PREVIEW: Gulls Flock To Colorado For Three Games Against Eagles
Mar 1, 2022By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls continue a franchise-record eight-game road trip tonight, facing off against the Colorado Eagles in a battle of the birds at Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, CO (6:05 p.m. PT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
San Diego is still searching for its first win against its feathered foes this season. Colorado won the first three meetings – all at Pechanga Arena San Diego – outscoring the Gulls 12-7 in their three victories. The Gulls own a 12-9-1-0 mark all-time against Colorado, including a 4-4-1-0 on the road.
“It's a team we struggle with,” Gulls assistant coach Dan Jacob said following a recent practice. “They're a fast team; they play the game really fast. We have to make sure we are transitioning, either offense or defense, is up to par. It's all the stuff we've been discussing.
“At the same time, we've said it since Day 1, it's about us and what we want to establish here, the culture. It's going to be about the little things for us.”
The Gulls fly into Colorado fresh off a two-game sweep of the Henderson Silver Knights at Orleans Arena. San Diego received several stellar performances, including back-to-back wins from the recently reassigned Lukas Dostal. The Czechia native earned American Hockey League Player of the Week honors for his play, posting a 2-0-0 record with a 1.01 goals-against average (GAA) and .964 save percentage (SV%). The weekend saw Dostal move into second on the club’s all-time wins list and record his first career AHL shutout.
“I'm surprised it was his first one,” Gulls defenseman Trevor Carrick said about his goaltender. “I thought he had a few before that. Well-deserved by him. He's been our anchor back there, him and Olle (Eriksson Ek). That was huge for him. That three-o-clock game came around pretty quickly, so he came up big for us there.”
Offensively, San Diego scored nine goals in the two wins, extending its streak of recording three-or-more goals to eight straight games. Center Danny O’Regan recorded four points (2-2=4) to pace the offensive attack while forward Alex Limoges led all skaters with three goals in the weekend series.
“That felt really good for us, coming off two games against Ontario where we lost 4-3,” Carrick said. “Against a good team, we weren't extremely happy with the way we played. We all thought we could have snuck a game out of there, so it was nice to get back in the win column there, especially with the schedule coming up. Three against Colorado, who we've yet to beat, so it'll be a good challenge for us. We'll feel good going into that, and Stockton and Bako (Bakersfield) after that. So, we got a good test coming up.”
The test involves Colorado, which enters tonight coming off its own two-game weekend sweep of the Milwaukee Admirals. Former Gull Kiefer Sherwood scored the game-winning tally in their 4-1 win on Saturday before the recently assigned Stefan Matteau delivered the victory in Sunday’s 4-3 overtime victory. They’ve won their last three games and enter tonight as one of the league’s top offensive teams.
Powering the Eagles are a trio of 40-point scorers –Sherwood (25-20=45), left wing Dylan Sikura (17-27=44) and defenseman Jordan Gross (7-35=42). San Diego knows the trio well, as the three also pace Colorado in scoring against the Gulls.
To shut down that trio – and the rest of the talented Eagles roster – the Gulls emphasized proper puck management in recent practices.
“We have to move our feet,” Jacob said. “We need to make sure we manage that puck, too. A lot of playing defense is managing that puck, and that's one thing we need to do at both blue lines. It's been addressed, and it's something we want to make sure we take care of.”
In addition, the coaching staff focused on the team’s attack.
“They're a really fast team, so we've been working on our transition, just trying to transition quickly and play up to pace with them, because they're a fast transitioning team,” Carrick said. “We're going to have to be really good in our own zone and pretty sound offensively. Just working closing quick on the play and being hard defensively.”