San Diego received Josh Mahura back but lost Jamie Drysdale to a call up and ice another line up that featured both Hunter Drew and Jeremy Roy playing as forwards – not to mention Keegan Kanzig drawing in on the fourth line.
It was a good start for the Gulls as BO Groulx opened the scoring, shelving a loose puck at the side of the net to put the Gulls up 1-0.
But things got worse from there as Jeff Glass could not prevent a barrage of high danger scoring chances for the remainder of the period. By the end of the first twenty minutes it was 5-1 to the Roadrunners with shots even 15-15.
San Diego began the second period on the Power Play and wasted no time getting back one as Josh Mahura walked the line to get a shooting lane and fired a shot that appeared to beat the Roadrunners netminder clean but was deemed to have been tipped by Chase De Leo on the way through. 5-2 Roadrunners.
Tuscon responded with a push back and Jeff Glass again found himself under pressure. While the Gulls frantically tried to prevent odd man rushes or cross-ice pass opportunities the Roadrunners added to their lead, Lane Pederson scoring off of a one-timer while the Roadrunners were at the tail end of a Power Play of their own. 6-2 Roadrunners.
The middle period ending with the Gulls on the attack but unable to bring the score within three goals. Shots were 26-21 for San Diego after forty.
San Diego continued to try get back into the game but despite continuing to pile on shots they could not seem to create any quality chances to really trouble the Tuscon net-minder.
The remainder of the period played out following much the same script as the rest of the game – with the Gulls getting shot after shot on the Tuscon net but nothing of any real substance to trouble their net-minder.
Losing their fifth straight and dropping to fifth in the division on points percentage and under .500 for the first time this season with a 9-10-0 record.
Post Game Notes
Bright Points
It’s hard to single out any one player from this game but I guess if you had to single out a bright point from not only today’s game but also during this dismal recent stretch – BO Groulx has looked good. He tried to create a few plays on his own in addition to his goal and was probably the best forward on the ice.
News, any kind of news?
It is overly frustrating that the Gulls refuse to give updates about injuries. Andy Zilch had a brief Q and A on twitter this week and both myself and others asked about injuries, to which he responded he could not comment. Reading into small clues and getting your hopes up when you see Gates Jr get released from his PTO only to see the team sign Sampair instead is beyond agonizing. We just want news. Good or bad. Just give it to us. Please.
Still no help
Hate to be a downer but there is still no sign of the calvary. The Ducks seem content to give Zegras and Drysdale their well deserved shot and I guess if you are going to completely gut and hang the Gulls out to dry in any season its this one where there are no fans in the building and no Calder Cup. It still sucks though. We havent really had a slump like this for a while and have been pretty lucky in that Anaheim has generally always kept the club competitive even during lean prospect years. I have always dreaded the season where the team is just bad and there is no hope for salvation because its the parent club that gets the draft selection, so the team can be absolutely terrible cellar dwellers. If the parent club decides its going for the cup, too bad, work with what you are given. Such is AHL life.
San Diego Gulls 2024 Grades
Welcome to the San Diego Gulls 2023-2024 Player Grades. It has been by most accounts ̵…