Trying to salvage some points in the second of the back to back, the Gulls returned with the same roster of players but with the lines thrown into a blender as Coach Sommer desperately tried to find some offense on Mexican Heritage night.
Josh Healey served game three of his four game suspension while Bryaden Tracey, Chase De Leo and Olli Juolevi remained out with injury. Pavol Regenda was moved to the third line and paired with Lopina and Perreault, while Justin Kirkland took his spot on the top line with Groulx and Grimaldi. Hunter Drew took Kirklands spot on the second line with Danny O’Regan and the on-loan Sam Carrick. While McLaughlin dropped down to take Drew’s vacated spot on the fourth line.
Olle Eriksson Ek was given just his second start of the early season.
First Period:
San Diego came out with a much more physical game and enjoyed a slight majority of possession through the first five minutes of play.
The war for control of the neutral zone seemed to be the running theme for most of the period as neither team allowed the other to generate any speed coming through.
An Admirals too many men penalty gave the Gulls the chance to generate some momentum and both Power Play units looked much better as they both were able to setup and generate some quality opportunities.
Just as it felt like the Gulls might have had things in control, an Admirals rush the other way combined with some bad coverage lead to former Gull Keaton Thompson getting an easy tap-in on a very nice move by John Leonard. 1-0 Admirals.
Sensing blood in the water the visitors kept up the attack but San Diego managed to settle things and turn things the other way – managing to generate some good chances to close out the period. The Gulls once again taking a deficit to the first intermission and behind in shots 14-10 but looking much better than the night before.
Second Period: Milwaukee Admirals 1 – San Diego Gulls 0
The Gulls came out with a hard hitting game once again but were still unable to create something that would lead to that golden final touch as passes were just a tiny bit forward or behind.
The period seemed to fly by without any real high danger chances for either team and it didn’t particularly make for the most entertaining hockey until Kiefer Sherwood laid a huge hit on Austin Strand that upped the tempo and saw both teams exchange some punishing body checks that opened up the ice as a result.
San Diego dominated much of the rest of the frame until a bad tripping penalty by Justin Kirkland gifted the Admirals a Power Play and momentum back as they tallied via an easy backdoor pass with the Gulls failing to cover the cross crease pass. 2-0 Admirals.
The goal appeared to take the wind out of the sails of San Diego who meekly made their way to the second intermission down by two and behind in shots 22-19.
Third Period: Milwaukee Admirals 2 – San Diego Gulls 0
Attempting to climb back from a 2-0 deficit things were not helped by Jacob Perreault taking a tripping penalty as he tried to fight a puck back from an Admirals player.
Further penalties followed but the Gulls would come away with the better of the scoring chances as the minors expired. Rocco Grimaldi and Bo Groulx almost combining for some highlight reel magic but Grimaldi’s backhand was fired high and wide.
Riding the Pechanga energy the Gulls continued to press and were finally rewarded on a similar two on one partial break to the Grimaldi-Groulx chance earlier when Pavol Regenda and Jacob Perreault linked up via some nice passing and lucky bounces that ended in Perreault finishing via a nifty move as he came across the Milwaukee net. 2-1 Admirals
Milwaukee pushed back momentarily before the Gulls took back momentum and controlled the Admirals zone for much of the final five minutes of action.
San Diego called a time out and pulled Eriksson Ek with just over a minute left but Kiefer Sherwood did to the Gulls as he had done to so many other teams in the past and iced the game into the empty net after the Gulls failed to get a clean zone entry.
The Gulls losing their third straight 3-1.
Post Game Notes:
Positives
There haven’t been a lot of positives lately but the best I can take from this game is that Olle Eriksson Ek looked the best he has looked in a long while. He looked calm, poised and in control as he made difficult stops through traffic, on broken plays or on the odd rush. The two goals against were through no fault of his own at all.
Jacob Perreault also looked good and appeared to me to be much faster. Not sure if its Rocco Grimaldi rubbing off on him but he definitely appears to me to be a whole two steps faster than usual.
Drew Helleson continues to be the best Gull not named Lukas Dostal this season, pairing the second year pro with the ECHL try-out Hilderman is clearly a massive vote of confidence for the young defender.
Pavol Regenda also looked great, he is an immediate impact maker – I jokingly tweeted that he is this years Kodie Curran but I hope that isn’t the case. He plays like he should and does deserve to be in the NHL.
It’s getting there. I don’t have the stats to back it up but it feels like the Gulls play has been trending in the right direction. They just need the bounces to start going their way and tighten up on their mistakes – it feels like once they get going, they may be difficult to stop.
Negatives
That is back to back games that Justin Kirkland has inadvertently cost his team a goal at a critical moment in the game. I realise he has only just come back from injury but I’d expect more from a veteran.
The Gulls passing and transition game was off tonight – their passing game hasn’t been great all season thus far but the transition has been alright. Tonight – both were bad.
SHOTS ON NET. I don’t know how many times the puck has been fired wide either on a golden opportunity or what could have resulted in a rebound play but it has been FAR TOO OFTEN.
Standings Update
A less than ideal start to the season has the Gulls in second to last place in the Pacific and the entire league by points percentage. I guess the good news is their next game is against the only team currently below them in the standings – the Henderson Silver Knights who have a surprising 2-7-0 start. Here is hoping they can continue their misery and get a win to hopefully increase their confidence moving forward as they then face Bakersfield and then Ontario.
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