Gulls Third-Period Comeback Attempt Falls Just Short In Loss To Tucson
Feb 5, 2022By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls third-period comeback fell just short as they fell to the Tucson Roadrunners 5-4 tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego. The teams split the weekend series, with the Gulls maintaining a one-point lead in the Pacific Division standings.
"I think there’s a lot of positives tonight," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "We had a few mistakes on some guys, but I don’t think they were bad games overall form any of the guys. Guys gave it a push, we tried until the end. You saw it, we hit like a few posts. It’s not just a shot, the shots are what it is. It’s the essence that I like in our offense at times and I didn’t like the breakdown like anybody, but I’m gonna gather all this together and we’ve had a bit of a weird game so let’s take the break and let’s see when we come back how we can take the good and fix the bad."
Michael Carcone led the Roadrunners, recording his fourth career hat trick in the win. Matias Maccelli (1-2=3) and Cam Dineen (0-3=3) recorded three-point performances. Josef Korenar recorded just his second win in his last 11 games, stopping 30-of-34 shots. It marks just the second time this season the Tucson netminder made 30-or-more saves.
Vinni Lettieri led San Diego with 1-2=3 points. Danny O'Regan and Nikolas Brouillard each chipped in two points (1-1=2) while Lukas Dostal stopped all seven shots he saw in relief of Olle Eriksson Ek. The Swedish netminder allowed five goals on eight shots.
San Diego earned a hometown bounce in the first period, jumping on the board first on Brouillard’s heads-up play at 4:16 of the opening frame.
Brendan Guhle fired in a puck from the red line, hitting the end boards with his dump-in attempt. The puck caromed past Korenar and and into open ice. Brouillard pounced on the puck, firing it to the top of the net and past a diving Korenar for his eighth goal of the season.
The St. Hilaire, Quebec native has four goals in his last six games and leads all American Hockey League defenseman with eight goals.
Guhle earned points in back-to-back games, the first time this season’s he’s found the scoresheet in consecutive contests.
Carcone would find the scoresheet just minutes later, finding a soft spot in the San Diego zone before one-timing a Maccelli pass by Eriksson Ek for his 13th goal of the season.
He’d strike again with 6:17 left in the period, scoring on yet another one-timed shot from low in the faceoff circle. Eriksson Ek anticipated the shot, but Carcone’s bid just snuck over the pad of the Gulls netminder for his 14th goal of the season.
Following a similar script from last night’s game, the Gulls evened the score at two on an early O’Regan power-play goal in the second period.
Brogan Rafferty fed a puck up the ice, bouncing it through traffic in the neutral zone and finding a streaking Benoit-Olivier Groulx near the Gulls bench. The center carried it down the boards, finding O'Regan alone in the slot. He one-timed the puck along the ice, sliding it through the legs of Korenar for his seventh goal of the season.
It marks the first time this season the veteran center recorded goals in back-to-back games.
The Roadrunners would respond, scoring twice in the next three minutes to take control of the middle frame.
Cameron Hebig put Tucson ahead 3-2 at 4:33 of the middle frame, taking a drop pass in the slot and driving to the net, beating Eriksson Ek for his 10th goal of the season.
Maccelli extended Tucson's lead to two at 7:17 of the period.
The AHL's leading rookie scorer picked off a pass at center ice and dashed in on Eriksson Ek. He avoided the pressure from Guhle and fired his shot past the glove of San Diego's goalie for his 11th goal of the season.
San Diego would fight back once again, pulling within one on a Rafferty power-play goal with 8:45 left in the period. The defenseman snuck down from the point, wasting no time firing a pass from O'Regan past Korenar for his fourth goal of the season.
Carcone finished his hat trick, restoring Tucson's two-goal lead with 7:24 left in the period.
Maccelli was right in the middle of it once again, carrying the puck over the blue line before finding a streaking Carcone in the slot. He moved the puck to his backhand before tucking it past Eriksson Ek for his 15th goal of the season.
Dostal replaced Eriksson Ek following the goal. The Czechia native stopped 27 shots in last night's win over Tucson.
"I don’t think guys were down, guys wanted to win for Olle too," Bouchard explained. "That’s why I left him in there because the guys came with good spirit from the get-go of this game. I changed Olle because it was just not a good situation for him, it wasn’t his night. Again, he didn’t really like get any point shots or anything, He just came in and got those scrambly plays. So, I just felt it was kind of an odd situation."
"I just think from the games we played so far, these last three, we’ve kind of been doing it to ourselves," Lettieri said when asked about Tucson's five goals. "The times that we been playing well, we stayed in our structure. That really helped us a lot to keep ourselves in the games at some points, but we’ve just got to be better and work harder for our goaltenders."
The two-goal lead held for nearly all of the third period before Lettieri brought San Diego within one with 2:14 left in regulation.
With Dostal pulled for an extra attacker, San Diego went to work in the Roadrunners end of the ice. Lucas Elvenes collected a loose puck off the end boards, sending a cross-ice pass to a waiting Lettieri. The forward one-timed the puck past the glove of Korenar for his seventh goal of the season.
"Yeah, I feel like that’s just has been our identity from the start of the season," Lettieri said of the team's response. "The coaching staff has been kind of making it our motto, but obviously, the way we look in the standings - it doesn’t look like that. But the way we practice and show up every day. We’re all all professionals the guys don’t get enough credit for how hard they’re working. It’s going to come eventually, but we’ve just gotta take it one game at a time."
The Gulls nearly tied the game in the dying moments of regulation but saw a last-second attempt bounce just wide of the crease to seal their fate.
On the other side of a daunting part of their schedule – San Diego played 10 games in the last 19 games – the Gulls will earn a five-day break, originally scheduled for the league’s All-Star Classic.
"Well, I’ll tell you what there’s one thing - I deal with the situation that’s ahead of me," Bouchard said. "The break is there, you’re right. I feel that we took strides this week, got some bodies back. I’ll tell you what, this year has been what it is. I mean, Patrick, I’m telling you, it’s been up and down in every different direction.
"There’s a lot of moving parts so the guys played hard, they came out. So, that’s what’s important. The break is part of what it is. The guys can refresh, you’re right, it’s been an up and down situation with COVID. It’s stretched it for so long for us. I kind of have to gather the effort and gather it over the last three games. Our structure got better and better with guys that came up and down. So, obviously, there’s a lot of things going in my head so that break is going to give me the chance to gather things up and line up a plan for the guys too when we get back."