After a better start but another poor finish the Gulls looked to rebound on the second of back to back games, still looking for their first win of the season.
Coach Dineen changed the lines up once again, inserting Luke Gazdic and taking out Corey Tropp as well as replacing Sieloff with Hakanpaa on defense. Anthony Stolarz got the start in net.
I will admit I missed the first eleven minutes of the action due to getting the game time wrong (why was it an hour earlier than yesterdays game?) joining the action just before the midway point of the first period with the Reign already up by one. It appears as though they scored on just their second shot of the game, 59 seconds into the opening frame.
But the Gulls would tie it up on the Power Play just past the halfway point of the first twenty. With Mario Kempe sitting in the box for running over Stolarz the Gulls man advantage went to work. Spreading the puck around and quickly finding a seam, they forced the Reign to collapse down low during a goal mouth scramble so that when Lundestrom and Kloos were able to retrieve a loose puck – a short pass to the slot from Kloos left Chris Wideman with plenty of time and space to hammer a slapshot by the sprawling Cal Peterson.
San Diego followed up the goal with more pressure and yet another Power Play was awarded but they could not capitalize this time. They did look good though, getting clean zone entries and looking organized in their setup and passing. The final pass is likely the only thing letting them down right now, but the ideas are there and it feels like only a matter of time and confidence now.
The period ended with the Gulls leading in shots 14-9 and looking relatively effective on the Shot Map but not quite as good as the previous games first intermission.
Ontario had the early pressure in the second period, much like the start of the first but the Gulls were able to weather the storm and carry play back the other way. Unfortunately the Gulls got a bit carried away with their newfound confidence in attack and both Wideman as well as Mahura both chose to pinch at the same time, leading to a two on nothing breakaway for Bjornfot and Anderson-Dolan. The Kings 2019 first rounder finishing the play to make it 2-1.
San Diego responded just two minutes later, keeping the Reign zone and generating a rebound to the slot for Antoine Morand to finish off for his first professional career goal. Andrew Poturalski fired the one timer from the near side of the net after a great pass from Carrick at the boards – Morand cruising the slot pounced on the loose puck to finish.
Carrick followed that up with a hard and fast hit on the Reign rookie Bjornfot in the corner and drew the ire of the entire Ontario team, the hit was deemed legal and the Gulls were awarded a power play after the skirmish subsided. This man advantage had some good looks but again could not finish, Morand came close but elected to pass when he probably should have taken the shot from the bottom of the left circle with space.
The period finished with San Diego narrowly holding the lead in shots 27-24 and the shot map showing a disturbing amount of chances for the Reign taking place from between the circles.
The third period was tight and neither team seemed willing to allow the other to gain an upper hand of any kind.
The Reign were awarded a full minute and a half of a five on three advantage just after the halfway point when Sprong was called for tripping as he attempted to back-check on an Ontario rush (yes you read that right). Then Josh Mahura air-mailed the puck over the glass just twenty seconds later. The Gulls were able to kill both minors – playing some tight defensive structure to prevent any wide open cross ice passing.
Just when it seemed San Diego might be gaining momentum to try and earn their first win of the season the Reign again jumped on a chance created by some misfortune for the Gulls as Kiefer Sherwood was felled while attempting to keep a puck in the offensive zone during a Gulls power play. Ontario using the open trailing man to get the go-ahead goal with five minutes left.
The Gulls pulled Stolarz with just over a minute left and created two goal mouth scrambles during the remaining time but were unable to get one by Peterson. Dropping their sixth game to start the season but at least looking like they were at least capable of possibility winning or getting a point for their efforts.
2023-2024 Game 68: San Diego Gulls at Coachella Valley Firebirds
Dropping a close one in overtime in Ontario the San Diego Gulls headed further east into t…