Gulls Winless Streak Hits Seven In Overtime Loss To Canucks
Apr 20, 2022By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls closed out their season series with the Abbotsford Canucks with a hard-fought 5-4 overtime loss. With the loss, the Gulls are guaranteed to finish seventh in the Pacific Division standings, opening the first round of the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs on the road against the division’s second-place finisher.
"Well, I think a couple of plays here and there and all of a sudden you end up in a tie game," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "I still think it’s good it happens now. We have to learn from it, we have a lot of new guys in the lineup moving in and out. To me, it is what it is. We know where we are in the standings…You know we got back at like four or five a.m. in the morning last night. No excuses. I thought we came out playing the right way. They’re a fast team on the other side and a couple of breakdowns and you see how fast they come. Again, we’re going to revisit. It’s not like they dominated us, it’s not like the guys didn’t care. Just a couple of plays here and there and then all of a sudden you end up being in a tie game. Then, you take a penalty and a mental part is there too so I’m not panicked. That never leads anywhere so there was no bad intention, just keep working with the guys."
The Gulls had a 4-1 lead going into the third period, but couldn’t withstand a Canucks comeback fueled by Justin Bailey, who earned a hat trick with the game-winning goal and two unassisted shorthanded tallies.
Lucas Elvenes drove the Gulls’ offensive effort tonight, posting a three-point effort (1-2=3) to match a season high and for a team-leading 3-7=10 points against the Canucks this season. He reached 30 assists and 40 points in a season for the second time in his American Hockey League career.
"Maybe it’s the style that we play and the system that they have," Elvenes said. "You’re better against other teams than you are against other teams and this is one of the teams I am better at."
The night started on the wrong foot for the Gulls, as netminder Olle Eriksson Ek mishandled the puck on an early power-play opportunity, leaving it unprotected behind him as he tried to wrap it around the back of his net. Bailey swooped in and beat the sliding pad of Eriksson Ek for his 12th goal of the season just 90 seconds into the first period.
San Diego would recover, with Nikolas Brouillard scoring a crucial buzzer-beating power-play goal to tie the game at one after the first frame.
The combined efforts of Danny O’Regan and Lucas Elvenes kept the puck in Abbotsford’s zone. Elvenes cradled the puck as he took over at the point, swapping positions with Brouillard before giving the defenseman the puck. Brouillard fired a bullet of a shot over the left shoulder of Abbotsford netminder Michael DiPietro for his 13th goal of the season.
Brouillard ended the night tied for the most goals among AHL defensemen, while his 13-26=39 points leads the Gulls in scoring.
This last-minute tally opened the offensive floodgates for San Diego, as the team scored back-to-back goals 26 seconds apart to kick off the middle frame.
Blake McLaughlin struck first, earning his first career AHL goal with assists from Buddy Robinson and Greg Pateryn at 2:17 of the second period. Pateryn dished a pass to Robinson, who settled the puck from behind the goal line and found to McLaughlin the bottom of the faceoff circle. The rookie then wristed the puck past DiPietro to give the Gulls a 2-1 lead.
"Well, I like the guy that takes the opportunity that is given and he’s certainly done that," Bouchard said of McLaughlin. "He brought a lot of life to the party; he was really good."
This was just a warm-up for Pateryn, as the Gulls captain padded his team’s lead with his second goal of the season and his second point of the contest (1-1=2) just moments later.
Once again, Elvenes starred in the role of playmaker, threading a pass to Greg Printz as he made a beeline for the Canucks net. Printz stalled in front until he could pass to Pateryn, who dropped into the slot and threw the puck past DiPietro to put San Diego ahead 3-1.
Not satisfied with the two-goal lead, the Gulls pushed their advantage to three with an Elvenes power-play goal later in the middle frame.
Alex Limoges collected the puck down low, passing it up to O’Regan as the center gilded into the offensive zone and found Elvenes on the right side. Elvenes rocketed a shot past DiPietro, earning the Gulls their second tally on the man-advantage and fourth goal of the game.
San Diego has multiple power-play goals in four of its last eight games (9/33, 27.3%) and finished its final three games against Abbotsford with six man-advantage tallies on 16 opportunities.
"We are doing a really good pre-scout and we see what they are doing in the PK," Elvenes said. "Then you just got go from there. You got to have a few looks and (you) got to shoot the puck and all that stuff. We have confidence all the guys on the (power play) right now, so we just got to keep going."
However, the Canucks turned the tide with a three-goal effort in the third period to send the game into overtime.
Abbotsford struck early in the third, scoring twice before the five-minute mark to pull within one. Sheldon Rempal started their scoring, sending a shot past a screened Eriksson Ek for a power-play goal and his 30th tally of the season.
Bailey followed up shortly after, scoring shorthanded to bring the Canucks within one.
"I think they scored on their chances," Elvenes said. "We gave odd-man rushes and all that stuff. That stuff we got to cleanup for playoffs now, so that will be better."
Looking to stop their momentum, Bouchard made a goaltending change, inserting Lukas Dostal for Eriksson Ek. The Swedish netminder finished with 13 saves on 16 shots.
San Diego locked it down from there, looking to end its seven-game winless skid with strong defense. Jack Rathbone had other ideas, tying the game at four with just over two minutes remaining in regulation.
Following a successful penalty kill, the Gulls found themselves hemmed in their own end. The Canucks moved the puck around the perimeter, and Rathbone found his lane, sending a slap shot through traffic in front and past Dostal for the game-tying tally.
Bailey completed the hat trick – and Abbotsford’s impressive comeback – in the extra session, converting on a rebound in front for the game-winning power-play goal.
"It’s like if it happens in two or three weeks, that’s going to be a lot tougher, right?" Bouchard said. "So, again, it’s just one play here and there and all of a sudden, you end up being like not where you want or where you think you should be."
The Gulls continue their homestand this Saturday, Apr. 23 against the Tucson Roadrunners.