Game 19: San Diego Gulls vs Colorado Eagles

With it being announced earlier in the week that Max Jones had been sent down – and that Max Comtois as well as Josh Mahura would be going the other way. Then the additional change of Gates Jr being recalled from Tulsa with Jack Kopacka heading down in response; Coach Kevin Dineen had a lot of changes to his forward lines.

Jones slotted in on the top line with Lundestrom and Kloos, while Pietila and Sprong were seperated, putting the former with Tropp and Dostie and the later with Morand and De Leo. The fourth line consisted of Gates Jr, Broadhurst and Sideroff.

Things did not start well for San Diego as on the opening shift the Eagles pushed the initiative and Julien Nantel was able to get behind Alex Dostie on a partial breakaway, his low but hard wrist shot going through the five-hole of Anthony Stolarz to make it 1-0 just 23 seconds in. Not a great looking play for either Dostie or Stolarz.

Just over a minute and a half later despite some strong play in the offensive zone from the Gulls, the Eagles struck again when Hunter Drew found himself out of position after attempting an open-ice hit. His defensive partner Patrick Sieloff was left to prevent the pass on a two on one and as Stolarz was equal to the remaining shot option – the rebound found its way to the open Eagle player and it was put by him to make it 2-0.

San Diego attempted to halt momentum by picking up the play physically – shadow captain Corey Tropp laying an overtly physical hit on Kevin Connaughton. He was immediately challenged by Erik Condra for the hit and the fourth year Gull made short work of the veteran forward.

The Gulls fed off the energy that stemmed from the one-sided tilt and controlled play in the Colorado zone for much of the remainder of the period – Max Jones and Antoine Morand standing out in particular with dominant performances. Unfortunately they could not get one by Hunter Miska and headed to the first intermission down 2-0 but leading in shots 14-9 – the shot map portraying how close San Diego came on several opportunities after the Tropp fight.

The middle frame began with both teams down a man and Colorado had a soft chance before De Leo and Dostie combined for a chance heading the other way but once again Miska made the stop.

Despite a disappointing abbreviated Power Play at the conclusion of the four on four session – the Gull continued their forward push and were rewarded with a goal. Daniel Sprong gained the zone with speed and made motion that he was going to carry behind the Colorado net but at the last moment fed it back in front. The puck then bounced through the confusion of defenders in front to a perfectly placed Antoine Morand who put it by Miska for his second of the year. 2-1 Colorado.

San Diego continued to enjoy the run of play for the majority of the remainder of the period. What little shots that Anthony Stolarz did see – he was strong in making the stop, at one point being forced to dive across in the splits to snag a rebound chance with his glove but other than that not a heck of a lot other chances seemed to really bother him.

As the Gulls came against the Eagles in waves it would be the Sideroff line who would tie things up in the final minute of the second period. Gates Jr began the play by chasing down and negating an icing call, then as his line-mates joined him to solidify possession of the puck – Jacob Larsson made a risk-reward play by skating down to the top of the circles to prevent a clearance and the puck bounced neatly to Deven Sideroff. The third year pro burying it by Miska to tie things up on a goal that was just-reward for his strong play in the game.

The period ended with things all tied up and shots 30-23 for the Gulls. The shot map indicating that although San Diego did own the better of chances thus far – Stolarz was also seeing far too many opportunities in close.

The third period continued where the Gulls left off at the end of the second. Dominating play and generating high danger chances with speed and a relentless forecheck. Devon Sideroff had a huge opportunity to get his second of the night when he created his own breakaway off of a turnover but he couldn’t complete his move and lost the handle at the last moment.

San Diego kept up their momentum, forcing turnovers and keeping the Eagles pinned in their zone for shifts at a time. The Sideroff line continued to lead the way with their speed and chaotic zone cycling.

• Kid doing a Fortnite dance during a break
• AHLTV scoreboard covering the screen during play
• #BENOITSMASH
• #DREWSMASH
• Snipe City Drew
• Brendan Guhle takes a bad penalty
• Trevor Carrick takes a penalty at the worst time possible
• Maple Syrup Bros
• Captain Sam Scores!
• Limoges Lets it GOOOOO!
• #PUREPERREAULT
• Spot Jeff Bush and the hat
• Dubious call goes against the Gulls
• Jacob Perreault draws a penalty
• Tropp The Mic – Style Goal
• Zilch hot mic interlude – fastfood chat or beatboxing

You could sense another goal was coming and sure enough a key face-off win from Chase De Leo back to Patrick Sieloff allowed the former Calgary draft pick to fire a hard shot through traffic that Miska could not track. 3-2 Gulls.

Colorado came back with a push but once San Diego were able to regain possession they wound the clock for the next few minutes with back to back shifts of controlled cycling in the Eagles zone.

Disaster struck with three minutes left as a rare foray into the San Diego zone turned into an equalizer. The Gulls had come back and outnumbered the Eagles down low but were too slow to communicate as a man was left open to finish off a pass in front to make it 3-3.

Time wound down in the game and teams headed to OT with a definite sense of tension and dread at the very real chance that San Diego could drop this decision after dominating for the majority of it.

The overtime session started out controlled as the Gulls won possession off the opening face-off and were conservative with zone-entries and exits, probing and trying to find an open seam in on Miska. Max Jones got things started when he took a puck with speed and headed in on a two on one, bullying his way across the front of the net but being denied in the process. The Eagles counter rushed with a two on one of their own that Stolarz was able to stop and the OT became a chaotic open-play affair until a Jacob Larsson two on one rush with Alex Broadhurst was finished with perfect execution by the Swede as he faked a pass on the backhand and shifted it neatly over the sprawled Miska to give the Gulls the 4-3 win.

Post Game Notes:

The Replacements: Without counting Antoine Morands goal; all of the Gulls scoring came from players that have come into the line-up as a result of demotion or injury. A great sign that the Ducks still has some great depth even with both clubs suffering some dings to regular personnel at the moment.

Dos Point Nights: Chase De Leo and Daniel Sprong collected double assists on the night. With Sprong providing the primary helper on the Morand and Sieloff goals. Sprong is now tied for second on the team in scoring with 15 points in 19 games. Jacob Larsson also had a multi-point night, scoring the game-winner and providing the lone assist on the Deven Sideroff goal with his high risk-reward pinch.

Unsung Heroes: Further doubling down on the point regarding scoring coming from replacement players. I just wanted to re-iterate that it is fitting that the players that stood out the most in terms of their high work-rate, speed and consistent tenacity were the ones to be rewarded with goals. Antoine Morand has been a buzzsaw for the last… actually I can’t think of any game where he has not been noticeable. It is so great to see him get one. Deven Sideroff was quiet to begin with but once he got a rush going you could see his confidence picking up. He had the same speed and hustle to his game that he used to great effect on a line with Dostie and Thompson last year so here is hoping he can keep that up.