For the Victoria Salmon Kings to start making any kind of noise in the ECHL, they are going to have to find a way to win on the road.

The S-Kings have collected just four points on the road — one win and two overtime losses — in 11 games. Victoria’s only road victory came at Boise against the Idaho Steelheads. The team is also only playing .500 at home (five wins and five losses) to give Victoria the dismal 6-13-2 record for last place in the West Division, 10 points behind the Alaska Aces.

The S-Kings will go shooting for their second road win today against the Ontario Reign in California after dropping the last three as the visitors to the Las Vegas Wranglers. But Victoria has a winning record against the Reign, going 4-3 in the seven contests.

“It is very important for us to get an early lead against Ontario,’’ said Victoria assistant coach Ryan Wade. “They have a real defensive club and we have to make them chase us. The guys know what they have to do and now they just have to execute.’’

After today’s game, the S-Kings return home to prepare for an eight-game homestand that starts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday against the Wranglers. All of those games start at 7 p.m. at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

“After losing those games in Las Vegas, we have to refocus,’’ said Victoria forward Mike Hamilton. “We are in a must-win situation. We have to get a W [{win] on this road trip. We have played Ontario several times this season and we are very familiar with them. They have a lot of skill on their forward lines and we’ll just have to find a way to shut them down and get our offence going.’’

The S-Kings are averaging less than 2.5 goals per game while allowing just over three per contest.

rrauch@tc.canwest.com