The Victoria Salmon Kings went looking for answers last night in Southern

California but only came away with more questions after yet another defeat despite staking a territorial and shots advantage.

The S-Kings continued to spiral, falling to 1-8 on the young ECHL season, after losing 4-1 to the Ontario Reign (4-6) before 6,288 fans in Citizens

Business Bank Arena.

Victoria goaltender Glenn Fisher, a two-time NCAA Frozen Four champion, has seen better nights in allowing four goals on just 17 shots. Curtis Darling of Ontario, meanwhile, was named the first star of the game for his 24 saves.

Texan Andrew Martens, who split last season between the American Hockey League and ECHL, scored on the power play to get Ontario on the board first at 15:53 of the first period.

Forward Olivier Latendresse, recently returned from the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League, equalized for Victoria on the power play at 4:51 of the second period with his third goal of the season. That’s as good as it got for the Salmon Kings on the scoreboard.

Despite Latendresse’s goal, Victoria’s largely punchless power play fell to four-for-45 on the season. The Salmon Kings’ offence overall continues to fire, but only blanks, with just 17 goals in nine games for a seriously troubling pace of less than two goals per game.

Tony Voce, a member of the 2005 AHL Calder Cup champion Philadelphia Phantoms, scored his third goal of the season to put Ontario, farm team of the nearby Los Angeles Kings, ahead 2-1 at 8:26 of the

second period.

Jon Landry pushed that Ontario advantage to two at 13:18. Peter Lenes, a rookie out of the University of Vermont, potted his third of the season to close out scoring.

In one of those minor-pro hockey scheduling quirks, the Salmon Kings meet the Reign five consecutive times, continuing tonight at Citizens Business Bank Arena before shifting to Victoria for games Wednesday and next Friday and Saturday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

The Reign, however, break up their five games against the Salmon Kings with a home contest tomorrow against the Alaska Aces before flying out to Victoria.

Victoria is expected to dress newly acquired six-foot-two, 212-pound forward Randall Gelech tonight. The 25-year-old was named to the 2004 Memorial Cup all-star team in junior with the Kelowna Rockets and comes to the Salmon Kings after four seasons in the AHL and S-Kings brass hope he can bring some much-needed physicality to the team.

ICE CHIPS: Tom Pyatt, formerly of the Charlotte Checkers, became the 414th former ECHLer to play in the NHL when he made his debut with the Montreal Canadiens in a 2-1 shootout win Thursday night in Boston.