PREVIEW: SoCal Rivalry Reignites Tonight As Gulls, Reign Open Home-And-Home Series
Dec 9, 2021By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls open a back-to-back series against their SoCal rivals, the Ontario Reign, tonight at Toyota Arena (7 p.m., PT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
The Gulls are 40-24-2-2 all-time against the Reign and have a 21-12-0-1 on the road. The Gulls dropped the first two meetings of the season – both in Ontario and in the first few weeks of the season. These December Gulls are much improved from the Gulls team that first hit the ice in October.
“They’re a highly skilled, offensive team,” Gulls left wing Greg Printz said. “They’ve got good d-men, good goaltending…so we’re just going to have to go in there, play our game. We’re a better team than the last time we saw them so it should be good games this weekend.”
The Gulls were 3-6-1-0 in the first 10 games of their season, but the team has a 5-2-0-0 record in its past seven matches and decreased its goals-against average per game (GA/G) from 3.70 in the first 10 to 2.14 in their last seven.
It’s important San Diego continues this trend, as Ontario enters the weekend averaging four goals-per-game
San Diego lost its last two games over a weekend series on the road against the Stockton Heat. The first of these defeats broke a season-high five-game winning streak for the Gulls, but the team felt the results didn’t show its continually improving play.
“We’re just trying to be harder, be harder to play against, be harder on the forecheck and score more goals,” Printz said. “We’ve been focusing a lot on scoring goals. We had a lot of chances over the weekend and definitely probably could have won those games if we capitalized on some of those chances. We ran into a hot goalie on Saturday, but we’ve been focusing on that, playing a little bit harder. I think we’ll be ready to go this weekend.”
The Reign are coming off a 3-2 shootout win over the Bakersfield Condors and are second in the Pacific Division with a 12-4-0-1 record this season.
The two rivals enter with top-10 power-play units. The Reign’s power play is the second-best in the AHL with a 24.7 % success rate, and the Gulls are ninth with a 20.8% conversion rate.
Key to tonight’s matchup is how well the Gulls penalty kill will fend off the Reign’s efficient power play. In their last seven games, the Gulls killed 29 of 34 (85.3%) of their opponent’s power-play opportunities, a major improvement from the 76.9% kill rate San Diego had over its first 10 games of the season.
Additionally, the Gulls power play could find a boost, as the Reign’s penalty kill at home ranks last in the AHL with a 47.0% success rate.
“It’s definitely a challenge, but like you said, we can use it as a measurement stick of where we are right now compared to where we were at the start of the year,” Gulls assistant coach Max Talbot said. “That’s what last weekend showed us too. So, that’s how you gain confidence as a team and not so much about the result. Obviously, you want the two points, but the process of it is very important too.”
The Gulls grew into a much stronger team since their last visits with the Reign because of improved individual performances.
Brayden Tracey has four goals in his last five games (4-4=8) and his +10 rating is tied for the fourth highest in the AHL among all rookies. The right wing is also tied both for seventh in rookie scoring and for the lead on the Gulls with 6-9=15 total points.
Since Nov. 1, Gulls defenseman Nikolas Brouillard leads AHL defensemen with 3-10=13 points. The blueliner also leads San Diego in assists (10) and is third in overall scoring.
Olle Eriksson Ek hit his stride as of late, posting a 1.68 goals-against average (GAA) since Nov. 15, which places him among top-10 AHL goalies in the category.
Ontario enters with plenty of offensive power of its own.
Martin Frk is third in the AHL with 10-12=22 points and the 6-10=16 points he collected since Nov. 1 place him second among all forwards.
Quinton Byfield will also be making his season debut with the Reign after recovering from a preseason injury that forced him out of the lineup of the Reign’s NHL affiliate, the Los Angeles Kings.
“I feel they’re a good team," Talbot said. “Obviously, they’re talented. They have some guys, NHL-caliber guys in their lineup and they’re on the same page. We played them twice in the first three games of the season, but I think we’re a different team so let’s focus on us and do what we’ve been doing better. We played against a very good team in Stockton and I feel like we have this little confidence from it. Even though we didn’t win the games, we feel that we can compete with good teams so we’ll go with that mindset tomorrow and Saturday.”