After a rare entire week off, the San Diego Gulls returned back to Irvine to face the division cellar dwelling Tucson Roadrunners. Jacob Perreault and Olle Eriksson Ek had been called up to the taxi squad earlier in the day and Coach Kevin Dineen clearly was giving some too-well rested players much needed game time when he used the call-ups to insert veteran forward Matt Lorito, rookie Max Golod and put Hunter Drew back at his natural position of defense for the first time since mid February. Interestingly rookie Axel Andersson was paired with Josh Mahura while Drew was paired with the experienced Keegan Lowe in his first game back at what is likely a now unfamiliar position to him.
It was a poor start for the Gulls as the Roadrunners took the early lead thanks to an unlucky bounce in front. A centering pass from behind the San Diego net bounced off of Andrew Agozzinos skate and on a plate to Tyler Steenbergen, 1-0 Tuscon.
The San Diego Gulls responded a few minutes later on a great rush by Josh Mahura, the third year pro once again leading a rush and carrying through the neutral zone, gaining the Tucson zone, going wide on his man and making a pass across the slot to Greg Printz who one-touched it further across to Vinni Lettieri. The veteran scoring winger making no mistake of slotting a hard shot through Ivan Prosvetov five-hole. 1-1 tie game.
Max Golod proved to have a little too much energy from his long tenure out of the line-up as he took back to back penalties to put the Gulls down a man. San Diego were able to kill the two minors but did themselves no favours when Jamie Devane was called moments later for goaltender interference. This time Tucson broke through with the man advantage, San Diego looking somewhat less committed on this instance of the penalty kill and allowed Michael Carcone to be open for the one-timer on the right side. The Nashville prospect giving the visitors the lead on a blast from the same spot he has burned the Gulls on many times before. 2-1 Tucson.
The San Diego Gulls were given some Power Plays of their own to close out the period but Tucson clearly controlled momentum as time wound down in the first twenty minutes of action. The Roadrunners taking the 2-1 lead to the first intermission with shots even at 12 a piece.
San Diego tied things up just a minute into the middle frame on a great rush from the BO Groulx line. Groulx lead and carried on the rush, getting a great pass to Bryce Kindopp in the high slot whose hard wrist shot proved too much for Prosvetov to control and the rebound bounced fortuitously to Alex Limoges. 2-2 tie game.
The Groulx line struck again a couple of minutes later as again Groulx carried and entered the Tucson zone, found Limoges on the left side in space who then sent a no-look pass down low to Bryce Kindopp. 3-2 Gulls on a beautiful tic-tac-toe goal.
The action opened up as San Diego rode momentum after the goal while the Roadrunners tried to stretch the ice. Things also started to get physical – or at least the Roadrunners Kyle Neuber took it upon himself to try get a spark going for his team by taking runs at various Gulls players including Axel Andersson and Kodie Curran. The later of which had a scary moment as he lay on his back in obvious discomfort after the collision. Neuber was given a five minute major and game misconduct for the infraction.
San Diego did not take advantage of the lengthy man advantage and as play resumed to five on five the Roadrunners attempted to ride the emotional boost of escaping unscathed from the momentous kill. The Gulls veterans however; had other ideas as they took back possession for the remainder of the period, running the Tucson zone and putting Prosvetov under a barrage of shots.
Time wound down with the San Diego Gulls taking the 3-2 lead to the second intermission but not without some more fireworks to close things out. Jan Jenik clipped Alex Limoges with a high stick that felled the the rookie out of Penn State while Hunter Drew came in to retaliate. The resulting scuffle eventually clearing and gifting the Gulls a four minute Power Play to start the third as Jenik was given the double minor for high sticking. Shots were 24-19 as the Gulls took a 3-2 lead to the second intermission.
Again the Gulls could not capitalize on the lengthy man advantage and the Roadrunners spun momentum into a Power Play of their own as Nik Brouillard was called for hooking on what looked more like borderline interference. The Gulls penalty kill did what their Power Play could not as BO Groulx and Bryce Kindopp broke loose on an odd man rush with Hunter Drew close in pursuit. Groulx fed Kindopp who roofed a perfect shot over the shoulder of Prosvetov 4-2 Gulls.
Moments later as the penalty expired, Hunter Drew again joined a rush and this time received a drop pass from Chase De Leo. The defender-converted-forward-playing-defense showing why I feel he should be a forward permanently by absolutely sniping a shot past Prosvetov to make it 5-2 Gulls.
The Roadrunners got one back at the midway mark of the period by taking advantage of a tired Gulls unit that were found guilty of not playing tight enough man to man defense as Tucson pest Jeremy Gregoire was able to fire a shot that hit the post but then collect his own rebound and blasted it by Dostal to make it 5-3.
Tucson came back with a push in the final five minutes but the Gulls continued to dominate the neutral zone while Lukas Dostal stood tall in net with a little help from one of his posts. The San Diego Gulls skating away with the 5-3 win to take their record to 23-13-1-0 and stay second in the Pacific in points percentage.
Post Game Notes
Hmmm Hunter
I don’t want to be too harsh given it was his first game back at his natural position since the start of the season. But Hunter Drew did not look great on the blue line tonight. There was one shift where he fanned on a great chance in the high slot and then took himself out of the play on the resulting odd-man rush the other way by going for the big hit. I was a tad surprised to see him back on the blue line given I was sure they had made the call to try converting him to forward full time and honestly I still think they should. The forward position suits him way better, he proved my point by demonstrating his great release, scoring a goal from a rush as the third man.
Ayyy, where’s the Power Play at (Girls is on the way where the Bacardi at)
The man advantage looked somewhat good at the start of the game, with Josh Mahura mostly instrumental in ensuring it got some good looks but it was all downhill (well worse than downhill, more like that drop in the Guardians of the Galaxy ride at Disneyland) after that. There is no excuse for that either. All the weapons are there. Three high scoring AHL veteran forwards in the line-up, a former SHL MVP defender at the point and two lengthy opportunities amounted to nothing. What do they need to do? Go back to the basics. How did the Roadrunners get their first goal? Throwing the puck into the slot and getting a bounce. That’s what the Gulls need to do. It feels like sometimes the veterans are taking too much on themselves, particularly with the man advantage. Just get the puck on net and good things will happen.
Groulx the GOAT
San Diego would not have won tonight’s game without BO Groulx. He was the driving force in creating all three goals for his line/penalty kill unit. Bryce Kindopp was given the games first star as he had two goals but it should have been Groulx. His game feels like it is on an exponential growth curve and as I said to Ciara of Pucks of a Feather this week. He is the most NHL ready of the Ducks prospects on the Gulls right now. Tonight’s three point effort was his second multi-point night in three games, giving him five points in three games.
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