A visit from Iowa and the former team mates of Justin Kloos was always going to be a test for the Gulls. Particularly after an easy pounding of the Reign less than 24 hours before. I was disapointed to find the Wild were not starting their all star netminder Kaapo Kahkonen – as he took the loss in Bakersfield the night before. Instead former NHL flash in a pan success story Andrew Hammond was starting. There were no changed for the Gulls as Larsson sat out a second straight game due to illness.
San Diego learned from their mistakes against the Reign and did not take an early penalty in fact they drew one on a slash drawn by Keaton Thompson as he drove deep down low on a pinch. On the resulting San Diego power play Kalle Kossila announced his comeback by firing a beatiful cross ice pass to Andy Welinski who fired home the one timer in almost Alex Ovechkin style.
Two minutes later some good forechecking down low lead to a Max Jones goal when he stripped both Hammond and a Wild defender of the puck and flipped it into the empty net while the goaltender lay on the ice behind the goal.
Play leveled off for a bit and the teams exchanged power plays but did not convert until the Wild cut the Gulls lead in two with a strong push and eventual garbage goal in front of Boyle who appeared upset that he was potentially impeded with during the play.
Iowa rode the momentum generated from the goal for the remainder of the opening twenty minutes but Kevin Boyle kept all other chances from getting by him and San Diego went into the first intermission up by one, leading in shots 11 to 7.
The second period began with a slight element of chippiness and it grew from there. The physicality slowly picked up and Keaton Thompson took part in a bout when he left his feet on an open ice hit on Joel Ericsson-Ek, the ill will even spread to the coaching staff as the Iowa coach was seen screaming at the officials and then barking at a San Diego fan who taunted him from behind the glass.
Kevin Boyle saved Jack Kopackas bacon by calmly gloving a break away opportunity when the youngster turned the puck over at the Iowa blue line. The period ended with shot totals at a more even 18-17 to the Gulls.
The third period began with the Wild still attempting to throw the Gulls off their game, clogging the neutral zone and finishing checks but San Diego were quick to re-exert themselves as Chase De Leo finished a rebound in front to put the home team up 3-1. Benoit had the point shot that Kloos collected the big rebound from and fed De Leo as he cruised down the right side.
San Diego appeared to get back into their rythmn, breaking through the neutral zone with more ease and seeing several chances on the Wild net including a huge chance for Troy Terry in front but Hammond made an amazing windmill save to keep it out.
The Gulls ran the clock down for the remainder of the game, Iowa pulled Hammond with two minutes left and a great team play by De Leo, Kloos and Steel resulted in a Sam Steel empty net goal just when it looked like Kloos would put the final nail in his former teams coffin.
Post game notes: Josh Mahura played his most physical game by far in his short Gulls career. The kind of poise and defensive awareness he displayed was years beyond his experience and goes to prove he is on a much faster development curve than Montour was. Tropp had by far his most quiet game, I had to ask myself if he was actually in the line up at parts – he didnt even get too involved in net front scrums. Jake Dotchin sat out his second straight game with an upper body injury.
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