Gulls Burned By Pelletier, Heat As Losing Streak Hits Three

Mar 9, 2022

By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com

The San Diego Gulls stayed in Stockton’s kitchen but couldn’t withstand the Heat as they lost 5-2 to their Pacific Division foes tonight at Stockton Arena.

San Diego failed to hold two one-goal leads as Stockton blazed its way to a victory with a hat trick from Jacob Pelletier and multi-assist performances from Connor Mackey (0-2=2) and Glenn Gawdin (0-2=2). Rookie goaltender Dustin Wolf made a series of outstanding saves, stopping 31 shots for his league-leading 24th win of the season. 

"I like some of our offense," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "I like some of the part of the game. It goes down to consistency. You play a good team like that you can’t break down or crack, you know? I don’t think it was terrible tonight. I don’t think it was like we got dominated, but I think we have to, unfortunately, it’s the way it is. We have a good division. Good teams. You can’t get the foot off the gas. You can’t do it."

Benoit-Olivier Groulx and Brent Gates Jr. scored for the Gulls, who saw their losing streak hit three with tonight’s setback. Lukas Dostal stood tall in net, stopping 42 shots to suffer his 10th loss of the season.

"We were really positive in the room," Groulx said. "Like, we knew, we beat those guys a couple times. They’re first in the league, but it’s always a good challenge for us when we play them and for some reason, we always have good games against them. I think we brought our A-game today, we just had a couple breakdowns sometimes and they capitalized on it. That’s what good teams do so you’ve got to give credit to them."

The Gulls started the game right as Groulx struck first, scoring his seventh goal of the season at 4:44 of the first period.

Groulx laid the foundation for his goal, using a poke check to force a turnover in the neutral zone. Jacob Perreault pushed the puck to Alex Limoges, who then placed a cross ice pass right on the stick of Groulx. The center, returning after missing the last three games, deflected the puck past Wolf for his third point (1-2=3) in his last four games.

Limoges has points in back-to-back games (1-1=2), while Perreault has 1-2=3 points in his last three outings.

"Yeah, I think we had some really good moments," Bouchard said. "I think the first period was pretty good. I think there were six-seven minutes there that weren’t exactly how it could be. This is just a teaching (moment). You play against a team like that you can’t, you can’t do it. No, you’re right, it was disappointing cause I feel the guys were in the fight. Just a couple of plays here and there and it’s one of those nights."

This goal elicited an immediate response from the Heat’s Eetu Tuuola, who chipped a puck up and over the shoulder of Dostal to tie the game just over a minute later. 

"A game we played fairly well against a really good team," Bouchard said. “And that is just one little play and some of those goals tonight were just kinda…one of those nights, right? Not even against (Lukas Dostal), it just kinda went up in the air and one tip, and one batted up in the air. Goalie made some good saves on the other side. I thought we had some good looks offensively. We just didn’t connect as much to finish it off. I don’t think guys have a bad attitude, I just wish there was a little, a few times, a little cleaner, but we gotta go back at it."

The Heat pelted San Diego with a volley of shots for the remainder of the initial frame, but Dostal kept the score locked at one with 16 saves.

The Gulls jumpstarted its offense once again early in the second period, as Gates Jr.’s eighth goal of the season gave San Diego a 2-1 lead at 2:58 of the middle period. Gates Jr. swooped in on a puck left in front of the faceoff circle by Greg Printz and threw a bouncing puck on net that deflected off a Stockton defenseman’s skate and over Wolf’s head. 

Trevor Carrick also earned an assist on the play, his fifth point in his last five games (1-4=5).

However, the second period quickly became a repeat of the first, as Pelletier would record the first of his three goals to tie the game just minutes later. 

Dostal’s excellent play endured as the Czechia netminder stopped 14 more shots, including an impressive pad save on Gawdin. The Gulls goaltender shut down his back door attempt, sliding the right leg out to kick away his attempt at the game-tying tally with just over 90 seconds left in the second. 

However, Dostal’s best efforts couldn’t stop Pelletier, who scored the game-winning goal – and his second of the game – to give the Heat a 3-2 lead. With Stockton on a 4-on-3 power-play chance, Pelletier established net-front presence and used it to his advantage, whacking the rebound of Mackey’s shot past Dostal and into the back of the net for his seventh game-winning goal of the season.

"In the third, like, it just was, you know, a couple big saves from their goalie and they really didn’t spend much time in our zone," Bouchard said. “It’s why I’m disappointed for the boys as a coach. Can we be tied towards the end of the third period, can we bring this game into overtime in some way. And then we go four-on-four, we take a penalty and they tip the rebound up in the air and it’s kinda “oh, God. Is it one of those nights?” I still feel we had looks after that at 3-2. Two goals go up in the air and behind him. You don’t see that often. You know, same game, two goals go the same way."

As the Gulls pushed for a tie, Wolf stood tall to hold them at bay. His best came on Groulx with 6:50 left in regulation. Perreault held the puck in the faceoff circle, sending a cross-ice pass to a wide-open Groulx. The center, who appeared to have an empty net, fired a low one-timer toward the net. Wolf pushed from one post to the other, keeping his glove low and snaring the shot as he spun down to the ice.

"It’s really hard," Groulx said. "I think we played one of our best period all year, especially in the first period. We missed a couple chances like I has a wide open one-timer at the end of the game and the goalie made a great save, but that should be  a goal pretty much every time and hey had some really lucky bounces. I think the second one bounced over Dos’ (Dostal) head and you can’t do anything on those ones, but no, it’s hard. But, we’re going to get back at it in two days against Bako (Bakersfield)."

Stockton would add on late, as Walker Duehr and Pelletier secured the win. The rookie’s third goal – an empty netter – earned Pelletier his first professional three-goal performance and his team-leading 10th point in six games (4-6=10) against the Gulls this season. He ended the night tied for second in goals and third in points (19-25=44) among American Hockey League first-year skaters.

The Gulls conclude their franchise-record eight-game road trip on Friday with the final regular-season matchup against the Bakersfield Condors at Mechanics Bank Arena.