San Diego Goes Wild in 6-3 Victory Over Iowa
Jan 26, 2024By Morgan Korovec/SanDiegoGulls.com 
The San Diego Gulls dominated the ice Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena as they locked in a 6-3 victory over the Iowa Wild in the penultimate game of their series.
The Gulls have now earned points in six of their last seven games (5-1-1-0) and 12 of the last 18 overall (10-6-2).
"We’re just sticking to the game plan," Gulls forward Nikita Nesterenko said. "We know that the coaches put a good game plan out there. If we play aggressive, take time away from the other team, the wins are going to come. We’re not going to keep losing if we play the way we’ve been playing. Just got to keep rolling here."
Friday’s game began with palpable energy as both sides came out swinging with Jaxsen Wiebe and Carson Lambos taking center ice for an early scuffle, setting the stage for an intense contest.
At 11:37 in the opening frame, Pavol Regenda kicked off the scoring as he stopped a shot from Tyson Hinds and put the puck into the top shelf to get San Diego on the scoreboard first.
Just 29 seconds later, Regenda notched his second goal in a single shift as he released another shot past Peyton Jones, his pair of goals propelling the Gulls to a two-goal lead. The left wing now leads Gulls skaters with 13 goals this season. Regenda also tallied an assist on the night.
Fired up by Regenda’s rapid-fire scoring spree, Iowa struck as Nic Petan launched the puck straight into the net from the left-wing circle at 15:02 to cut San Diego’s lead in half. Steven Fogarty wasted no time in discovering the game-tying goal as minutes later he netted his eighth of the season.
The middle frame saw both teams pushing to uneven the score, though neither side was able to break through, resulting in a goalless second period.
"I thought we played well through the first," head coach Matt McIlvane said. "It was kind of two unfortunate bounces that ended up tying it up, and then it became the emotional challenge and can we respond.
"Truth was it took a little bit to get traction all the way through the second period. In the third, we just looked determined and focused from the beginning and like we were ready to go get something done and guys found a way."
At 5:52 into the final frame, Trevor Carrick unleashed a shot from the left point into traffic before Wiebe gave the puck an extra push for it to creep across the goal line, collecting his third goal of the season to restore the Gulls’ lead.
Continuing to play off that momentum, Andrew Agozzino collected the puck off a rebound, securing San Diego’s fourth goal of the evening at 11:42, his ninth of the season.
The Wild responded at 15:48 as Mason Shaw found the back of the net to cut the Gulls’ lead down by one.
Nesterenko fired back, sending the puck nearly 150 feet down the ice and into the empty net to add to San Diego’s lead. Nesterenko gathered two assists in addition to his goal to match his season-high in points (1-2=3)
"At first, I was looking for [Regenda] because I wanted to get him that third one, but he’s the one that passed it off the wall and they’re kind of collapsing on me, so I just threw it on net hoping it went in and it did," Nesterenko said.
Minutes later, Nathan Gaucher cashed in on the net, and scored his sixth goal of the season.
Hinds recorded the first multi-point effort of his career, picking up two assists (0-2=2). Trevor Carrick also collected two assists on the evening.
Judd Caulfield, Glenn Gawdin, and Blake McLaughlin each tallied an assist on the night.
Tomas Suchanek was terrific in-net, blocking 24-of-27 shots to earn his fourth straight victory and improve to 8-2-1 on the season.
The Gulls will lace up for a final round with the Wild tomorrow, Saturday Jan. 27 at Wells Fargo Arena to wrap up their season series (4 p.m. PST; TV: AHLTV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).