San Diego, California. After starting the new year poorly but finally breaking their win less skid with a 1-0 shut-out over the Canucks the night before the San Diego Gulls hope to continue that momentum and get revenge for an early new year loss to the Firebirds.
Sticking with much the same lines as the shut out win the night before the only change came on the fourth line as Cal Burke drew out and Travis Howe drew back in – prompting Coulson Pitre to center the fourth line.
Tomas Suchanek was given his third start of the season with Calle Clang backing up.
Cal Burke was the only healthy scratch.
First Period:
Coachella Valley had more jump to start and immediately forced Tomas Suchanek into making a big stop as a Gulls turnover in their own zone gave the Firebirds an early one-timer opportunity to the side of their net.
It was all Firebirds for much of the next few minutes until a brief swing of momentum initiated by the top line in which the Gulls held the Coachella Valley zone for a convincing amount of time while Firebirds goaltender Victor Ostman was without a stick.
Tomas Suchanek again had to bail out his team-mates on some suspect passes around their own net and as time passed over the midway mark it was clear the better team were the visitors as shots were 5-1 Firebirds.
The third line also had a brief interlude of offense to break up the Coachella Valley embargo but it seemed only a matter of time before the visitors would break the scoreless deadlock and that they did as a bad dump and change by the fourth line left Suchanek helpless to stop a partial break. Jani Nyman beating him clean from the slot after seeing a pass find him via a lucky bounce. 1-0 Firebirds.
San Diego tried to respond and the second line was the wise choice to do so and although they did create some more chances and bring the shot total to a more respectable 9-6 the Gulls headed to the first intermission down by one.
Second Period: Coachella Valley Firebirds 1 – San Diego Gulls 0
The Firebirds started out the second as they mostly dominated the first but San Diego were able to flip momentum again and Judd Caulfield earned a slashing call as he was prevented from finishing off a beautiful move that would have resulted in a sure goal.
The Gulls had a good chance early on in the man advantage but once Coachella Valley cleared their zone San Diego was never really able to get set again and although they attempted to continue to carry forward possession and momentum the Firebirds added to their lead by taking advantage of the very passive defensive formation deployed by the Gulls in their own zone. 2-0 Firebirds.
Less than a minute later it was 3-0 as a comedy of errors gave the visitors an easy third goal with Roland McKeown falling down and the loose puck instantly pounced on and sent by Suchanek as the rest of the Gulls looked on. 3-0 Firebirds.
San Diego seemed to wake up after the third embarrassing marker and despite needing to kill back to back penalties first to Noah Warren and then Nico Myatovic, a four on four sequence that followed as Nik Brouillard drew a call during the Myatovic penalty became a brief Gulls Power Play but again San Diego could not really generate much in the way of high danger opportunities.
A final flurry in the last minute saw the top line come very very close to getting San Diego on the board and tempers flared when Justin Bailey was dumped from behind after the whistle behind the play which set up a four on four sequence to carry over into the third. Because getting dumped from behind is also apparently worth a penalty. Shots were 11-9 Coachella Valley and 20-15 after the forty minutes as the Gulls hoped to chip away at the most dangerous lead in hockey in the final set of twenty.
Third Period: Coachella Valley Firebirds 3 – San Diego Gulls 0
Starting the period at four on four the open ice didn’t really allow much and tempers flared again as play returned to five on five as Nico Myatovic was leveled in front of the Firebirds bench. Travis Howe immediately went after the Firebirds player that laid the hit – Jacob Melanson – and was given a game misconduct for his efforts.
On the resulting Coachella Valley Power Play the Firebirds made it 4-0 right off of a face-off win and the Gulls horror night continued. 4-0 Firebirds.
Coulson Pitre had perhaps the Gulls best chance of the game as he found himself on a partial break but his shot was deflected over the net.
San Diego looked better as they started to string together chances and find more open ice but the Firebirds goaltender Ostman was locked in and gloved down any hopes the Gulls had of getting on the board.
Yegor Sidorov started to look back to his normal self as he single handedly created chances with deft skating and head fakes but tempers flared again as the Firebirds goaltender bear hugged Myatovic to the ice after a net front scuffle. Roland McKeown was tossed after he came to the aid of Yegor Sidorov during the dance of players grappling each-other.
The remaining few minutes of play were really just a formality as the Gulls meekly dropped the 4-0 loss and after the final whistle as Sidorov was seen lying on the back of the Firebirds net he emerged enraged and fought off several referees en-route to eventually throwing some punches at the Firebirds Lukas Dragicevic. The young forward likely to see some punishment sent his way from the league for his actions after the whistle.
Post Game Notes:
What Was That
Granted I haven’t watched a Gulls game since December but the disjointedness out there was….. early season levels of bad. The bad line-change that lead to the first goal, the passive defense that lead to the second and the just … laughable mess that was the third. The fourth was an example of lack of awareness off a shorthanded defensive zone face-off.
The first two were avoidable with some better awareness all round and the Gulls just looked tired out there. A step behind. Not aggressive or hungry. Likely a by-product of having played three games in four nights but after playing such tight effective defense the night before – the lack of consistency is beyond frustrating.
I hope they go over the tape for this one – because the Firebirds clearly had done their homework, getting easy turnovers off the Gulls break-out.
Player Movements
The winter of discontent between both the Ducks and Gulls has seen some change – Tim Washe scored his first NHL goal in the Ducks skid breaking win over the Kings yesterday and Sam Colangelo was recalled today. Anaheim also acquired Jeffrey Viel this week from the Boston Bruins in exchange for a fourth round pick in a move that left most largely confused but nods to the Ducks brass being unhappy with the team being pushed around which begs the question what the hell Ross Johnston is on the team for then? As Gulls fans we are familiar with Viels time in San Jose and I don’t really rate the move unless he has taken his laughable “pest” game and elevated it to an NHL level.
The Gulls also clearly miss Tim Washe – his face-off reliability leaves a big hole and showed particularly on the fourth goal. He also adds more snarl and response to the likes of the heavy and abrasive game deployed by the Firebirds. San Diego also really miss him in the face-off dot on the Power Play as an already lackluster man advantage is now even weaker with less chance to gain possession off the face-off.
Looking Ahead
As mentioned on the broadcast the Gulls have been unlucky to run into teams hitting hot streaks. The Firebirds are an example and now San Diego heads to the desert to face the Roadrunners who are currently on a four game win streak. Then its north to Abbotsford – another team on the improve before coming home for a brief visit from Tuscon and then heading back to the desert to hopefully get revenge for the way the Firebirds have treated them ever since the season opening win.
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