Gulls Looking to Bounce Back in Game 2 vs. Marlies

Oct 13, 2024

After a heartbreaking loss on Opening Night to the Toronto Marlies, the San Diego Gulls are looking to get in the win column for the first time in the 2024-25 American Hockey League season this afternoon against the Marlies at Coca-Cola Coliseum (1 p.m. PDT; TV: AHLTV on FloHockey; Radio: Gulls Audio Network).

It was a roller coaster of emotions for the Gulls on Saturday night, as Carson Meyer and Jansen Harkins scored late goals to erase a 3-1 deficit, but San Diego couldn’t force overtime after Toronto scored in the final two minutes of the game.

"Theme of the game is, for me, we played hard enough to win," head coach Matt McIlvane said.  "Showed a lot of character, but simply, we just gave up too many big chances. It's a great opportunity for us to take a look at those. How do you eliminate that? You gave up less big chances.

"Resetting mentally is the first priority, and then being able to dive into the video and go be able to teach exactly where we're giving up so much. It's not so much the quantity, it's just the quality like these big chances that there should be very easy fixes."

Puck luck wasn’t on the side of the Gulls Saturday night, as two goals against came after bounces found their way to a player exiting the penalty box.

"I've never seen anything like that, and hopefully we don't see it ever again, unless it's going our way," Meyer said.

24 hours later, the Gulls are looking to show the more of the resiliency they displayed Saturday night and head back to San Diego with a win under their belts.

"I think the answer is right in front of us," Meyer said. "We executed our game plan in the first period, and I thought we dominated the first. We were rolling every line, and everybody was playing the same way, and just forechecking hard and kind of stopping their speed before they could start it so I think if we can just emulate that first period all night, [tonight] will be great."