenseman Brian Kilburg was placed on waivers today by the Reign. The 25-year-old recorded 40 penalty minutes in 39 games, mostly as a bottom-two defenseman, collecting his only point with an assist on Jan. 22 against the Utah Grizzlies.

Before joining the Reign, Kilburg played three seasons with the USHL’s Tri-City Storm, posting 21 goals, 57 points and 363 penalty minutes in 176 regular-season games. The Mendota Heights, Minn. native spent four seasons with Minnesota State-Mankato, recording five goals, 33 points and 257 penalty minutes in 137 games.

Reign 4, Alaska 3, shootout.

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: The Reign won in a shootout Saturday, as Mike Zacharias came on in relief of Curtis Darling to get the win and get the Reign a much-needed two points.

It’s a formula that the Reign have employed three times in the last five games and it worked again to clinch victory against the Alaska Aces. Jon Rheault scored all three Reign goals in regulation, and Michael Pelech and Chad Starling scored in the shootout.

Darling stopped 25 of 28 shots over 65 minutes before giving way to Zacharias, who stopped four of the five shooters in the shootout. Mike Egener had two assists as the Reign converted both of their power-play opportunities.

The Reign took four of a possible six points in the Alaska series, turning the standings into a real rat race: seven teams are separated by seven points in the battle for six playoff spots. With the win, the Reign moved a point ahead of the Utah Grizzlies into the seventh and final playoff position.

The Reign are now 9-1-0-2 in their past 12 games.

Alaska 2, Reign 0.

The streak is over.

By losing 2-0 to the Alaska Aces on Friday night, the Reign failed to gain a point in the standings for the first time since Feb. 14, a span of 10 games. They also failed to take advantage of the Utah Grizzlies’ 5-2 victory over the Stockton Thunder, which would have allowed the Reign out of the Pacific Division cellar with a victory.

Instead, the Reign (26-26-3-6) are a point back of Stockton (27-24-2-6) and tied with Utah (27-25-2-5) at 61 points in the standings. By virtue of the Grizzlies’ better winning percentage (.517 to .500), they would get the National Conference’s final playoff berth if the season ended today.

Curtis Darling stopped 27 of 28 shots, allowing only a power-play goal to Eric Boguniecki at 13:22 of the third period. Darling had been pulled for an extra attacker when Alaska was credited with a goal with 1:47 left in the third period, when Reign defenseman Mike Egener hit Brock McBride as McBride attempted to score into the empty net.

Aces goaltender Scott Reid foiled all 24 shots by the Reign, who will attempt to pick up two points when the teams meet again at 8:15 p.m. Saturday.

News and notes from Alaska.

There was plenty of ECHL news coming out of Alaska today, but not from the visitor’s locker room.

Reign head coach Karl Taylor did not make any roster moves prior to the ECHL trade deadline at noon. That means, as unlikely as it might have seemed as little as three weeks ago, nobody’s getting traded. Any roster change for the Reign will result from injuries, AHL call-ups, amateur or free-agent signings, or junior players being assigned by the Kings.

Any player who signs a pro contract must appear in at least five regular-season games to be included on the Reign’s playoff roster. Amateurs aren’t bound by the same rule.

The Alaska Aces made one deadline deal in advance of tonight’s game against the Reign, trading defenseman Derick Martin to the Elmira Jackals for left wing Jarret Konkle.

The Aces also made headlines in the Anchorage Daily News by announcing they will be forced to host games 40 miles away from their home arena in first round of the playoffs. A look at the ECHL standings reveals that this isn’t likely to impact the Reign, who are probably in the running for one of the National Conference’s final three playoff positions along with the Aces.

Also worth noting: The AHL’s Manchester Monarchs were left down a goalie for tonight’s game when Jonathan Bernier was recalled by the Kings. But the Monarchs signed former Bakersfield Condors goaltender Josh Johnson – and neither of the Reign’s two goalies – to back up Jeff Zatkoff.

Manchester announces clearing-day roster.

Geoff Walker and Jon Rheault could very well spend the rest of the season in Ontario rather than Manchester, N.H.

Neither forward was listed on the Manchester Monarchs’ clear day roster released Thursday, meaning that neither will play for the Monarchs this season unless emergency conditions arise as a result of recall, injury or suspension. AHL teams may also add signed junior players, or players on amateur tryout contracts, after their respective junior or college seasons are complete.

Walker and Rheault started the season with the Reign but were recalled to Manchester in late November, then came back to Ontario on March 5. Forward Dwight King, who began the season with the Reign but has been in Manchester since December, was listed on the roster.

The complete list –

Goaltenders (2): Jonathan Bernier and Jeff Zatkoff.

Defensemen (7): Drew Bagnall, Andrew Campbell, Thomas Hickey (injured), Alec Martinez, Patrick Mullen (injured), Joe Piskula and Viatcheslav Voynov.

Forwards (13): Justin Azevedo, Marc-Andre Cliche, Corey Elkins, Gabe Gauthier, Bud Holloway, Dwight King, Trevor Lewis, Andrei Loktionov (injured), David Meckler, Juraj Mikus, Oscar Moller, Kevin Westgarth and John Zeiler

In Residence (4): Shawn Bates (F), Tom Cavanagh (F), David Kolomatis (D) and Doug Nolan (D).

Wranglers collect another fine.

The ECHL announced today that Las Vegas Wranglers forward Alex Bourret has been fined an undisclosed amount “as a result of his actions in ECHL Game #586 at Ontario on March 7.” Bourret has been fined under Rule #29 – Supplemental Discipline.

Bourret was hit with a 2-minute slashing penalty at 4:15 of the second period, but it is not specified whether his fine is related to this penalty or not. As Rule 29 notes, “the Commissioner may, at his discretion, investigate any incident that occurs in connection with any Pre-season, Exhibition, League or Playoff game and may assess additional fines and/or suspensions for any offense committed during the course of a game or any aftermath thereof by a player, goalkeeper, Trainer, Manager, Coach or non-playing Club personnel or Club executive, whether or not such offense has been penalized by the Referee.”

Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the ECHL and the Professional Hockey Players’ Association, player fines collected by the ECHL are given to the PHPA for its ECHL Player’s Hardship Fund.

Reign 5, Alaska 4, shootout.

Another lost lead, another shootout, and another Mike Zacharias special delivery – at least the Reign found a way to win on the road.

The Alaska Aces erased a 3-1 deficit with three third-period goals to take a 4-3 lead, before a goal by Michael Pelech with 1:35 left in regulation sent the game to overtime, and eventually a shootout. Once again, Karl Taylor pulled Curtis Darling in favor of Mike Zacharias and once again, Zacharias delivered. He stopped four of the five Aces shooters, allowing goals by Pelech and Chad Starling to hold up on the other end, with Starling’s proving to be the winner.

It was the fourth straight shootout for the Reign; they have won two and lost two. In three straight shootout performances, Zacharias has only allowed two goals.

Pelech had a huge game, collecting two assists in addition to his goals in regulation and the shootout. Mike Egener kicked off the scoring at 4:39 of the first period, Sean O’Connor made it 2-0 just 62 seconds later with his 12th goal of the season, and Egener’s ninth goal of the season with 34 seconds left in the second period made it 3-1.

Alaska began its comeback with a short-handed goal by Scott Burt at 2:20 of the third period, and even-strength goals by Merit Waldrop and Eric Boguniecki made it 4-3.

Jon Rheault picked up two more assists, giving him five (along with two goals) in four games since his return from the AHL. Geoff Walker and Andrew Martens also had assists for the Reign.

Egener has seven goals and seven assists (and 32 penalty minutes) in his last 12 games for the Reign. Ontario finished 2-for-6 on the power play and held Alaska to one goal in eight man-advantage shifts, but failed to convert a 43-second long 5-on-3 advantage late in the first period.

Here’s what the conference standings
look like; the Reign gained a valuable two points on the Utah
Grizzlies, who did not play last night. They’re now tied with Las Vegas
for the sixth/seventh spot, but Alaska’s point in the standings moves
them into a tie for fourth/fifth with Stockton.

The three-game series resumes at 8:15 p.m. Friday.

ECHL fines Las Vegas for water-bottle incident.

The ECHL has decided to fine Las Vegas an undisclosed amount of money for actions related to the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty it received in the third period of Friday’s game at The Bank.

With 4:15 left in the game, Mike Egener delivered a hard hit to the Wranglers’ Mick Lawrence near the Vegas bench. Ned Lukacevic was demonstrably upset, grabbed a water bottle, and tossed it over two plexiglass partitions and onto the Reign bench.