PREVIEW: Gulls, Roadrunners Open Weekend Series At Pechanga Arena
Feb 3, 2022By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls continue their homestand tonight on a quest to snap their six-game losing streak in the first of back-to-back games against the Tucson Roadrunners at Pechanga Arena (7 p.m. PT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
The Gulls are 1-1-0-0 this season against the Roadrunners after splitting a weekend series against the club with 5-1 win on Oct. 29 and 6-4 loss on Oct. 30. All-time, San Diego is 26-21-2-1 against Tucson, including a 13-9-1-1 mark at home (13-12-1-0 on the road).
"The guys are hanging in there together, but this adversity or the losing kind of streak here we’re on is taking on everybody," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "Guys are working hard, we tried and that’s normal that we get affected a little bit, but my job is to go back with them tomorrow and the only way you go out of it is not by panicking, but by staying in control and keep working on yourself and trying to be better."
A major key for the Gulls tonight will be maintaining this control over their play for a full 60 minutes, as momentary lapses are costing San Diego two points at a time.
This was the case in the most recent game against the Colorado Eagles on Feb. 2, as a troubled third period allowed Colorado to erase the Gulls’ hard-fought 2-1 lead and ultimately win 4-2.
"Just two little breakdown really cost us the game," Gulls center Benoit-Olivier Groulx said. "We gotta be better at that. Overall, I think we were right there, we were right there. Just gotta improve that and we’re gonna get back in the wins section."
The Gulls were in the game in part due to Groulx, as he scored to collect his sixth goal of the season, marking his fourth point over his last five games (3-1=4).
Axel Andersson scored the other goal, his third on the season off a one-timed shot from the point. This established a career-best in goals for the Swede while his 3-2=5 points this season match his career high.
"We had a good game, but also, a good game in this league is not good enough to win a lot games in a row or to get into the win column after the slump that we are in right now," Groulx said. "If we keep the way we were playing the first two periods during the third period, it would really help us. We’re building on that right now."
San Diego also saw the return of goaltender Lukas Dostal, who stopped 30-of-33 shots after returning from the Anaheim Ducks earlier that day. He headlined a group of players returned from the National Hockey League club following the disbanding of the team’s Taxi Squad, a group Bouchard credited for bringing ample energy.
"They were good, they were engaged," Bouchard said of the players that returned to the lineup. "They tried; a lot of them didn’t play for a long time, but I cannot say that any of them didn’t contribute. We needed that help, we’ve been fighting for a while now with a depleted lineup. So, those guys came in with a great attitude. Not the result we wanted, a few plays here and there, but we’ve got to keep working with the guys. There’s not much we can do about past or what we went through. We’ve just got to grow through it and let’s take some strides as a group and that’s what I’m more looking for."
The Roadrunners enter tonight’s game looking to ride the momentum of a 3-2 overtime win against the Bakersfield Condors on Jan. 29. Tucson scored three unanswered goals to grab the win, led by multi-point efforts from left wing Ben McCartney (2-0=2) and forward Matias Maccelli (0-2=2). San Diego’s division rival has an overall record of 13-18-2-1.
The Gulls will have their work cut out for them shutting down Maccelli as he paces all first-year skaters in points (10-26=36) and assists (26) while leading the Roadrunners in both categories.
For the Gulls, their focus remains on themselves and a higher level of execution.
"I feel, if we can get just a few plays in a row to connect a little more, get a little confidence, obviously which comes with winning, let’s see where we are," Bouchard said.