PREVIEW: Gulls, Barracuda Close Season Series Tonight At SAP Center
Feb 15, 2022By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls look to continue their dominance over the San Jose Barracuda, making the trip to SAP Center for the eighth and final matchup of their regular-season series (7 p.m. PT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network). The Gulls collected six wins in the prior seven meetings this season, and a win tonight would give them three straight over their Pacific Division foes.
San Diego is undefeated in San Jose this season (3-0-0-0) and is 20-11-2-0 all-time on the road against the Barracuda.
The two teams met on Feb. 11, a 4-2 win for the Gulls at Pechanga Arena.
"We’re looking at the tape and we see ourselves actually being able to play better than what we did," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "You know, it wasn’t an easy game last game in a way that we haven’t played for over a week and then now we go back and sometimes can be sluggish. (Gulls goaltender Lukas) Dostal was really strong. I thought we did a lot of good things, we just didn’t connect as much as we should so now, it’s to everything we apply in practice or in games or on the gameplan is there, it’s just for us really execute more on the collective game."
Dostal did have quite the showing, recording a season-high 43 saves. Over his last five games, the Czechia netminder posted a 2.07 goals-against average (GAA) and a .941 save percentage (SV%).
"It was a big moment for us, it was a big game, obviously, after the break," Dostal said. "We’re really, really happy that we could grab the win and just try to continue it in San Jose."
Dostal is part of a group of Gulls who returned from the National Hockey League’s Anaheim Ducks in early February and made an immediate impact. The group includes veteran forwards Vinni Lettieri and Danny O’Regan, who have both made noticeable impacts in recent games. Lettieri earned 1-3=4 points over his last two games, the highest point total the center posted over two consecutive outings this season. O’Regan has 2-4=6 points in the last four games, which includes a career-best 1-3=4 points in a recent win over the Tucson Roadrunners.
"We have players back so let’s see how we can do, put guys in a position to succeed and push them through it," Bouchard said.
The additions to the lineup brought new life to San Diego’s penalty kill, as the team killed 11 of 12 penalties for a 91.7 % success rate over the last four games (Feb. 2 through Feb. 11).
The Gulls’ penalty kill was at its most impressive in the win over San Jose, killing off two crucial 5-on-3 chances in the first three-plus minutes of the third period to protect a one-goal lead. In addition, San Diego kept Barracuda rookie Scott Reedy off the board on the man advantage. He sits tied for first in the American Hockey League with 10 power-play goals and is tied for the top spot among first-year skaters with 18 goals this season.
"You know what, we’re pushing ourselves," Bouchard said. "We’ve looked at our first half and we took a lot of stride(s) collectively with our structure, and we’ve looked at what we’re doing well and what we’re trying to get better to try to keep ourselves accountable. We have a lot of games coming up. We haven’t played much in the last two weeks, but let’s see how we do."
San Jose enters tonight riding a five-game losing streak, which includes the setback in San Diego. The team sunk to the bottom of the league standings. They've allowed a league-worst 4.13 goals-against per game and is just 9-9-1-0 on home ice this season.
San Diego will have to keep a close watch on Barracuda forward Jayden Halbgewachs, as he has four goals (4-0=4) in his last four games and normally does very well against the Gulls, posting 3-4=7 points against them this season. In addition, San Jose center Jasper Weatherby brings a three-game assist streak into tonight’s contest.