Gulls Fall Short As Eight-Game Point Streak Ends In Loss To Heat
Mar 27, 2022By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
All good things must come to an end.
The San Diego Gulls fell 7-5 to the Stockton Heat tonight, ending a season-high eight-game point streak tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego.
Alex Limoges scored his 19th and 20th goals of the season to become the second rookie in club history to reach 20 goals in a season, while extending his goal streak to a career-high five games (8-1=9).
Lucas Elvenes recorded his third three-point effort of the season (1-2=3), while Jacob Perreault earned his fourth consecutive multi-point game (0-2=2) to push his point streak into a seventh contest (4-7=11).
The Gulls made a valiant comeback effort with a three-goal third period, drawing within one following Limoges’ team-record 10th power-play goal of the season with less than a minute to play, before the American Hockey League’s first place club to closed the door with a second empty-net goal from Byron Froese.
"It was a tough game against a really good team again and like I just told the guys, we had a plan in the third period and we went after them and that just shows a lot of character and a lot of buy-in," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "We’ve been seeing for weeks and weeks and weeks now with adversity. We went in and we didn’t fold like a tent, which I’m very proud of the guys. We went after them."
"Yeah, I think the last ten games we’ve been progressing each game and it’s kind of been the game plan since the first game," Gulls defenseman Trevor Carrick said. "Just stick with the game plan and it’ll show, and I thought last ten games especially we’re seeing it and it’s feeling good and it’s paying off for us."
Stockton struck first at 18:19 of the first period with a shot from Emilio Pettersen that deflected off Carrick into the net past Olle Eriksson Ek to give the Heat a 1-0 lead.
Stockton’s lead was short lived, however, as Limoges answered 33 seconds later with his first of two goals on the night.
Eriksson Ek turned away 10-of- 11 shots in the first frame, making several stellar saves, including a lightning-fast glove save on Heat blueliner Nick DeSimone.
"He’s been huge," Carrick said. "It’s nice to see things payoff for him. I think there was few games there where he’s behind us and we don’t make it easy on him. I thought at times even this game we didn’t make it easy on him, especially in the second. He’s come up huge for us and we rely on him a lot. He’s been great, but it would’ve been nice to get another one for him tonight."
The Swedish netminder came up huge again in the next frame, making an initial save on the Heat’s leading scorer, Matthew Phillips, off to the right side and then lunging across his crease to stonewall Colton Poolman on the doorstep.
The Heat’s penalty-kill unit continued to trouble the opposition as they scored their league-leading 13th shorthanded goal on the year. Jakob Pelletier found Glenn Gawdin on a stretch pass at 10:23 of the second period who finished for his 13th goal on the campaign. Stockton would add to the lead 1:15 later with Connor Zary cashing in on the backdoor for a 3-1 lead.
"Yeah, it wasn’t an easy game for him," Bouchard said of Eriksson Ek. "He made couple of saves and them some tricky plays and some shots and it’s a back-to-back game for him too, you know? It’s tough, but yeah, you’re right. He was like everybody else, he was in the fight. He gives us a chance and everybody, guys make mistakes here and there and every position and you’ve got to remember that this is a long week. It’s a tough week and you’ve got to be proud of the guys with that."
Unwilling to leave anything unanswered, defenseman Axel Andersson responded to the call with his fourth goal of the season to draw the Gulls back within one.
Elvenes held the puck Stockton’s zone, warding off a poke check from Pelletier by skating a loop around the rookie and then sliding the puck to Andersson. The Swedish defenseman then fired a bullet of a shot through traffic into the back of the net.
"I think it’s good to reset at times and we’re still a long ways from the playoffs and I think we’ve took stride in that tough stretch there for a few weeks," Bouchard said. "As a team, I think we’ve grown, as individuals too. We’ve got some good teaching lessons and sometimes you win and sometimes you fail, but the main thing is to grow. Our young guys are playing prime minutes and our veterans are buying into what we’re doing."
The Heat would have the last word in the middle frame as Luke Philp restored his team’s multi-goal lead to 4-2 just a little over a minute later.
The Gulls would formulate a quick response once again as Elvenes capitalized on an early third period 5-on-3 power play to put the score at 4-3.
Momentum swung in San Diego’s favor and this opened an opportunity for all lines to get involved. Following a sustained forecheck, Vincent Marleau found himself with the puck on his stick on the right wall. The first-year forward fired the puck toward the cage where Brent Gates Jr. redirected the disc through Stockton netminder Adam Werner’s legs to tie the game at four. Gates Jr. earned his third point in three games (1-2=3).
"We came to play tonight," Bouchard said. "It’s tough- quick turnaround we played at seven (p.m.) last night, we go back at five (p.m.) against a team that’s like I said, very good. They didn’t play last night. I’m not looking for excuses, I’m just looking for ways to make sure they remember that, like you said. It was a good question. You put that in the back of your mind- we did it. You have to check your boxes during the season to be ready for playoffs and we’re working on checking all the boxes we can."
Stockton would once again find its groove and reclaim the lead for good on a goal by former Gull Andy Welinski. Philp added the insurance marker on an empty net for a 6-4 lead late in the third.
Limoges made sure Philp’s goal was in fact an insurance goal with a late tally on the power play, but the Heat scored an empty net goal to freeze the final score at 7-5 with 27 seconds remaining.
The Gulls begin a weekend back-to-back with the Iowa Wild Friday, April 1 at Pechanga Arena San Diego (7 p.m.).