PREVIEW: Gulls, Condors Meet In Battle Of The Birds At Pechanga Arena

Dec 17, 2021

By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com

The San Diego Gulls are racing through their team-record seven-game homestand and ready to change lanes after a 4-0 loss to Abbotsford Canucks tonight, aiming to speed past the Bakersfield Condors (7 p.m., PT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).

"It wasn’t a good game for us overall," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said after Wednesday’s loss. "I don’t think the guys meant bad, I just think it didn’t work out the way we wanted and showed a lack of maturity in the process of the game."

The Gulls are 32-21-2-2 all-time against the Condors with a 17-9-1-1 record at home. San Diego owns the edge in the season series thus far (2-1-1-0) after besting Bakersfield 2-1 in a defensive battle in the last matchup on Nov. 27. 

Wednesday’s game against Abbotsford featured more wide-open action, which provided plenty of scoring chances for the Gulls but too many prime opportunities for the opposition.

"I don’t know how many good scoring chances we had; it would be our higher average for the season," Gulls defenseman Brendan Guhle said. "So, I think we’ve got to build off that and sharpen us some things defensively."

Jacob Perreault displayed a particular knack for capitalizing on those chances against the Condors, collecting 2-2=4 points in four games this season. Additionally, Perreault has 1-1=2 points in his last three games and is tied for the team lead in scoring with 8-9=17 points.

Brayden Tracey also found previous success against the Condors, as he has 1-2=3 points against Bakersfield this season. Since Nov. 5, the right wing collected the third-most points (7-7=14) among American Hockey League rookies and his 7-10=17 total points tie him for the team scoring lead with Perreault. 

The Gulls will need to continue their offensive mindset while re-focusing on their defensive systems – and using their noted home-ice advantage – if they want to succeed against Bakersfield.

"I think we’re gonna have to reset and…still revisit a little bit of what we did," Bouchard said. "Let’s go back to a little bit of more of cohesion from our side, which we didn’t have." 

The Gulls earned points in five of their last six home games (4-1-1-0) and six of their last nine (5-3-1-0). 

San Diego’s power play at home is the fifth best in the AHL with a 25% success rate and the penalty kill at home is also ranked in the top ten. They’ll face a stiff test in the Condors, who bring the league’s third-best road penalty kill (88.1%) into tonight’s matchup.

Additionally, Bakersfield’s power play is led by Seth Griffith, who is first in the AHL with 13 points on the man advantage and is third in power play goals with five. 

Griffith, the Condors leading scorer, has 6-12=18 points and established a 13-game point streak from Oct. 16 to Nov. 17 (5-12 =17), the AHL’s lengthiest run of the season.