Gulls Road Trip Starts With A Loss
Feb 26, 2020The Gulls fell 4-1 to the Tucson Roadrunners tonight at Tucson Arena to open a club record long seven-game road trip. Tucson’s win snapped San Diego’s three-game win streak and five straight with a point. Despite the setback, the Gulls have recorded points in 12 of their last 14 games (9-2-3-0) and 17 of their last 20 games (14-3-3-0).
Sam Carrick scored San Diego’s lone goal to extend his point streak to four games (2-3=5), his fourth point streak of four games or more this season. Simon Benoit recorded his 14th helper of the season, tying his career-high in assists set in 2018-19. Goaltender Anthony Stolarz made 28 saves in the setback.
A scoreless first 20 minutes concluded with the Gulls outshooting the Roadrunners 12-9 despite a Chris Mueller grade-A chance midway through the opening frame.
Tucson came out of intermission dominating play as Cam Dineen scored 1:09 into the middle period. A missed pass resulted in Stolarz coming out of the net to challenge the puck, but Brayden Burke took the initial missed chance around the net and found Dineen for an easy score.
Carrick evened the score 8:32 into the period, marking his sixth point (4-2=6) in five games against Tucson this season. Benoit intercepted the puck in the neutral zone and immediately found Carrick driving up the ice, and as he circled behind the net his shot slipped through Adin Hill’s pads to even the score at 1-1.
The Roadrunners took the lead again on a one-timer by Beau Bennett just 3:17 after San Diego’s tying score as Bennet received a pass from Kyle Capobianco at the bottom of the left circle and snapped a shot short side on Stolarz to regain the lead.
San Diego was able to get on the board but Tucson’s two goals were the difference in the frame, taking a 2-1 lead on the score board and 24-16 shot advantage after 40 minutes.
Tucson extended their lead to 4-1 with third-period goals separated by just over five minutes. The first was a result of an unassisted score by Hudson Fasching, who passed the puck towards the net on an odd-man rush at the conclusion of a San Diego power play that ended up deflecting off Josh Mahura to sneak past Stolarz. Michael Chaput’s finished the scoring and sealed the game with a low one-timer from the slot where Stolarz was screened and couldn’t drop to his pads in time.
The loss marked only San Diego’s third in regulation the last 20 games, two of which have come against the Roadrunners.
Newly acquired defenseman Joel Persson and forward Kyle Criscuolo made their respective Gulls debut tonight.
The Gulls will continue their club record seven-game road trip Friday, Feb. 28 at Stockton (7 p.m.).