In the final action of regular season action and with the playoffs clinched, Coach Dallas Eakins made sure to get everyone some playing time as he reinserted Josh Mahura as well as Patrick Sieloff while scratching Welinski on defense. He also scratched Gates Jr. and Berry to allow Kopacka to come back in, going with the 11 forward / 7 defenders combination once again. Jeff Glass got the start, while Eriksson-Ek backed up in his first pro game. This game had additional motivation for the Gulls as a regulation win could mean they eliminate Tuscon from playoff contention much like they did to San Diego last season.
Without the game clock working on AHL TV I went by whatever Andy Zilch said the time was at each time-out. Through the first ten minutes of the period the game was scoreless with each team trading chances. I then lost the feed thanks to AHL TV defecating the abode so I had to resort to audio for much of the rest of the period. There was no scoring and it appeared to be the Gulls were playing a much more settled game than they had done over the previous two outings. There was still the odd hiccup but Glass remained strong in relief of Boyle. Shots were 15-8 for the Roadrunners through the first twenty.
The second period began with the Gulls thinking they had scored via a shot from Murphy but upon review the goal was called back. Tuscon kept the pressure on and hit the post on a very good chance but moments later Ben Street received a great pass from Trevor Murphy to head in on a breakaway and tuck it by Hill to give the Gulls the lead with four minutes gone in the second period. 1-0 Gulls.
San Diego poured it on from there, getting back to back chances through Jack Kopacka, Sam Carrick and then Sam Steel. The later of which the rookie was a bit too patient in out waiting the Tuscon net-minder as he ran out of real-estate to get a good angle shot on.
After the Gulls had a delayed penalty to Megna for slashing – Jones and Chaput engaged in a scuffle in front to get an additional two each for roughing. On the resulting penalty kill Kiefer Sherwood created his own chance – stripping a Tuscon player of the puck and powering down ice to get a shot in on Hill which was stopped, he almost got to the rebound but was hauled down from behind on what should have been a penalty but mysteriously was not called. Much like the night before – soon after the injustice, Sam Carrick made it right by going in on a two on one with Tropp and blowing one by Hill to make it 2-1.
Moments later the Roadrunners were given a penalty for cross checking as Corey Tropp was driven from his feet at the far boards in the Tuscon zone. San Diego wasted no time in taking advantage of the extremely rare opportunity of receiving a Power Play in Tuscon as Sam Steel finished off a rebound from his knees in the Reverse-Ovechkin Office. Kossila had the initial shot.
With less than a minute left Jake Dotchin was given a minor for Cross-Checking and the Gulls went back to the penalty kill. Some strong work from De Leo held the Roadrunners off until the end of the period and teams headed into the intermission with shots 30-16 for Tuscon.
Tuscon began the third period still carrying the man advantage and got some chances in early but the Gulls were able to eventually kill the minor thanks in part to some key stops from Glass. Trevor Murphy however – took another penalty soon after the first one had expired as he got a bit overzealous in the Gulls zone and was given a cross checking penalty.
Sam Steel almost gave the Gulls a 4-1 lead when he chased down a clearance and intercepted a pass behind the net from Hill but Dakota Mermis slid in to block his chance.
Soon after; with the penalty since killed, Adam Cracknell took a pass from Mahura and found space in the high slot, shooting a high wrister over Hill’s glove to make it 4-1.
The Roadrunners struck right back through Garland as a broken down play caught Glass out of position and Garland was able to get to a loose puck and fire it by him through traffic. 4-2 Gulls.
Jake Dotchin was then given a roughing minor for no reason other than being a large human but thankfully the Gulls killed the minor.
A minute later Adam Cracknell was given the same treatment, supposedly a roughing call for being a hockey player (FYI Tuscon Officials, hitting is a thing in the game of Hockey, it is actually allowed to happen). As the play was called dead Max Jones was in the process of trying to introduce Michael Chaput to the Gulls bench and had one of his legs lifted in mid dump before the Officials intervened and prevented him from doing so.
Things opened up with under ten minutes remaining as the Roadrunners started to play desperate, San Diego were glad to clog the neutral zone and force turnovers. One of which resulted in Max Jones and Kiefer Sherwood speeding in on a two on none but Aidin Hill made a spectacular blocker save.
Simon Benoit was given a delay of game penalty as his clearance was deemed to go out on the full and the Gulls headed back to the penalty kill with 2:39 remaining. The Roadrunners pulled Hill for the 6 on 4 and with a minute and 14 seconds remaining they brought the score within one on Garlands 2nd of the game.
Glass was called upon to make one last big save and a very key block from Corey Tropp in the last twenty seconds let the Gulls get a clear which the Roadrunners could not come back from and San Diego took the game 4-3 to set a date with the Barracuda in the first round while also getting sweet vengeance for how the Roadrunners dispatched them from playoff contention last season.
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