Corey Tropp (12) celebrates a goal with Max Jones parked in front against the San Jose Barracuda. Credit San Diego Gulls.
With Jake Dotchin out Dallas Eakins moved Trevor Murphy back to the blue line and inserted the speedy Jack Kopacka back into the line up. Jeff Glass again got the start as the Gulls looked to go a game up in the series behind enemy lines.
The Gulls controlled play for the first three minutes but a bad giveaway in the San Diego zone by Trevor Murphy led to the Barracuda swinging into the Gulls zone and firing a shot by Glass to take the early lead 1-0 on their firs shot.
Soon after the Barracuda were assessed a penalty for tripping and the Gulls headed to the power play. Looking much more dangerous than their previous outing they had their best chance when Kloos made a zone entry with speed and fed Kossila to the far post but Korenar slid across to make the big stop.
Perhaps learning from the previous out-of-control affair the Officials laid down the law early and sent Corey Tropp to the box for roughing when he charged at the Barracuda blue-liner attempting to hold the Gulls zone on one shift in which San Jose were enjoying some time in the San Diego zone.
San Diego continued to fight hard for the remainder of the period, getting close on opportunities from Sherwood and Tropp but were eventually rewarded in the final 38 seconds when Sam Carrick won a race to the puck, took it around the Barracuda net fighting off his checker at the same time and sending a pass out front to the oncoming Sam Steel who chipped it by Korenar to tie the game. 1-1.
Shots were 12-7 for the Gulls after twenty minutes.
The second period began with the San Jose charging out of the gate, carrying play and holding the Gulls under siege for the first two and a half minutes until a cross-checking penalty drawn by Andy Welinski released the pressure and sent San Diego to the Power Play.
The Gulls didnt look quite as precise with the man advantage as they did in the first period but a series of lucky bounces in front and Ben Street had a spin around opportunity which he buried to make it 2-1 four minutes into the middle frame.
San Jose came back with a push, firing every shot they could on Glass but the Gulls did a good job of keeping shots to the perimiter where possible. The Barracuda had their best chance when one such shot took a bounce and took Glass by surprise, he made the initial diving stop but thankfully Megna was there to prevent it trickling over the line just over nine minutes into the second period.
After Ben Street created his own breakaway but stick-handled himself out of room the Gulls followed that up with another two on one rush with Jones and Steel, the former of which drew a penalty for taking a stick to the face on the play to send the Gulls back to the Power Play.
This iteration of the man advantage did everything but score as they held the San Jose zone with ease and moved the puck around like it was a drill. San Diego carried momentum over briefly until the Barracuda were able to regain control of possession and get some chances back on Glass with just under five minutes left in the middle frame. One such chance the veteran net-minder juggled before batting it out of the air to the side boards where Justin Kloos won a puck battle and got by his checker up the boards, drawing one further defender before sending a beautiful pass to Chase De Leo who then calmly out-waited Korenar and slipped a backhand by him for the 3-1 lead.
The Hockey Gods couldn’t let the Gulls get away with taking a two goal lead into the second intermission and a series of unfortunate bounces resulted in the Barracuda getting back within one with under two minutes left in the period. San Diegos clearance attempt went off one of the near side officials and San Jose direct a shot from the point on net where it then bounced around some more before getting slammed home past a bewildered Glass. 3-2 Gulls.
The second set of twenty finished with the Gulls still leading in shots 26-13 and leading 3-2.
San Jose went into desperation mode early to start the third, using their speed to finally begin to open up the neat laid trap that the Gulls had been utilizing to prevent late-man chances but Jeff Glass was on his game – weathering the early storm and allowing San Diego to take advantage of the Barracuda springing their defenders. Sam Carrick coming oh so close at the 13:18 minute mark when his near side chance was snatched by Korenar at the last second.
The next five minutes was played out in exactly the same pattern of San Jose chances followed by Gulls odd man rush opportunities but San Diego were able to settle into a ryhmn of shutting down zone entries while sending the puck back the other way.
With three minutes left the Barracuda made one final push and would have likely equalised if not for Jeff Glass making two huge stops as he stopped a one timer point blank and then dove to snag a rebound followup chance.
San Jose pulled Korenar for the extra attacker with two minutes left but the Gulls continued to prevent the Barracuda from getting set in their zone, Jeff Glass even stepping in to make zone clearances to help run the clock down. With 57 seconds left Sam Steel chased down one such clear and negated an icing call, allowing Kiefer Sherwood to get to the loose puck and fire it back out in front where Adam Cracknell shot it into the empty net for the much needed insurance marker. 4-2 Gulls.
Jeff Glass kept his best save till last as he stretched out to get a glove on Dylan Gambrell as he was the lucky benefactor of a bad turnover by Sam Carrick right in the slot.
San Diego killed the remaining time left in the game with a series of successive face-off wins and icings, painfully winding down the clock without much help from the officials who seemed to want to blow the play dead when the puck got to the hash-marks instead of the goal line.
Gulls win 4-2, take a 2-1 lead in the best of five series with a chance to wrap it up on Wednesday in San Jose.
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