With Kossila added to the steadily growing list of the walking wounded, the Gulls ECHL PTO Jake Marchment was re-inserted back into the line-up and slotted in on the fourth line along with McParland and Thomson. While Dostie was elevated to play with Steel and Terry.
The Barracuda put the newly-returned-from-Anaheim Kevin Boyle under siege right off the bat, peppering him with seven shots in the first four minutes, but the former UC-Lowell standout withstood the barrage. An odd-man opportunity with Blandisi and DeLeo led to a quick San Diego lead, thanks to a beautiful pass from Blandisi to DeLeo.
Max Jones did as Max Jones does and drew a penalty in the Barracuda zone, and the Gulls hammered Antoine Bibeau with a litany of chances, only halting when Keaton Thompson went down with what looked like a nasty leg injury and needed help leaving the ice.
On the second shift after the commercial break, Max Jones scored quite possibly the Gulls’ goal of the year- easily up there in franchise history with Kalle Kossila’s Michigan goal.
Camped out to the left of the net, Jones accepted a very nice pass from Sam Carrick then immediately shifted the puck between his legs facing away from the goaltender before roofing it home over the stunned Bibeau.
Keaton Thompson returned to start the second period where nothing too eventful occurred until just after the seven minute mark, when a face-off win at center ice by Sam Steel and a dump in that was eventually won back by a combination of Trevor Murphy and Troy Terry, the latter of whom circled around, found Sam Steel sneaking to the far post and fed him a perfect pass to bury for a three to nothing lead.
The Barracuda pressed and held momentum for much of of the rest of the period, barring a brief San Diego man advantage in which Matt Berry had not one but two chances, but it would be the home team that would get one back with less than ten seconds left in the middle frame on an outnumbered rush.
The third period was very stop-start with the Gulls keeping offensive pressure up despite the two goal lead. Blandisi was a tad overzealous in his desire to increase their lead, and was assessed a tripping penalty in the San Jose zone. As San Diego successfully killed the penalty, an odd man rush broke as Blandisi exited the box and Sam Carrick was the recipient of a three on one rush to make it 4-1 with just under six minutes remaining.
With less than two minutes left and the San Jose net empty, a strong hustle play by Max Jones led to him tracking down a loose puck and sending an easy pass for Troy Terry to lazily push into the empty net for the final 5-1 score, extending the streak to eight points.
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 …