Gulls, Reign Open Home-And-Home Series
Apr 12, 2021The San Diego Gulls return home to host the rival Ontario Reign Tuesday at FivePoint Arena. San Diego owns a 5-1-0-0 mark against its Southern California rival this season.
The two teams meet for the seventh matchup of a ten-game season series. The Reign earned their first win of the matchup last week, defeating the Gulls 4-2 at FivePoint Arena. San Diego won each of the first five meetings between the clubs and outscored Ontario 27-18 head-to-head thus far.
“They’re a team that gets a lot of scoring chances off the rush. They always have four men on the attack,” said Gulls assistant coach Sylvain Lefebvre. “They try to clog up the neutral zone, so we’ll try to get the puck deep and get on the forecheck. We need to limit turnovers in the neutral zone. If we do that, we’ll be in better shape.”
The Gulls welcomed a new face to the lineup this weekend in rookie defenseman Axel Andersson. A former second round pick by Boston, Anaheim acquired Andersson in a Feb. 2020 with the Bruins.
The 21-year-old native of Jarna, Sweden appeared in 51 games for Sodertalje SK (HockeyAllvenskan) this season before making his AHL debut Saturday night, recording an assist for his first career point.
“He’s a very mobile defenseman who can move the puck,” said Lefebvre. “He’s good under pressure for breakouts and he plays a heads-up kind of game. He sees the play really well and understands the notion of where to be on the ice.”
Andersson said he is absorbing all the information he can from his new coaches and teammates, and knows the Gulls will need a strong performance Tuesday to defeat the rival Reign.
“We’ll need to move the puck quicker and be tape-to-tape [with our passes],” Andersson explained. “We’ve got to be tougher in the defensive zone and that will lead to our offensive game.”
The Reign visit the Gulls sitting last in the Pacific Division by point percentage (.389). Ontario boasts one of the league’s most high-powered offenses, ranking tied for third in the AHL in goals (85), but struggle to keep pucks out of their own net.
The Reign place last in the AHL in goals against (107) and goals against per game (3.96). Lefebvre said an effective defensive effort for the Gulls will start in the offensive zone.
“It starts with managing the puck,” Lefebvre said. “If you manage the puck in the offensive zone, you’re doing the job. We need guys to track back and be smart when we do lose the puck.”