Gawdin’s Historic Night Fuels Gulls’ 7-4 Victory in Calgary
Feb 10, 2024By Morgan Korovec/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls rocked the ice for the second night in a row as they took home a dominant 7-4 victory over the Calgary Wranglers Saturday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Glenn Gawdin recorded a career-high 1-4=5 points, tying Sam Carrick (Nov. 25, 2018 @ STK; 3-2=5) for the most points in a single game in Gulls AHL history. He also tied Kalle Kossila (Jan. 3, 2018 @ TEX) and Nikolas Brouillard (Dec. 14, 2022 vs. ABB) for the most assists in a single game in franchise history.
The Wranglers wasted no time in kickstarting a fierce comeback bid as Calgary’s Ilya Nikolaev jumped on the Gulls early with a goal at 4:07 in the opening frame.
Not long after, Nikita Nesterenko answered on the power play, sliding in his eleventh goal of the season to tie up the scoreboard at 8:51.
Less than a minute later, the Wranglers reclaimed their lead as Jonathan Aspirot added a second goal.
The Gulls entered the middle frame determined to turn the tables as Andrew Agozzino snuck the puck in early for his 11th goal of the season, his sixth on the power play.
Judd Caulfield fed off that energy, depositing his ninth goal of the season at 3:03 to power San Diego to their first lead of the night.
At 5:32, the Gulls capitalized on the power play once again as Olen Zellweger fired a top-shelf shot to extend the team’s lead to two. Zellweger also picked up two helpers.
Gawdin recorded three assists in the second period (0-3=3), tied for the most assists in a period in Gulls AHL history (four times, last: G. Fiore, Jan. 17, 2018 @ TUC, 3rd). He has 2-7=9 points across his last three games.
Things would get interesting to launch the final frame, as Agozzino struck just seconds into another power play, stretching the Gulls’ lead to three. Agozzino has collected points in a season-high nine straight contests (4-6=10).
Emotions intensified halfway through the third as Travis Howe and Alex Gallant dropped their gloves and went at it at center ice, with Howe dropping Gallant after a few solid right hooks. The two tried to throw down again as they were exiting the penalty box, but officials sent the two to their respective locker rooms before they could go for round two.
Chase De Leo continued his hot streak from Friday as he cashed in on the net at 8:32 with his tenth goal of the season. The goal marked his 64th as a Gull, tying Corey Tropp for second all-time on the Gulls franchise leaderboard.
At 9:49, Matthew Wedman responded as he discovered the back of the net for the Wranglers for the first time since the opening frame.
Matt Coronato grasped onto that momentum and added another goal for Calgary at 14:30.
Gawdin iced it with an unassisted empty netter at 16:50 to restore San Diego’s three-goal lead, grabbing his 14th goal of the season and record-tying fifth point of the night.
The Gulls scored five power-play goals on the night, setting a new franchise record for most PPG in a single game. They also killed eight of nine penalties, tying the franchise record for most penalties killed in a single game. San Diego negated 47-of-47 consecutive penalties (spanning 11 games) before allowing a PPG and did not allow a PPG in 10 consecutive games, both already team records.
Pavol Regenda recorded two assists, his second career multi-assist game.
Drew Helleson, Josh Lopina, Trevor Carrick, and De Leo each tallied an assist.
The Gulls gear up to take flight back to Pechanga Arena San Diego, where they will take on the San Jose Barracuda for a mid-week matchup on Wednesday, Feb. 14 (7 p.m. PST).