Gulls Late Push Against Tucson Snaps Winless Skid
Apr 23, 2022By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
Good things come to those who wait.
The San Diego Gulls stormed back in the final minutes of regulation, turning a one-goal deficit into a 3-1 win over the Tucson Roadrunners tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego. The victory snapped a seven-game winless streak for the Gulls, who earned their fourth win in six games against the Roadrunners.
Brent Gates Jr. and Jacob Perreault scored just 1:19 apart in the final minutes of the game to deliver the win. The offense supported a stellar effort from goaltender Lukas Dostal, who stopped 22-of-23 shots. The netminder boasts a 3-0-0 record, a.941 save percentage (SV%) and a 1.48 goals-against average (GAA) in three starts and four games against Tucson.
"You know, I felt we had a lot of games we played really well the last little while although we lost," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "Always almost goes that way- it’s like a payback game. I give credit to the guys, they never backed down tonight. It wasn’t an easy game, the execution wasn’t quite there. We needed that win and it’s fun to do it the way we did. We grind it out and we got it out."
The Gulls and Roadrunner traded quality chances throughout the initial period, but neither team found its way on the scoresheet.
"We’ve been working hard," Gates Jr. said. "We had some good games, some good stretches within games, just haven’t been able to piece it together for a full 60. Tonight I think we can all agree it wasn’t our best game as a whole, but we found a way and stuck with it. Dos (Lukas Dostal) was pretty awesome. We figured it out and found a way to get the win. It’s awesome."
Dostal stopped all nine of the Roadrunners’ shots in the opening frame, with impressive saves on two breakaway chances to open and close the first 20 minutes of play.
Cedric Lacroix raced past the Gulls defense, taking the puck at the hash marks only to be blocked by the pads of Dostal as he tried to beat the netminder from the side at 2:08 of the initial frame. Dostal came up huge for his team once again, absorbing a Cameron Hebig shot as he dropped into the slot uncovered with just over five minutes remaining.
Former Arizona State Sun Devil Colin Theisen broke through at 4:02 of the second period to give Tucson a 1-0 lead.
Oliver Chau took carried the puck to the bottom of the left faceoff circle and dished a pass behind him to Theisen as he waited in the slot. The rookie sniped the puck over Dostal’s shoulder for his fourth goal of the season.
The Gulls came out in the third with new life, generating their best scoring chances of the game while Dostal continued to bar the Roadrunners from increasing their lead.
"I think we just tried to simplify it when things aren’t necessarily going our way," Gates Jr. said. "We got to get back to our basics and our fundamentals and one of those things is getting to the net and getting pucks there. So, I think we came out in third with a mindset that whatever happen we’re going to keep it simple and give it our best shot and it worked out for us."
Their hard work paid off, with Gates Jr. and Perreault scoring just 1:19 apart late in regulation, taking a 1-0 deficit and transforming it into a 2-1 lead.
Brayden Tracey slipped a cross-ice pass to Hunter Drew through Tucson’s defense. Drew threw the puck on net, forcing Tucson goaltender Rasmus Korhonen to give up a small rebound that Gates Jr. punched through the rookie’s pads.
"Yeah, I mean good entry by Trace (Brayden Tracey) and Drewsy (Hunter Drew) and for him to just get it on net, I saw it fall right away and just went to the net and just tapped it in," Gates Jr. said. "It felt good to find that one, but you got to give credit to the other guys for making a good play."
Perreault struck with his 14th goal of the season to give the Gulls a 2-1 lead at 16:23 of the final frame .
Bryce Kindopp won a tough battle on the boards, dragging it out to the slot. The puck bounced back to a waiting Perreault, who ripped a shot past Korhonen and into the top of the net to give the Gulls their first lead of the game.
"Bryce (Kindopp) was grinding it in the corner and then somehow it got to the net," Perreault said. "I saw the puck kind of trickle down twice to me, the first time it his someone else’s stick, bounced against his blade and then just went back to my stick. I juts tried to get it on net and it went through so I was pretty happy about that."
Greg Printz sealed the deal with an empty-net goal, his 10th tally of the season. He became the 12th player on the Gulls roster to record 10 or more goals this season to tie for the most double-digit goal scorers in the American Hockey League (Belleville – 12).
The Gulls will look to carry this momentum into their final home game of the regular season against the Stockton Heat on Tuesday. The Heat wrapped up the Pacific Division tonight, guaranteeing the Gulls a first-round matchup with the rival Ontario Reign in the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs.
"I mean it’s good, I mean we have pretty a good team," Perreault said. "I think we can go far in the playoffs even if, you know, we’re not first in the league, we’ve got the heart to go a long way in the playoffs. That’s our mindset that’s been the last couple weeks and trying to get to our 100% game once we get to the playoffs for the first round."