Game 31: San Diego Gulls vs Iowa Wild

The Wild celebrate one of three goals over the Gulls. Credit San Diego Gulls.

Taking on the visiting central division foes the Gulls once again had a slightly different look up front as Kiefer Sherwood was returned while Daniel Sprong – earlier recalled – was enjoying an extended stay in Anaheim. Coach Kevin Dineen elected to keep the defensive pairings the same as in the previous game and gave Anthony Stolarz the start in net.

The Gulls showed positive signs of getting on the board first through the play of Justin Kloos and Blake Pietila, the former reveling in setting up chances against his former team and using his speed to create off the rush.

Chris Mueller and Jack Kopacka followed that up with a great opportunity of their own, the newly acquired veteran doing what he does best and setting up the second year pro on a two on one but rookie net-minder Mat Robson made the stop.

Iowa countered with their most dangerous chance of the period when Brendan Guhle was momentarily caught downlow in the offensive zone and Hunter Drew had just recovered from almost dropping the gloves with a Wild player to face a one on one where he played the puck instead of the body, thankfully Stolarz came up with the save to bail him out. The Wild fed off the near opportunity and came close again but a pass into the open slot was intercepted by Gates Jr and sent safely up ice.

The Gulls were awarded the first Power Play of the game when the Wild were called for covering the puck, the man advantage took three attempts to get set in the zone and eventually generate some chances through some good cross ice passing but Robson made the saves when needed and the Gulls came up short with the man advantage once again.

The opening period ending in a scoreless tie and shots 10-9 for Iowa.

The Gulls had forty seconds of a hooking penalty to Antoine Morand to kill to start the middle frame and did so without concerns. Once they were back to even strength they began to push the attack, first through the Carrick line, then the De Leo line and finally opening the scoring on a goal from Blake Pietela as he collected his own rebound in the slot and potted it by Robson from his knees. 1-0 Gulls.

The Wild came right back, answering with a shift that kept Guhle and Drew hemmed along with the Carrick line, some weak attempts to clear came back to bite San Diego as the Wild were able to out-number them down-low and collect a rebound just outside the crease to make it 1-1.

The Gulls fourth line had an inspired shift to prevent Iowa from building off of the goal and that was followed by Carrick and Sherwood combining for a chance. Just before the midway point of the period they were rewarded with another chance at the man advantage but squandered it part way through as an inexcusable call for too-many-men was made. The Wild were able to generate momentum off of their abbreviated Power Play and kept the Gulls trapped in their own for extended periods of time.

Again too many chances from the mid-slot and some poor rebound control from the defense in front resulted in the Wild taking the lead 2-1 with just under seven minutes remaining in the period. 2-1 Wild.

Iowa controlled the run of play for much of the next few minutes until the Gulls caught a break as the visitors were called for having too many men also.

The Power Play started in the offensive zone and as I have noted lately since his acquisition; Chris Mueller was money in the face-off, winning the puck back to the point where Sam Carrick came across to settle it but then wasted no time in winding up to slam a slap-shot high over Robsons shoulder to tie things up. 2-2 tie.

The Gulls almost retook the lead less than a minute later courtesy of Blake Pietila once again as the former Binghamton Devil was setup by a streaking Justin Kloos but Robson stood strong to keep it tied.

The Gulls were given another Power Play with less than a minute left in the period as Alex Broadhurst was tripped trying to move around his man with speed in the Wild zone. Despite the offensive zone face-off the Gulls did not get set properly or were able to generate many chances for the remainder of the period and the teams headed to the second intermission tied with shots 24-13 in favor of the visitors.

Iowa were able to kill the remainder of the penalty to start the third period and both teams exchanged tight-checking to-and-throw action for the first nine minutes before things started to open up once again courtesy of a Jack Kopacka breakaway (drink), Robson was able to make the save and unfortunately the Wild countered the other way – getting some puck-luck as a bouncing puck was lifted over Drew and then hit just at the right moment by Stolarz to put the Gulls down by a goal once again. 3-2 Wild.

San Diego controlled play for the remainder of the period, exhibiting that familiar desperation we have seen on the most recent run of losses as they fought to extend the game.

With tensions and frustrations escalating, Josh Mahura was called for kneeing on a very cheap call and was sent packing when he understandably disputed it. It should be noted that just a minute or so before Chase De Leo was given two to three blatant cross-checks against the boards and no call.

San Diego had one chance to things up in the final twenty seconds as Wideman had open space on the right side but opted to pass into the slot rather than take the shot and the Wild were able to take the win in regulation and hand the Gulls their fifth straight loss.