Gulls Held Scoreless Despite Strong Effort in 2-0 Loss at Colorado

Dec 7, 2018

Jared Coreau made 26 saves but the San Diego Gulls (8-10-1-1) could not find the back of the net as they fell 2-0 to the Colorado Eagles (11-7-3-1) in the first of a back-to-back road series at Budweiser Events Center.

Travis Barron broke nearly 50 minutes of thrilling, scoreless hockey, A.J. Greer potted an empty-net goal to seal the game and Colorado netminder Pavel Francouz stopped all 29 Gulls shots en route to his first AHL shutout and 11th win of the season. 

The game remained scoreless following a first period that saw just one power-play opportunity for the Eagles, while the shots read 10-7 in favor of Colorado.

Several minutes into the second period, Colorado stole the puck in the defensive zone and created a breakaway opportunity for Andrew Agozzino. Coreau got his pads down just in time and saved the best scoring chance at this point into the game, stopping Agozzino’s five-hole shot.

The two met again in the final few minutes of the second as a pass up the center found its way to Agozzino for another breakaway. The result would remain the same as Coreau stopped Colorado’s leader in goals and points with for a second time.

Colorado broke the scoreless tie at the 9:32 mark of the final period as Travis Barron found the puck in a scramble in front of the net and put it past Coreau to take the lead. The score marked Barron’s second goal and third point this season.

49:28 of game time marked the longest amount of time without either team scoring in a Gulls game this season. The previous long was 22:41 at the Tucson Roadrunners on November 7, 2018.

San Diego drew two penalties for holding and hooking in the midway through the period, giving them 18 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play. Max Jones and Sam Steel each had good scoring opportunities on the man advantage, but the Gulls could not capitalize to tie the game.

With just under a minute left in the game, Jared Coreau left the net to give San Diego an extra attacker, but Greer shot the puck from deep in his own zone to score on an empty net and seal the first of two games for Colorado, their first-ever win over San Diego.

Coreau was left off of the three stars of the game, despite stopping 26 of 27 shots on target. His .963 save percentage marked his best in a full game played this season.

The Gulls continue their road trip tomorrow night for the second of back-to-back games against the Eagles (6:05 p.m., Radio: Mighty 1090).