Buoyed by the news that off-season signing and recent Calder Cup Champion – Andrew Poturalski would be finally making his return to the line-up after an injury sustained back in November. The Gulls took to the ice to face division foes the Barracuda with a line-up that one would hope could see them have success for the remainder of the season.
Gates Jr was returned to the top line, on a line featuring Daniel Sprong in place of the recalled Troy Terry. Poturalski was inserted right onto the second line, alongside Comtois and Lundestrom. De Leo and Kloos were reunited on the third line – with Kiefer Sherwood, while Chris Mueller found himself on the fourth line, with Alex Broadhurst and Antoine Morand.
A good start for the Gulls quickly turned bad as Daniel Sprong mishandled the puck at the San Diego blue line and Lukas Radil went in on Stolarz un-harassed, firing a hard wrist shot over his shoulder. 1-0 Barracuda.
Kiefer Sherwood was awarded a penalty shot just twenty seconds later as he was hauled down on a breakaway. The Ohio native swung in from the left with little to no speed, mesmerizing the goaltender Sawchenko with quick and shifty stick turnovers before pump-faking and firing a shot by him to tie things up at one. 1-1.
The Gulls would get the first Power Play of the game when Trevor Carrick was whistled for tripping just under six minutes in and the Gulls would take the lead on some brilliant passing in the San Jose zone. Chris Mueller making good on his reason for re-acquisition by putting away a rebound in front. 2-1 Gulls.
Unfortunately the Barracuda were awarded a Power Play of their own minutes later as Max Comtois was called for slashing. The Gulls penalty kill managed to prevent San Jose from initially getting setup but once they did – San Diego were unable to get possession back and the Barracuda tied things back up again as the visitors were simply able to get one chance too many on Stolarz. 2-2.
Things settled down somewhat for the remainder of the first period. San Diego were given two further penalties, both in my opinion – slightly dubious at best. First Mahura was called for interference on a play in which the Barrauda – Langan, probably should have got a matching minor for embellishment because that dive was a ten. The other was a high-sticking call on Max Comtois on a play where Brendan Guhle had the puck in space and was circling around the San Jose net on the start of what could have been a dangerous scoring play for the Gulls but the net-front battle between Comtois and Roy resulted in the much smaller Roy falling down and Comtois was subsequently called.
Thankfully the Gulls killed both minors and with just 3.4 seconds left in the period Sam Carrick spotted Kiefer Sherwood getting behind the Barracuda defense to send him away on his second breakaway of the period. Once again Sherwood did not miss, executing a perfect wrist shot all in one motion as time wound down to put the Gulls ahead 3-2.
Shots were 20-13 for San Jose after the first twenty and the shot map indicating that the Gulls needed to do a much better job of limiting shots for the remainder of the game.
The second period played out almost the complete opposite in style to the first. Play was chippy and mostly uneventful for the first ten minutes until perhaps a tripping minor called on Justin Kloos. The Gulls were able to kill the penalty and rode the momentum from there – gaining the Barracuda zone and successfully winning puck battles to create sustained pressure on the visitors net. Justin Kloos putting San Diego ahead 4-2 after he picked up the puck off a blocked slap shot off his stick and firing it by Sawchenko low and wide.
Daniel Sprong drew a call as he was unable to complete what would have been a nice inside-out move but he was interfered with and the Gulls went back to the Power Play.
San Diego would have looked good on the man advantage but a combination of terrible puck-luck and ice conspired against them as the puck hopped the stick of Josh Mahura three consecutive times. The Gulls unable to really get set or create any decent chances on Sawchenko with the two minutes.
With under a minute to go the Lundestrom and Comtois line created some good chances down low that ended in a outnumbered skirmish on Max Comtois as multiple Barracuda players engaged with the former World Junior Captain. After the dust settled Comtois would be assessed a roughing minor but the both the Barracudas Roy and Blichfield were given roughing penalties of their own to give the Gulls a Power Play to start the third period. San Diego heading into the second intermission up 4-2 and having a slightly better middle frame – almost halving the Barracudas shots on net total while putting up a further ten of their own. The shot map indicating that Stolarz came up huge for the period.
The Gulls looked good on the Power Play to start the third and managed two chances on Sawchenko but the Barracuda were able to kill the minor. Kloos would be sent to the box once again as he was called for high sticking a few minutes later.
Twenty seconds into the penalty kill Chase De Leo chased a Barracuda defender behind the San Jose net and came away with the puck, finding none other than Kiefer Sherwood in space and firing him a pass that gave the Ohio native time to measure and fire a shot that beat Sawchenko for the hat trick and his second shorthanded goal of the night. 5-2 Gulls.
San Diego controlled the majority of play for the remainder of the period, the teams exchanged Power Plays but neither resulted in any major chances.
The Barracuda came with a big push in the final four minutes of play and got one back as they jammed the crease to put away a rebound and make it 5-3 with two minutes left.
With 1:35 left Chris Wideman attempted a loft-shot clearance but overcooked it as it sailed over the glass for a delay of game penalty. The Barracuda pulled their goaltender to make it a two man advantage but the Gulls ultimately shut everything down and preserved the 5-3 win.
2023-2024 Game 68: San Diego Gulls at Coachella Valley Firebirds
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