A rare visit from the Detroit affiliate and the first time since the Gulls inaugural home ice game back in 2015. It was announced just hours before the game that forward Blake Pietila would be out of the line-up with Flu like symptoms. With Ryan Johnston making his return to the team from injury, Coach Dineen decided to roll with seven defensemen. Interestingly Hunter Drew was a healthy scratch for the first time this season.
The game began with a frenetic pace and Max Jones continued his ill discipline from the last game by taking a slashing penalty early. The Gulls surprised the Griffins power play by taking the play to them shorthanded, Kloos and Lundestrom combining for an opportunity as San Diego killed the penalty with little difficulty. However the Griffins followed that up with a rush that got them the initial score of the game with Giavani Smith got in alone on Stolarz, the former 2016 entry draft picks shot was stopped at first but trickled over the goal line to make it 1-0 Griffins.
Max Jones made up for his penalty by doing what he does best, bullying his way to the Grand Rapids net and getting a tip on a shot that eventually got by Calvin Pickard to tie things up 1-1.
Brent Gates Jr. gave the Gulls the lead just seconds later as he and Alex Broadhurst combined on a two on one, the Grand Rapids native batting the aerial pass out of mid-air and into the net to make it 2-1.
Just before the midway point of the first period Justin Kloos was called for high-sticking and the Griffins did a much better job of holding the Gulls zone and getting opportunities with this man-advantage chance. But once again San Diego demonstrated how dangerous they are on the penalty kill as Isac Lundestrom broke up a play between the two Griffins blue-liners, the puck then bounced free to Chase De Leo who streaked away with it, firing a hard shot along the ice that squeaked through Pickard to make it 3-1 Gulls shorthanded.
San Diego continued their uptempo play and earned their first power play of the night when Corey Tropp was cross-checked while attempting to protect the puck down low in the offensive zone.
San Diego again struggled to gain the zone or get setup with the man advantage, handing momentum to Grand Rapids when Daniel Sprong made a drop pass intended for Chase De Leo but that was intercepted by the Griffins forwards. Anthony Stolarz made back to back huge stops as the Griffins then forced the Gulls into making lazy mistakes in their own zone.
With just over five minutes left in the period the Gulls drew another penalty as Evgeny Svechnikov was called for Cross-Checking.
This time the Power Play not only gained the zone but generated several mid to high danger chances, Ryan Johnston was especially evident as an active presence on the point – walking the line and looking to open up lanes. Max Jones also proved to be a menace in front and came close to getting his second of the game with a forehand to backhand move in tight but had the puck cleared from his stick at the moment of truth.
The period ended with the Gulls leading 3-1 but trailing in shots 12-8. The Shot Map indicating that although the Gulls had the higher percentage of dangerous opportunites, the Griffins were pressing the issue and being allowed to shoot from the high slot too often.
In an attempt to get back into the game the Griffins began the second period by executing a soft neutral zone trap, forcing the Gulls into turnovers and mistakes and then playing the body down low to generate loose pucks for the attack. Justin Kloos, growing frustrated with the tactic was called for slashing five minutes into the middle frame and the visitors went to work on the Power Play.
The Gulls were able to kill the penalty and then proceeded to try get back on the attack. Corey Tropp had a wonderful opportunity on a two on one with Alex Dostie but his attempted pass was broken up by the Griffins defender on a play that veteran would have done better to have taken the shot.
However it would be the Griffins who would draw next blood as just before the midway point of the period, a Grand Rapids point shot was able to get by Stolarz who was unable to track it through the layers of traffic in front. 3-2 Gulls.
San Diego attempted to respond by pushing the tempo and things started to open up with the Gulls trying to get a fourth goal on the rush with the Griffins trying to tie things up by firing pucks on Stolarz through bodies in front.
As time wound down in the period it felt as though the Gulls were beginning to tire, likely due to the one-less forward in the line-up and perhaps Blake Pietilas flu wasn’t just isolated to him. Whatever the reason as time ended on the middle frame it was clear they had been outplayed for the last twenty minutes and were lucky to head to the intermission with the one goal lead. Shots were 22 – 13 for the Griffins and the shot map further trended in the direction of the visitors continuing to put themselves in a position to win.
Although the Gulls started the final period with more gusto – earning a Power Play as Chase De Leo was hauled down away from the puck – they were still without ideas on the man advantage and it was the Griffins turn to press the issue; getting a shorthanded breakaway on Stolarz. The former second round pick of the Flyers was equal to the chance but Jacob Larsson was called for slashing on the sequence to nullify the dismal San Diego man advantage. A poor change during the resulting Griffins man-advantage lead to an odd-man rush through the neutral zone which was quickly put by Stolarz to tie things up at three. 3-3.
San Diego attempted to regain the lead via the trio of Max Jones, Isac Lundestrom and Justin Kloos but Pickard was able to stop the first attempt and outstanding Griffins defensemen Joe Hicketts was seemingly always there to get the clear.
The teams traded chances as time wound down and just as you might sense it would happen, the Griffins finished off a beautiful passing play with just over a minute and a half left to take the lead. Alex Dostie getting caught looking the wrong way and losing his man while Stolarz unable to make the stop on the cross-ice pass. 4-3 Griffins.
With thirty seconds left a spirited goal mouth scramble almost resulted in a tying score as Lundestrom and Jones combined once again to create a dangerous chance but ultimately the Griffins ran away 4-3 winners as they controlled play and overall game intensity since the beginning of the second period.
Post Game Notes:
Sporadic Sprong Daniel Sprong followed up back to back multi-point games with an effort that can looked largely familiar to his first few games with the Gulls. The odd burst of speed here, a flashy spin-o-Rama move there but absolutely no interest in back-checking and more than a few 50/50 passes that put his goaltender under unnecessary pressure.
Flu or Fatigue? With Pietila out tonight with the Flu I wonder if a few of the other players are either fighting it or have just recovered. It is that time of year and these things happen. I just wonder if that is one reason for the drop off in fight in the Gulls after the first period.
Pass On the PP One of these days the Gulls are going to get a Power Play goal but you sometimes wonder how far away that could be. On a positive note they did manage to get some good zone time with the man advantage in this game. The frustrating thing is nobody seems to know what to do once they do. Too often it seemed like the predictable setup would be, pass it around the horn, open some lanes, get it to Johnston – feed to whomever was on the left-side board for the one-timer. It didn’t help that nobody seemed willing to engage in or put too much effort into a puck battle after possession was lost.
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