Gulls Earn Point, Drop First Overtime Game of the Season
Chase De Leo comes within inches of delivering the victory on Wednesday night
Nov 27, 2019The Gulls fell to the San Jose Barracuda in a 3-2 overtime loss, but collected a point in the standings and now own a 7-2-1-0 record in November. Anthony Stolarz stopped 38 of San Jose’s 41 shots and has posted a 7-1-1 record his last nine games.
“He certainly got us a point tonight and he deserved a little more effort up front from us as far as playing a little more responsibly defensively,” Head Coach Kevin Dineen said about Stolarz. “They’re a hungry hockey team. When your goaltender plays like that, usually you get a good response. He’s the guy that got us a point tonight and we’ll learn from this and keep moving forward.”
San Jose had a flurry of chances midway through the opening frame, but several saves by Stolarz and solid defensive plays kept the game scoreless. In the third period, Stolarz kept San Jose off the scoreboard for the first 16:33, including making a huge right pad save on an odd-man rush.
“It looked like [Stolarz’s] helmet was flying off every few minutes,” said Chase De Leo said. “It goes without saying, he’s been a brick wall back there for us. I think we can help him out just a little bit more.”
Defenseman Chris Wideman helped Stolarz when he opened up the scoring for San Diego with 2:29 remaining in the first period. Isac Lundestrom received the puck from Scott Moldenhauer in the neutral zone and carried it into the San Jose zone, where he sent a pass into the slot. The puck passed by Justin Kloos and ended up on Wideman’s stick, as he glided to the right and sent a wrist shot past Josef Korenar for the first goal of the game.
Wideman now leads AHL defenseman with his seventh goal of the season. With 4-6=10 points in his last six games, the St. Louis, Missouri native leads the Gulls in scoring (7-8=15) and ranks tied for fourth among league blueliners. With the primary assist on the play, Ludestrom now has four assists in his last five games played.
The Barracuda tied the score 1-1 on a goal by Johnny Brodzinski 3:14 into the second period, after Corey Tropp picked up a roughing penalty, to give San Jose their second power play of the night. After a save by Stolarz, the puck made its way behind the net, as Alexander True fenced off a Gulls defender and passed to Brodzinski between the circles, where he wristed the puck past Stolarz.
San Diego bounced back and took a 2-1 lead, with 11:32 left in the middle frame, on Alex Dostie’s fifth goal of the season. After clearing the zone, the Barracuda made a line change, but the Gulls took advantage of it by pushing the puck quickly up the ice. Daniel Sprong led a 3-on-1 charge into the Barracuda zone and passed the puck to Dostie. With Thomas Gregoire draped on his back, Dostie fought off an attempted stick lift and fired a slap shot over Korenar’s glove.
Dostie now has as many goals as his last two seasons combined and is on pace to pass his career high of 3-7=10 points (2017-18) by a large margin. Moldenhauer recorded his first professional multi-point game (0-2=2) with his second assist of the night. Also assisting on the play was Sprong, who now has one point in five of his previous six games.
With 3:27 remaining in regulation, following a neutral zone turnover by the Gulls, Nick DeSimone’s shot towards the net was redirected by Evan Weinger and into the back of the net to tie the game 2-2. DeSimone shot the puck from the point, as Weinger skated to the front of the net and deflected the puck over Stolarz’s glove.
Regulation came to a close with the score tied at two, marking the first 3-on-3 overtime of the season for the Gulls. Stolarz stood strong in the beginning of the overtime period when he stopped another 2-on-1 opportunity, stretching from post to post and using the right pad to prevent the puck from passing the goal line.
With 3:08 remaining in overtime, De Leo entered the San Jose zone and sent a wrister that had Korenar beat, but the cross-bar denied the Gulls of the overtime winner. The Barracuda quickly cleared the zone. Beating San Diego to the puck, San Jose entered the zone on another odd-man rush. Joachim Blichfeld whiffed on the shot and Stolarz stretched out to cover the puck, but was unable to as Maxim Letunov picked it up. Stolarz denied another opportunity, but the puck found Jayden Halbgewachs behind the net. Off a tough angle from the goal line, Halbgewachs shot it under the glove of a sprawling Stolarz.
De Leo’s attempt at the net was under review after the San Jose goal, but ultimately deemed no-goal as the puck did not cross the line.
“It sucks, it’s tough and it’s a game of inches,” De Leo said. “I’m pretty pissed off right now, but we’ll be back to work tomorrow and try to forget about it.”
The Gulls will continue their November schedule and open the first of a back-to-back matchup Friday, Nov. 29 against the Ontario Reign at Toyota Arena (7 p.m.) before returning home Saturday, Nov. 30 vs. the Tucson Roadrunners.