Gulls Win Third Straight in 4-1 Victory Over Condors
Nov 16, 2018The San Diego Gulls won their third consecutive game with a 4-1 win over the Bakersfield Condors at Valley View Casino Center. Prior to the start of the game, the Gulls honored recent Hockey Hall of Fame inductee with a 10-minute ceremony, highlighting his hockey career both on and off the ice.
“(Willie O’Ree) is incredible. He’s done so much for the game of hockey,” said Gulls netminder Kevin Boyle. “I never really knew about it but once you learn about it, you’re like ‘wow, that’s absolutely incredible’. He’s been around here for the past three years so I’ve gotten to know him a little bit. He’s just an amazing human being. To be able to pay honor him tonight and come out with a win for him tonight is something special.”
Boyle stopped 46 shots to win his third straight game, season highs in shots stopped and faced. During his three-game point streak, Boyle has posted a 2.01 goals-against average and .950 save percentage. Four Gulls tallied multi-point efforts, with Corey Tropp scoring two goals, Troy Terry netted a goal and assist, and Isac Lundestrom and Josh Mahura tallying two assists.
The start to the first period had a series of penalties, including a combined four infractions over the span of 53 seconds. The flurry of penalties resulted in over a minute of a five-on-three power play for San Diego, but the Condors stopped the man advantage.
A penalty shot was awarded to Condors’ forward Luke Esposito at 6:44 of the opening period, but Kevin Boyle came up with a save that kept the score even. Boyle has stopped both penalty shot attempts in his career (last: Caleb Herbert (unsuccessful) on Dec. 31, 2016 at Texas). The penalty shot was the sixth against the Gulls and fifth unsuccessful (last: Spencer Foo unsuccessful attempt against Jared Coreau on Oct. 26, 2018 vs. Stockton).
Just 21 seconds after Boyle’s save on the penalty shot, Tropp scored on a two on one breakaway, passing back and forth with Joe Blandisi before beating Bakersfield’s goaltender Al Montoya for the first score of the game. The goal was made possible by Sam Steel, who made a pass from the Gulls blueline to set up the odd-man rush goal for his third assist in four games.
The second started with two quick goals by the Gulls. The first of the two came from Chase De Leo 1:25 into the second, who deflected the puck in off of the skate of a Bakersfield defenseman. The goal marks De Leo’s fourth goal of the season and third point in his last three games played (2G/1A). Gulls defenseman Andrej Sustr also added an assist for his first point as a Gull, while Josh Mahura was the recipient of the second assist.
Just 1:08 after their second goal, San Diego extended their lead to three on the power play as Tropp scored in a scramble for the puck in front of the net for his second goal of the night and fourth of the season. Lundestrom had the primary assist for his first point with the San Diego Gulls and at 19 years and 10 days of age, Lundestrom became the third-youngest Gull to appear in a game and the youngest to record a point. Lundestrom was selected by the Anahiem Ducks in the first round (23rd overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft and made his Gulls debut tonight after appearing in 15 games with the Ducks.
With his assist, Terry extend his point streak to a club record-tying nine games (6-7=13). The nine-game point streak ties the Gulls all-time record for consecutive games with a point set by Tropp (Dec. 9, 2017-Jan. 3, 2018;8-6=14) and Nic Kerdiles (Feb. 26-Mar. 18, 2016; 7-9=16). Terry has scored points in all nine games to begin his AHL career, a Gulls record. Terry also has recorded a point in all seven home games to begin his career (5-5=10).
Terry continued his dominant performance by scoring his sixth goal of the season, coming on the man-advantage. Mahura and Lundestrom each tallied an assist on the play. Mahura has seven assists on the season and five points in his previous six games. In addition to Lundestrom’s first point with San Diego on the preceding goal, his second assist marked his first multi-point game with the club.
Although Boyle stopped 46 shots and was the first star of the game, Bakersfield would tally a late third-period goal. Ryan Stanton scored a goal on a slap shot from the blue line with assists by Logan Day and Brad Malone.
San Diego only allowed two power plays to Bakersfield tonight, tying a season-best, previously set on October 12 against Tucson. In addition, the Gulls killed both of the Condors’ power play chances and have gone 17 for 19 on the penalty kill (89.5%) over their last five games.
The Gulls also capitalized on the power play twice, scoring two on seven opportunities (28.6%). Their two goals on the man advantage marked the third time this season that they have collected multiple power-play goals.
“Tonight is a great example,” said San Diego head coach Dallas Eakins. “A kid like [Isac] Lundestrom is able to come in, grab a couple assists and get six shots on net. Corey Tropp was a fricking beast out there tonight. I think our veteran guys are feeding off our young guys and our young guys are feeding off our vets. It’s a great mix.”