Gulls Make Franchise History With Second Consecutive Shutout Win
Mar 12, 2022By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls brought peace to a vast and troubled Galaxy tonight as they shut out the Ontario Reign 4-0 to close out the team’s Star Wars Night benefitting Rady Children’s Hospital at Pechanga Arena San Diego.
This game marks the first time in franchise history San Diego recorded consecutive shutouts and the first of goaltender Olle Eriksson Ek’s American Hockey League career, who made 22 saves on the way to his fifth win of the season.
"It’s a great feeling, of course," Eriksson Ek said. "I’ve been struggling a little bit here lately and it’s kind of a relief. It feels really good and helped the team to get a win."
Benoit Olivier-Groulx also became one with the Force as the center tallied two unassisted goals (2-0=2) in the outing to record the second multi-goal performance of his career.
"Well, I liked the way we adjusted from last week to this week, from Wednesday to Friday and to Saturday," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "We’re in the trenches right now. We’re getting a lot of games, we’re playing some good teams, but I like the way the players bought into the adjustment and you can tell that they’re doing what we’re telling them and you can tell the success and the recipe works. So, it’s always fun. It’s a long season, it’s a long process, but I’m happy the way we adjusted, as a coach, and it was two games this weekend that were well played."
Groulx guided the Gulls rebel fleet to an ideal start with a goal 4:49 into the first period to open the scoring.
Groulx carried the puck into Ontario’s zone and lost it at the far-side circle. However, he pressed Reign defenseman Markus Phillips, forcing him to cough up a puck that Groulx took to a wide-open slot and whipped past Reign netminder Matthew Villalta. The center extended his goal streak to a third game (3-1=4) with the goal, matching his career high.
"I think we’ve focused with him on details a lot and again, he’s a hard-working kid," Bouchard said of Groulx. "You can see it. Unfortunately for him, he was kind of in and out in the NHL, came back. It was a difficult year with COVID, right? I mean, we went through, as you know more than anybody, a lot of movement and so for him to sound his game back to better habits, meaning that not that he was not working, but he was working and being more efficient and I think he’s seeing the result right now."
The Gulls have improved to 17-9-0 this season when scoring the first goal of the game and to 11-2-0 when leading after the first period.
"I think we just stuck to our systems," Gulls center Bryce Kindopp said. "Obviously, Olle (Eriksson Ek) made some big saves for us there so he bailed us out when we needed (him) to and I think we had good sticks, we kept them to the outside and when they got through, Olle was there for us."
The empire didn’t have time to strike back as the Gulls tripled their lead to 3-0 in a middle frame dominated by San Diego.
Hunter Drew made it 2-0 at 6:26 of the second with the help of defenseman Nikolas Brouillard, who wrangled a puck poked to him by Kindopp through the neutral zone and passed it to a wide-open Drew. Drew then then threaded the puck through Villalta’s legs to earn his 11th goal of the season.
This line soon launched a secondary attack as they dug up a loose puck in the corner and delivered it to Brendan Guhle on the blueline. Guhle sniffed out a lane and sniped the puck at a screened Villalta. The puck found Kindopp, grazing the center’s leg and finding the back of the net for his eighth goal of the season.
Kindopp (1-1=2) and Drew (1-1=2) both registered multi-point games.
"I think we’ve been put together for a couple games now so I think we kind of found our chemistry," Kindopp said. "Those two guys (Brouillard and Drew) are really easy to play with so I think we just got on the forecheck and then, we kind of took over from there. We got some chances and we buried on our chances."
Groulx would soon make this a trio of multi-point scorers as he notched his second goal of the night at 3:28 of the third period.
The goal marks Groulx’s second career multi-goal effort and the center has also tallied seven points (4-3=7) points over his last six contests.
"It was awesome," Kindopp said about winning at home. "We got back a little late, which was kind of tough, but sleeping in your own bed felt really good and then back in front of these fans- it definitely boosts our energy. So, it was really good to be back home."
The Gulls saga continues Wednesday, as the team will face off against the Henderson Silver Knights in the first of a four-game series against the team on Mar. 17 at the Pechanga Arena.