Gulls Drop Penultimate Regular-Season Game In Tucson
Apr 28, 2022By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls dropped the penultimate game of their regular season, falling 6-2 to the Tucson Roadrunners tonight at the Tucson Convention Center Arena.
"It turned bad after the first period," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "I thought we were decent in the first. Obviously, we’re getting ready for the playoffs, and then we came out flat in the second, which is not what you would like as a coach and probably as a player. The game got away from us and I think we kind of lost our legs, we lost some players down the road too.
"We’re playing with a bit of a depleted lineup right now with injury and guys up in the NHL so we’re kind of fighting through this last little stretch here. We’ll put Lukas Dostal back in net tomorrow, have him one last game. A lot of the stuff we do is working on our game to get ready for the playoffs, but tonight, it got away from us."
Colin Theisen led the way with a career-high 1-2=3 points to help the Roadrunners snap a four-game winless streak. Travis Barron, Stephen Harper, Cameron Hebig and Matias Maccelli recorded multi-point performances, supporting a 16-save effort from rookie goaltender Rasmus Korhonen.
Alex Limoges and Greg Printz scored for the Gulls, who saw Olle Eriksson Ek stop 27 shots in the loss.
The Gulls jumped on Tucson early, taking a one-goal lead just past the halfway mark of the period.
With the teams skating 4-on-4, Gulls defenseman Drew Helleson took charge, skating the puck through the neutral zone and into Tucson's end. He cut to the middle of the ice, finding Jacob Larsson cutting down from his defensive position. He froze the defense before sending a cross-ice pass to Limoges, who fired a one-timed shot past the sliding Korhonen for his team-leading 23rd goal of the season.
The tally also extends his point streak to four games (2-2=4) and gives him 40 points (23-17=40) this season. Limoges is the fourth rookie in the team's American Hockey League history to hit that mark and the first since the 2018-19 season (Sam Steel, Troy Terry - 41).
"Well, I like that we were on assignment about a couple of things we’ve been talking about playing against Ontario and I thought we did well there," Bouchard said. "I don’t think we created a lot of offense. I thought we should’ve been, could’ve been more dynamic. That being said, we didn’t give much and we were up 1-0 so I felt that in the second, we could take maybe one more gear."
The Roadrunners – who did not qualify for the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs – came out in the middle frame looking like a team determined to finish its season strong.
Theisen evened the score just 25 seconds into the middle frame.
The Roadrunners quickly transitioned from defense to offense, with Cole Hults finding the cutting Theisen in the neutral zone. The undrafted rookie came streaking down the wing, fighting through a stick check and whipping a shot top shelf for his fifth goal of the year.
Travis Barron gave Tucson its first lead of the game, scoring shorthanded with 7:55 left in the second frame.
The Roadrunners turned the puck over at the blue line and moved up the ice on a 2-on-1 rush. Hebig's aerial pass went over the stick of a prone Nikolas Brouillard and to Barron in front, who tapped the puck past Eriksson Ek for his 12th goal of the season.
Terry Broadhurst would strike just 1:31 seconds later, pushing Tucson's lead to two.
The Roadrunners took advantage of a defensive zone turnover, with Theisen carrying the puck down the wing. He drew the attention of three Gulls, threading a pass by the oncoming defense and to a cutting Broadhurst. The left wing slid the puck past Eriksson Ek at the far post for his 10th goal of the season.
Tucson added on late in the period, with Ty Emberson scoring off the faceoff for the Roadrunners' fourth goal of the period. It matches a season-high for goals allowed in the second period by the Gulls, tying a four-goal output from the Ontario Reign on Feb. 4.
Printz stopped the run, bringing the Gulls within two with 52.4 seconds remaining in the second. The forward forced a turnover from Hults and worked around the defenseman, curling off the side boards and moving on net. He used a toe drag to maneuver past Doyle Somerby before finishing with a backhand shot past the diving Korhonen for his 11th goal of the season.
Harper restored Tucson's three-goal lead, finishing off a pass from Hudson Fasching with under six minutes left in regulation for his first multi-point performance of the season.
Hebig gave Tucson its largest lead of the game - a four-goal cushion - with 27 seconds remaining in regulation, finishing a chance in front for his 13th goal of the season. Maccelli collected his second assist on the tally and ends the night leading all skaters with seven helpers.
Those goals highlighted a strong final period for the Roadrunners, who outshot the Gulls 16-5 despite leading after 40 minutes.
"It's one of those things," Bouchard said of the loss. "Guys don’t want to get injured, guys are thinking about next week. Obviously, they’re in games that don’t mean anything for us, but you’ve still got to keep your level of competition a little higher. Then, maybe sometimes you’re challenged too by the importance of the game or something like that so I’m looking more for a bit of a jam tomorrow. It’s always that fine line - guys don’t want to get hurt, you want to make sure you’re coming in fresh for the playoffs. They’re up the corner, but on the flip side, you’ve got to make sure that you keep that jam that got us success.
"You look at the stretch where February on we got a really good stretch there as a team with a lot of young players playing really well, but we were hard. Like we were, I was challenging them to be a lot harder than maybe they’ve been in the past or they were used to and we got success. Tonight, the good news about it is if we don’t play that type of hockey, then it’s going to go away from us and that’s what happened."
The two teams will finish the regular season tomorrow night at 7 p.m. PT.