Win Streak Ends In Bakersfield

Feb 19, 2021

The San Diego Gulls had their season-opening six-game win streak snapped tonight in a 5-1 loss to the Bakersfield Condors at Mechanics Bank Arena. Despite the setback, San Diego leads the AHL in wins (6) and points (12).

“Tonight’s one of those games you understand you can’t rely on your goaltender every night to bail you out,” said Gulls head coach Kevin Dineen. “We’ve been giving up a lot of quality chances and our goaltender has been rock solid so we need to play a more complete game. It was a good learning experience.”

The Condors scored three first period goals, the final two a result of bouncing pucks that found their way to Bakersfield forwards near the San Diego net. Luke Esposito opened the scoring with his second goal of the season against San Diego. Joe Gambardella and Tyler Benson also scored for Bakersfield in the opening frame. 

“We’ve been playing with fire as of late,” said Gulls forward Sam Carrick. “Tonight, it caught up with us. We got down by three goals early and we weren’t able to battle back. I think it’s a good learning lesson for us. We got to come to play. We’ve got to start with the lead in these games. We’ve got a good group so it shouldn’t be a problem. Hopefully, it’s a quick fix.”

Carrick put San Diego on the board midway through the second period. Jacob Perreault caused a Bakersfield turnover just inside the San Diego blue line, allowing Carrick to grab the puck and skate ahead on a breakaway. The Gulls captain beat Skinner with a quick wrist shot, pulling San Diego within two goals at the 11:42 mark of the middle frame. Carrick co-leads the Gulls in goals (3). Jacob Perreault collected the lone assist and now has points (1-1=2) in two straight games.

The Condors put the game away with two third period goals just 14 seconds apart. Ryan McLeod scored the first on a deflected point shot and former Gull Adam Cracknell recorded the second on a breakaway.

“We’ll definitely watch a little video on this game, figure out what we did wrong and learn from it,” said Carrick. “At the same time, we’re worried about us. We want to worry about our systems and get back to playing the way we know we can play and what makes us successful.”

San Diego returns to action tomorrow vs. Colorado at FivePoint Arena (7:30 p.m.; TV: FOX 5 San Diego; Radio: Gulls Audio Network).