PREVIEW: Gulls Aim For Weekend Sweep Against Tucson
Mar 4, 2023By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls look to win the second leg of a back-to-back weekend series tonight against the Tucson Roadrunners at Tucson Convention Center (6 p.m. PT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
The Gulls continued their strong overtime play last night, downing the Roadrunners 3-2 in the extra session. Josiah Slavin scored just 15 seconds into overtime, the earliest goal from the start of an overtime in the team’s American Hockey League history (previous: Jamie Drysdale, 17 seconds, Feb. 14, 2021 vs. COL). The goal was part of the 1-1=2 point effort for the center, his second straight multi-point performance.
"I'll tell you what, he's a hockey player," Gulls head coach Roy Sommer said. "He gets after pucks, he's first on pucks and kind of relentless out there. I know if I was player, I'd want to play with him. He's always above it, has a pretty good mind and, you know, he's scored a couple of big goals for us."
The team received another multi-point game from captain Chase De Leo, who extended his point streak to eight games with 1-1=2 points. The La Mirada, CA native has 7-5=12 in his eight games this season and posted 5-5=10 points since his return to the Gulls lineup on Feb. 18. At the conclusion of yesterday’s game, De Leo ranked tied for second in points and tied for fourth in goals among league leaders over the span.
His goal last night – which briefly gave the Gulls a lead – marked his 52nd goal in a Gulls sweater to surpass Kalle Kossila for third among the team’s all-time AHL leaders.
Tonight could feature the debut of two new Gulls. Familiar face Andrej Sustr is back with the Gulls for a second time after the National Hockey League’s Anaheim Ducks assigned the defenseman to San Diego after acquiring him, C Nikita Nesterenko and a 2025 fourth-round draft pick from Minnesota for D John Klingberg. He collected three assists and 20 penalty minutes (PIM) in 39 games with the Gulls during the 2018-19 season.
In 39 games with the Iowa Wild this season, Sustr posted 2-10=12 points, a +12 rating and 35 PIM. The Plzen, Czechia native tied career highs in goals, assists and points.
Chase Priskie also joined the organization, acquired from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for defenseman Austin Strand. In 42 games with the Rochester Americans, Priskie posted 4-5=9 points with 10 PIM. In 168 career AHL games with Rochester, Charlotte, Syracuse and Springfield, the blueliner has 23-5=82 points with a +9 rating and 64 PIM.
To mirror its success tonight, the Gulls will look to replicate their forechecking effort and continue its strong defensive play.
"I think if we play the same way we did tonight," Sommer said when asked what can bring success. "Like I said, we played a 200-foot game, we didn't give up a lot. I thought in our own end, we kept everything to the outside for the most part. I think we need to be a little more patient offensively. We dove down a couple of times and gave some odd-man rushes up, but that's easy to clean up."