Gulls With A Wild Overtime Victory
Jan 10, 2020Josh Mahura’s career night ended with the defenseman scoring the overtime winner 46 seconds into the extra frame to give the Gulls a 4-3 win over the Iowa Wild at Pechanga Arena San Diego. Mahura recorded a career high three points (1-2=3), Sam Carrick netted two goals to extend his goal streak to five games (7-0=7). and Troy Terry earned two assists in his Gull season debut. has scored 14 goals in his last 14 games with the team (14-2=16).
Anthony Stolarz made 28 saves in his 11th win of the season, while Chris Mueller netted his first goal for San Diego this season. Stolarz also earned an assist on the overtime goal, his fourth of the season and sixth of his career.
“Our guys stayed with it tonight,” said Gulls head coach Kevin Dineen. “They kept working and that was the big difference-maker for us. It was a good character win and a starting point to put us in the right direction.”
The Gulls improved to 6-1-1-0 all-time and 4-1-0-0 on home ice vs. Iowa. San Diego also is now 27-10-4-1 against the Central Division all-time, the highest win percentage by a Pacific Division club vs. the Central.
Iowa opened the scoring at the 10:42 mark of the opening frame with Gerald Mayhew netting his league-leading 24th goal of the season. With Simon Benoit in the penalty box, Kyle Rau found Mayhew in the slot whose quick release found the back of the net.
The Wild doubled their lead with 3:22 remaining in the first period when Connor Dewar lifted the puck past Stolarz to cap off the first period scoring.
Carrick extended his goal scoring streak and got the Gulls on the board 3:49 into the middle period to cut the Iowa lead to 2-1. Terry passed it to Antoine Morand in the slot and he put a shot on net, but was denied by Iowa goaltender Mat Robson. The rebound found its way to Carrick’s stick and he wasted no time getting his shot to the back of the net.
“We were keeping things simple,” said Carrick. “Obviously, a guy like Terry coming down and he’s such a great offensive threat. Guys just watch what he does and it works. I think that gave us a lot of confidence having him back there. I felt like we did a great job of cycling the puck and wearing their team down. It felt like we had more energy tonight.”
Eight seconds after Mayhew was called for high-sticking, J.T. Brown cleared the puck into the crowd setting up a lengthy 5-on-3 opportunity for the Gulls.
The Gulls knotted the score 2-2, capitalizing on the two-man advantage 23 seconds into the 5-on-3. Chris Wideman sent Josh Mahura towards the net with a pass and Mahura fired a wrist shot at the Mueller tipped into the net for his 12th goal of the season and first for San Diego.
San Diego wasted no time in the third period to take their first lead of the game as Carrick netted his second goal of the game just 17 seconds into the frame. Mahura sprung Carrick in the neutral zone for a breakaway and beat Robson on his glove side to put the Gulls ahead 3-2.
“I’d like to say it’s all coaching, but that would be a fib because Josh is a true professional,” said Dineen. “He also does a really nice job when he’s under stress by a really hard forecheck that Iowa brought tonight. Good game overall by him and he was a real leader for us.”
The Wild evened the score 5:28 into the final frame with a third goal in two games against the Gulls for Sam Anas.
Iowa had an opportunity late as Carrick took an interference penalty with 6:21 remaining. The Gulls killed all but 14 seconds of the infraction before Iowa was called for hooking. After a brief 4-on-4 stint, the Gulls power-play unit took the ice, but were unable to register a shot.
The remaining few minutes concluded without a goal and the teams would go to overtime, San Diego’s eight overtime game this season.
The Gulls put the game away just 46 seconds into the overtime period. After an attempt at the San Diego net, Terry corralled the puck and skated it out of the zone before feeding it to Mahura in the neutral zone. Mahura carried the puck into the Wild zone, outskating Iowa center Luke Johnson and stickhandled the puck before taking a quick shot to beat Robson’s glove-side. Stolarz also picked up an assist on the play, marking his fourth assist of the season.
“In the beginning I was thinking just to get past him, because I knew Terry was going to find me on the tape,” said Mahura. “It was a nice pass by Terry to spring me there, and I was lucky enough to finish it early.”
“I was ready to put my hands up as soon as I passed it to him,” added Terry. “I thought we were going to have a two-on-one, but their defense came at me pretty aggressively. When I got the puck, I was just thinking, ‘are you sure you want to give Josh Mahura a breakaway?’. I made that gamble and Josh Mahura did exactly what I expected him to do.”
With the secondary assist on the overtime goal, Stolarz now leads the AHL in goaltender assists (4) and is one of five goaltenders with multiple assists. The others each have two assists, including Anton Forsberg (Charlotte), Andrew Hammond (Rochester), Igor Shesterkin (Hartford), Artyom Zagidulin (Stockton).
San Diego will conclude its season-long five-game homestand tomorrow vs. the Ontario Reign (7 p.m.).