Coming off the high of their 9-3 win and looking to continue their hot-streak, the Gulls headed into the Inland Empire to try score some points on their nearby rivals.
Coach Kevin Dineen kept forwards line as they were from the previous game and only tweaked the defensive pairings so as to re-unite Hunter Drew and Simon Benoit.
With play largely static and no major high danger chances to start – it took a zone entry and an accurate and deadly wrist shot from Kiefer Sherwood to get things going three minutes into the game as he fired a hard shot over the shoulder of the unsuspecting Cal Peterson to make it 1-0 Gulls.
There wasn’t a heck of a lot of action after that until the 6:30 mark when a Reign defender fell in the neutral zone and a trio of Gulls went in alone on Cal Peterson. Kiefer Sherwoods initial shot was stopped and the rebound from Daniel Sprong also – illustrating just how very impressive and important to the Reign the young Kings net-minder is.
Both teams exchanged chances and power plays throughout the rest of the first period until the Reigns Sean Durzi was called for a double minor for drawing blood on Antoine Morand with a minute and thirty seconds left in the opening period.
San Diego got set in the Ontario zone and came tantalizingly close when a puck snuck through the pads of Cal Peterson but remained agonizingly on the wrong side of the goal line before the Reign defense were able to spot and clear it. The period ended with the Gulls leading 1-0 and shots 17-4.
The shot-map after twenty minutes looked kind of like what the Gulls initial poor performances were like at the start of the season – I almost felt bad for the Reign. Almost.
The San Diego Power Play enjoyed almost the entire first two minutes of the second period in the Ontario zone, prompting Lance Bouma to collect a rebound from an Alex Broadhurst shot and send a backhand clearance attempt over the glass on the full. With the Gulls stationed in the Ontario zone for approximately thirty seconds of five on three power-play time they got a good chance in on Cal Peterson in front and hacked away at the rebound but the Iowa native stood tall to keep it out. On the next face-off a Gulls zone entry with speed presented Chris Wideman with time and space in the slot and his high wrist shot beat Peterson through traffic to make it 2-0 with four seconds left in the five on three.
Ontario managed to kill the reminder of the additional penalty but were sent right back to the box just before the midway point of the period when Max Comtois was clipped with a high stick.
The Gulls looked dangerous and came – once again – agonizingly close as a loose puck lay in the goal crease before Cal Peterson was able to recover and keep it out of harms way. Isac Lundestrom was particularly noticeable at dictating play as the de-facto power play quarterback.
With seven minutes left in the period the Reign got one back on the Power Play as Blake (not Brett as the Reign play-by-play seemed to think his name was) Pietela sat in the box. Rasmus Kurpari converting a goal mouth scramble for the home-team to bring their crowd to life. 2-1 Gulls.
The Reign followed up the marker by attempting to assert their dominance by laying some huge hits in the San Diego zone and the Gulls responded via a huge hit from Sam Carrick. This drew the ire of some Reign players – but whilst play went on – Simon Benoit found himself alone with space at the top of the hash-marks and fired a shot high over the shoulder of Cal Peterson for some poetic justice. Hunter Drew with the quick cross-ice feed. 3-1 Gulls.
With three and a half minutes left in the middle frame the Gulls game close to making it 4-1 when Max Comtois responded to some Reign heavy hitting with a devastating hit of his own in the Reign zone – freeing up the puck in the process and allowing a chance all alone in front for Kloos but Peterson once again came up big to keep it 3-1.
San Diego carried the two goal lead into the second intermission with shots 39 to 13 for the Gulls. Again the shot map looked reminiscent of a team starved of puck possession.
Two and a half minutes into the final period the Reign gave the home crowd an excuse to get on their feet when Sean Durzi fired a shot from the top of the circles that appeared to handcuff Stolarz. 3-2 Gulls.
The Gulls responded two minutes later on a two on one break with Pietila finishing off a perfect pass from Alex Broadhurst to make it 4-2.
The Reign made yet another push and Antoine Morand was called for tripping Mario Kempe just after the six minute mark. Although the Reign had a very close chance that Stolarz was able to snag with the glove as he was moving in the opposite direction the Gulls got a two man break when a quick clearance found its way to Sam Carrick and he streaked away with Justin Kloos. The San Diego Captain looked off his team-mate and fired home a hard wrist shot to give the Gulls the AHL overall lead in short-handed goals thus far this season. 5-2 Gulls.
The Reign again tried to get thing going with physicality but again only saw them go down a man as Boko Imama was called for elbowing Alex Broadhurst.
It took over a minute but once the Gulls were set it didn’t take long for Chris Wideman to step into a bomb that Cal Peterson had not chance in stopping. 6-2 Gulls and the end of Peterson’s night.
Play was middling until the final three minutes when the Reign were found guilty of another penalty, Chaz Reddekopp called for cross-checking.
Alex Dostie drew yet another call with a brilliant individual play as he carried into the Ontario zone, splitting the defense and forcing the Reign to hook him to prevent a scoring chance.
On the five on three San Diego tried their hardest to get Chris Wideman the hat-trick but Ontario was wise to that and the remainder of game-time was played out in rather anti-climatic fashion. San Diego skating away with a 6-2 win.
Post Game Notes:
White-Hot Wideman: With three points tonight Chris Wideman jumped into second place in team scoring. He now has twelve points in twelve games. He is also tied for third in scoring for defense men in the AHL.
Comtois a class above: He may not have shown up on the scoresheet tonight but Max Comtois made several plays that show why he is not long for this league and is likely to have a long NHL career. His hit in particular is one play that stood out. It is the kind of play that can change an outcome in a big game situation such as a playoff game.
Legion of Doom dominating: Simon Beniot had a goal and assist and Hunter Drew an assist to add to an overall dominating performance for the two defensive stalwarts. Drew in particular had a nice shot block midway through the third period, perfect placing himself in a shooting lane with expert timing.
2023-2024 Game 68: San Diego Gulls at Coachella Valley Firebirds
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