PREVIEW: Gulls Host Rival Reign On Inaugural Casino Night At Pechanga Arena
Feb 18, 2022By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls will need their best poker faces to take on the Ontario Reign on the Gulls’ inaugural Casino Night tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego (7 p.m. PT; TV: Fox 5 San Diego; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
San Diego will wear an all-new specialty jersey with gray, red and white accents and casino-themed features throughout the game. Mike Ruter, a World Series of Poker Tag Team champion, will participate in a ceremonial puck drop and the first 8,000 fans in attendance will receive a commemorative deck of Gulls playing cards.
The Gulls are 41-25-4-2 overall against the Reign, including a 20-12-3-0 record at home. San Diego is 1-3-1-0 this season against their SoCal rivals and lost its most recent outing against Ontario, which ended in a 5-4 overtime defeat on Jan. 8.
"Playing a good team this weekend; we know how they are," Gulls center Lucas Elvenes said. "It’s going to be two tough games. We have confidence now, so we just got to keep it up."
The Gulls increased their reserve of confidence after a dominating 5-1 win over the San Jose Barracuda on Wednesday, giving San Diego its third win in its last four games (3-1-0-0).
Elvenes powered the team to victory, recording the first multi-goal effort (2-0=2) of his American Hockey League career. Brent Gates Jr. also continued his recent scoring surge, scoring his career-high fifth goal of the season and third goal in his last two games (3-0=3).
Additionally, Vinni Letierri extended his point streak to three games while Hunter Drew and Greg Printz both scored for two goals in their last two games (2-0=2). Printz registered 4-3=7 points over his last seven games, the best stretch of his season.
"I did think the execution was higher than it has been, which is nice," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "And you see the result with the goals."
The primary reason behind the Gulls’ surge of offense was the execution of the team’s forecheck, and it will play a pivotal role against the Reign. San Diego will need to translate it into a healthy dose of offense to compete with an Ontario team entering night with a league-leading 4.05 goals-per-game.
"We came out hard," Elvenes said of the win in San Jose. "Of course, we forechecked really good; created a lot of scoring chances from the forecheck too. And I think we were good in the d-zone. There was not too many odd man rushes, 3-on-2s and that stuff, so we did a good job there."
A great start to the game, just as the team had in San Jose, is essential as the Reign are 7-0-1-0 on the road when leading after the first period and 10-0-0-0 when leading after the second.
"We’re going to get challenged against everybody until the end of the year," Bouchard said. "The focus is on us a lot right now. So, I’m already thinking like, 'Okay, what could we learn from that game tonight' and stuff like that. I feel we’re taking strides, but like everything else, if you stop moving your legs your strides are going to go away. I’m intrigued and interested how far can we bring this group and I’m going to push them to make sure. They’re pushing each other which is fun. I think you’re bang on in execution. It’s something we’ve been talking about, so let’s see how we do against Ontario. It’s going to be a good challenge this weekend for sure."
The Reign’s T.J. Tynan, while being second in the league with 8-44=52 points, leads the league with 26 power-play points and 25 power-play assists. Moreover, rookie defenseman Jordan Spence is tied for first among AHL blueliners in power-play assists and points with 2-17=19. Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Martin Frk sit tied for first in the league with 10 power-play goals.
The Reign owe much of their success to the power play, but the Gulls penalty-kill unit is rounding into form. San Diego eliminated 15 of the last 17 opportunities (88.2%) over the last five games. It’s a top-10 unit at Pechanga Arena, entering tonight ranked tied for ninth in the AHL with an 84% success rate.
However, perhaps the most important key to success against the Reign is the Gulls’ penalty kill, as Ontario lays claim to the best power play in the league with a 27.1% success rate.