Gulls Blanked 1-0 In Close Battle With Checkers
Nov 17, 2023By Nick Aguilera & Morgan Korovec/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls came out of a defensive tussle on the wrong end Friday night, as they fell 1-0 to the Charlotte Checkers at Pechanga Arena San Diego.
Alex Stalock was terrific in net, stopping 31-of-32 shots.
"I just thought we had a pretty gutty effort today," head coach Matt McIlvane said. "That was one of our more competitive games complete that we’ve played this season and the guys competed real hard tonight for each other. We had a lot of pucks hitting around their net on the goal line. Of course, Alex was great in the net when we needed him. But it’s a real good effort from the team, without a result."
Stalock was under fire in the first period, facing 15 shots to start the game. The Checkers got on the board first thanks to Zac Dalpe, who netted his third goal of the season at 12:57 in the opening frame.
The score remained steady for the remainder of the game. Ludovic Waeber earned his first AHL shutout, stopping all 19 shots faced.
San Diego’s penalty kill got the job done, going 4-for-4 while shorthanded.
"PK had great pressure, all the way through," McIlvane said. "I don’t think we gave too many looks outside of that breakaway, but our in-zone pressure was excellent."
As San Diego gears up to go back at it again next week, the team will look to reflect and reset.
"We’ll get a little rest and then gotta keep this competitiveness up and it gives us an opportunity to take a real hard look at some offense and how we can produce a little bit more," McIlvane said.
The Gulls will travel to San Jose for a matchup with the Barracuda on Tuesday, Nov. 21 (7 p.m. PT; TV: AHLTV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network) before returning to Pechanga Arena San Diego for back-to-back games against the Chicago Wolves.