Max Jones returned despite leaving action early in the last game due to illness and Luke Gazdic returned to the lineup at the expense of Sideroff – presumably to cover for any potential fisticuffs.
Ontario struck first as Simon Benoit pulled down a Reign player on a breakaway, scoring on the resulting power play from a point shot that found its way past a screened Boyle.
Sam Carrick tied things up two minutes later, entering the Reign zone with speed and shifting into the slot with a nice move and then flicking a backhander through Budaj on the drive-by.
Max Jones drew yet another penalty as he flew through the Reign zone – forcing noted shithead Kurtis MacDermid to slash him down. But the Reign took advantage of sloppy puck possession on the man advantage and cruised down on a two on one that Kevin Boyle played far too aggressively – leaving a wide open net for the pass. 2-1 Reign.
Another uncharacteristic mistake from Boyle almost resulted in another goal as the puck bounced away from him when he came out to play it, but Jaycob Megna saved his bacon by tying up the Reign player who had the wide open net to shoot at.
Boyle redeemed himself by making a brilliant save on a separate two on one moments later, and San Diego responded by controlling play for the remainder of the period. They appeared to potentially have an equalizer in the dying seconds, and after much deliberation and a check from Toronto, it was eventually deemed good. 2-2 Gulls heading into the second period.
Play was slightly choppy to start the second, with Kevin Boyle still looked a tad shaky in parts. Then Matt Moulson was called for hooking down Luke Schenn in the Gulls’ zone to send the Gulls to their third power play of the night. The man advantage looked completely uninspired, at one point icing it. But the first unit gained the zone on the next shift, and just as I was verbally lamenting that they appeared to have “no plan”, a Welinski shot from the point got through Budaj for the 3-2 lead.
Max Jones followed things up less than a minute later taking a pass from Carrick to the side of the net. Terry had initially fed Carrick from behind the net- another reason why Terry and Jones should never be split up.
As Ontario and Gulls games are want to do – things got very heated. Corey Tropp plastered Lintiunemi against the boards, which led to scuffles breaking out in front of the Reign net and a five minute major for Tropp.
Boyle continued to play far too aggressively, being caught out of position several times on the lengthy penalty kill , and once again needing to be rescued by his defensemen in the form of Luke Schenn blocking a shot on the goal line.
To make matters worse, Sam Carrick took an another penalty for hooking during the kill and sent the home team to a five on three. Remarkably, the Gulls managed to kill both the two man disadvantage and the major, but not without controversy, as the Reign appeared to score. But the officials immediately waved it off, stating that Boyle (again way too far out of his crease on the play) had it covered and the play was dead.
A Reign delay of game led to another San Diego power play and another apathetic performance. Leaving the Reign to intercept a bad breakout pass and go one-on-one with Boyle, who went for the poke-check and was beaten easily. 4-3 Gulls.
It was a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde game for Boyle because he then stopped a clear cut breakaway on yet another terrible Gulls power play. This time Kalle Kossila made a bad pass that was intercepted and sent to a Reign player exiting the box.
The third began with San Diego controlling play and Max Jones outplaying his check, then taking a puck around the Reign net for a wrap around that was stopped, but Sam Carrick picked up the rebound and finished the play for the 5-3 lead.
The rest of the third was a lesson in San Diego dominance, but it also felt like they had a hell of a lot of help from the officials. All in all the Gulls had eleven- count them, ELEVEN- power plays. By the final ten minutes you could tell the Reign felt that the ice was tilted against them in a way that wasn’t entirely fair.
As a Ducks fan put: in that situation, more often than not, I actually felt sorry for them.
The Gulls came out 5-3 winners, extending their win streak to three games.
2024-2025 Game 25: San Diego Gulls at Tucson Roadrunners
Tucson, Arizona. After seeing their point streak ended at the hands of a 2-0 shut-out the …