Game 66: San Diego Gulls vs San Jose Barracuda – Apr 10

With the return of Max Jones, Sam Steel, Jacob Larsson and Captain Jaycob Megna the Gulls looked a heavy favorite to punch their ticket to the Calder Cup playoffs with a win on home ice but the Barracuda were not to be underestimated – having won their last two over Grand Rapids.

Dallas Eakins made the tough call of scratching the upstart Black Ace Brent Gates Jr. as well as the veteran Trevor Murphy to make way for the newcomers. Concern among the fans before the game was mostly centered around whether or not the incoming players would potentially mess with existing team chemistry. Perhaps most telling is the fact that Eakins scratched the veteran Murphy and elected to keep the rookie Benoit in. Telling the story of the kind of season Benoit has had.

It seemed concerns were warranted as the Gulls came out sluggish and disjointed to start, with passes not connecting and mistakes leading to odd man rushes by the Barracuda the other way.

Slowly but surely things started to go San Diego’s way and for five minutes straight they held the San Jose zone for shift after shift, getting chances from all four lines until eventually they drew a penalty and went to the Power Play with 13 minutes left in the first period.

Despite some very good looks and a very close chance from Kossila at the near side – the Gulls could not convert with the man advantage. Keeping the pressure on, San Diego would eventually strike a minute later after a face-off win in the Gulls zone by Kossila lead to a two on one rush between Kopacka and Kloos which was finished by Kloos on a brilliant play.

Moments later some poor man-to-man checking from San Diego lead to a high danger chance but Boyle came up huge in stopping the point blank opportunity from the slot.

After the Barracuda had far too many opportunities on Boyle and perhaps one too many whacks on the goaltender after the whistle Jake Dotchin took matters into his own hands and earned himself a roughing penalty by going after the San Jose forward Perron. On the ensuing penalty kill Kiefer Sherwood took an inadvertent delay of game penalty to put the Gulls down two men for 59 seconds.

San Diego was able to kill the first disadvantage but managed to get another delay of game penalty while killing the Sherwood minor to go back to two men down for another 27 seconds. Again they were able to kill the two man disadvantage and eventually killed the last minor to finally get back to full strength with three minutes left in the period but by then the momentum they had built in the lead up to the Kloos goal had completely dissipated and the Barracuda had some push of their own to end the period.

The Gulls came out completely flat to start the second, getting hemmed in and icing the puck consecutively for the first four minutes before Jacob Larsson added insult to injury by making a terrible pass that was picked off by the Barracuda and only a last minute slash by Matt Berry was able to stop a golden opportunity for the visitors. San Diego were able to kill the minor but continued to fail to get clear cut opportunities on the Barracuda goaltender Korenar.

The Gulls still clung to their 1-0 lead with 9 minutes left in the middle frame but you could sense that unless they did something soon to tilt momentum, something was going to give.

At the 8:27 minute mark the Barracuda broke through as they won a face-off in the Gulls zone and a shot from the point made its way through traffic and past Boyle to tie the game 1-1.

Fighting a seemingly uphill battle the Gulls proceeded to then fail to gain any kind of zone time in the Barracuda end as they were continually turned away or stripped of possession whenever they managed to gain entry.

With five minutes left the Barracuda took the lead when they won a puck battle in the Gulls zone after losing the face-off as Josh Mahura failed to show any hustle down low and Jake Dotchin left his man open in front of the net – a much too easy finish for the visitors and some very very poor play from San Diego. 2-1 Barracuda.

Max Jones tried to get his time fired up with two huge open ice checks in the Barracuda zone and it did lead to some brief possession in the opposition zone but a weak shot/play from Mahura meant another turnover and the end of that brief foray.

The Barracuda continued to win face-offs in the Gulls zone and use subtle pick plays to ensure their point-men got time to get a shot off and with 13 seconds left they took a 3-1 lead when one such play resulted in a shot from the wing getting through Boyle as the netminder did not get down in time.

The final period started out much better and it seemed as though the Gulls might be clawing their way back into the game after they enjoyed back to back shifts in the San Jose zone but a dubious slashing call on Chase De Leo as he came through the neutral zone effectively killed that momentum once again. After killing the penalty they started to get things going once again but were comically victimised as both Mahura and Megna were caught up ice when a Gulls forward was caught flat foooted at the San Diego blue line. The Barracuda jumped on the forward and turned the puck over, coming in two on none on Boyle and getting it by him to make it 4-1.

With eight minutes left the Gulls got just their second power play of the game when Adam Cracknells stick was slashed out of his hand coming through the neutral zone.

Despite having some initial difficulties getting set up the Gulls would execute with the man advantage through Ben Street as he finished off a pass from Corey Tropp using his patented behind the back pass from down low. 4-2 Barracuda.

With three minutes left Max Jones picked up right where he left off before he was called up and drew a penalty then – showing some of that personality he was so famous for with the Ducks – proceeded to direct the San Jose player the direction to the penalty box.

It took almost the entire two minutes for the Gulls to get setup but when they eventually did the pulled Boyle to make it a 6 on 4 but the Barracuda were stingy in preventing a further power play goal. With a minute left Sam Carrick was given a high sticking penalty as he went for a stick lift but missed. With seven seconds left the Gulls finally got within one when Corey Tropp finished off a rebound at the side of the net.

But it was too little too late as the Barracuda took the victory and forced San Diego to have to earn their playoff spot in the road in Tuscon – a scary reflection of the test they failed at the conclusion of last season.