PREVIEW: Gulls Close Season Series With League-Leading Heat
Apr 25, 2022By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls and Stockton Heat will close their eight-game regular-season series tonight as the Gulls skate in their final regular season game at Pechanga Arena San Diego (7 p.m. PT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
The Gulls enter tonight off a 3-1 come-from-behind win over the Tucson Roadrunners where they scored three times in the final five minutes of regulation. The victory snapped a seven-game winless streak (0-5-1-1).
"The pushback was great," Gulls defenseman Brogan Rafferty said. "Just want to shout out to the fans for supporting us all year and us having a great crowd to get us back into the game that night. No, I think we stuck together. We didn’t have the best start and we kind of gathered together as a team in between periods and talked about what we wanted to work on and just came out and played hockey and just play the game we know how to play. Get involved in the game emotionally and do the right things with the pick and the rest will take care of itself."
Getting a win after a tumultuous two weeks was pivotal for the playoff-bound Gulls, and they look forward to testing themselves against the American Hockey League's top team.
"Obviously, no matter what team we play, we want to put together a good performance and play a great, solid 60 minutes, but we are looking towards postseason," Rafferty said. "We’re trying to build something, build momentum so when we play Ontario…we hit the ground running. We kind of gel together as a team and have a cohesive effort just to put together a good effort in the playoffs. And ramp it up."
The Gulls are 21-25-4-3 all-time against the Heat with a 12-10-2-1 record at home. San Diego is 2-5-0-0 against Stockton this season after the Heat won the last matchup 7-5 on Mar. 27.
"Looking for guys (to be) maybe a little more forward in some of our action," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "I don’t think we’ve been terrible the last stretch at all. Just pushing some of the areas in our game to make sure that we’re on top of."
Lucas Elvenes has certainly done that against Stockton this season.
The Swede matched a season high with 1-2=3 points on Mar. 27 and leads San Diego in points against the Heat with 1-5=6 points in three games as Gull. Combining his numbers with the Henderson Silver Knights, Elvenes burned Stockton for 2-6=8 points. He enters tonight with 1-3=4 points in his last three games.
The duo of Jacob Perreault and Brent Gates Jr. will look to continue their strong run against the Heat. The two scored just 1:19 apart in the win on Saturday, delivering the game-tying and game-winning tallies. Both enter tonight second among San Diego skaters in points against Stockton, with Perreault (0-5=5) matching Brent Gates Jr. (3-2=5).
The Gulls will need find scoring to fill the void left by the recalls of right wings Hunter Drew and Buddy Robinson and defenseman Trevor Carrick. The Anaheim Ducks recalled the trio yesterday prior to its two-game road trip to San Jose and Dallas.
The two California rivals are continuing to ramp up to the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs. The Gulls will meet the Ontario Reign in the First Round, beginning on Wednesday, May 4 at Toyota Arena. The division-champion Heat earned a bye into the Division Semifinal, where they could face San Diego.
Despite earning a First-Round pass, Stockton still has the chance to take home the AHL’s Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy, awarded to the team who finishes at the top of the regular-season standings by points percentage. They currently lead the Chicago Wolves as both have two games left on their schedules.
"They’re a top team in our conference and one of the best teams in our league so obviously, it’s a good test," Bouchard said. "I think you can learn a lot playing versus a good opponent. You’re going to be challenged and that’s what you want. So, they’re going to challenge our players. Obviously, we need to have good defensing, good structure, which they’ve been good with structure and defending. It’s just make(ing) sure we’re on top of every single detail because you play against good team, they’re going to make you pay."
Stockton enters tonight on a two-game slide, losing 4-0 and 5-4 in back-to-back games against Abbotsford.
Jakob Pelletier earned a career-high 0-4=4 assists in the most recent loss and continues to top all league rookies with 27-35=62 points this season. Pelletier also leads the Heat with 4-7=11 points in seven games against the Gulls. Matthew Phillips leads the Heat in goals, assists and points with 30-37=67.
The Heat are without their sensational rookie goaltender Dustin Wolf. Recalled by the National Hockey League's Calgary Flames last week, Wolf leads all qualified AHL netminders in wins (33) while sitting third in save percentage (.924) and seventh in goals-against average (2.33).