Game 46: San Diego Gulls @ Iowa Wild

After dropping a disappointing and disheartening snoozefest the night prior, the Gulls hoped to come back with some jump in the second game of a back to back on the road.

Coach Dineen changed things up by re-inserting Antoine Morand and taking out Jack Kopacka. Max Comtois was dropped from the second line to the fourth while Daniel Sprong was moved from the first line to the second.

San Diego came out with a lot more jump to start the second and seemed to have the run of play against the Wild. A vast contrast from the night previous.

Iowa got on the board first as Luke Johnson got his 11th of the year from a shot that was partially screened. 1-0 Wild.

San Diego earned their first man-advantage of the period when leading scorer Gerry Mayhew was called for hooking with less than five minutes left in the period. San Diego would get another chance at a five on three as Josh Atkinson was called for slashing 46 seconds into the man-advantage. This time the Gulls did not miss as Chris Wideman found Daniel Sprong wide open on the left side and he slammed home a one-timer to make it 1-1 with just under two minutes remaining in the period; much to the unenthusiastic reaction from the Iowa Wild commentators that I was forced to listen to on AHL TV for the replay.

Shots were 15-8 for the Gulls for the period, carrying a one-one tie heading into the first intermission. The shot map showing the Gulls getting the majority of chances – albeit sporadic.

San Diego again continued to press the issue but Daniel Sprong would put the Gulls down a man when he was called for high sticking two and a half minutes into the middle frame.

With just under five minutes into the second period the newcomer Keegan Kanzig was called for slashing and Captain Sam Carrick was given a weak tripping call just 7 seconds later on the ensuing face-off to give the Wild an almost 1:53 two man advantage. San Diego killed both minors thanks in most part to some calm and composed goal-tending from Kevim Boyle – at one point Chris Mueller was left without a stick so the Gulls were essentially down to two and a half men for at least twenty seconds but the veteran net-minder was there to prevent any high-danger chances, even with the Wild able to execute a cross-ice feed during their multi-man advantage.

The remainder of the period consisted of some back and forth play and some calls that the Iowa commentary felt were unfairly let go but other than that not a heck of a lot happened.

With less than three minutes left in the period Daniel Sprong made a beautiful no-look pass from behind the Iowa net to Chris Wideman who one-touched passed it to Lundestrom – the Rookie Swede making no mistake to make it 2-1 Gulls.

The remaining time of the second period I had trouble paying attention as I could not stop laughing at the nonsensical dribble coming from the Iowa analyst as he said such illogical rubbish as “your friends are falling asleep again, the ones in the stripes” when the Gulls were awarded a penalty. Somehow conveniently forgetting that San Diego had a game-tying goal called back after one Official had emphatically called it good not less than 24 hours prior.

San Diego headed to the second intermission up by one and ahead in shots 26-21. The shot map showing Iowa enjoying the better of the high danger chances for the period but alas bias commentating does not a score change.

The Gulls started with jump in the third and were able to draw a call just under four minutes in that the Wild analyst did not see or could not understand but it was a hooking call on Nico Sturm.

The Gulls were able to get set and were able to generate more than a few chances, breaking through with just over thirty seconds left in the minor when Blake Pietela finished off a rebound in front off of a shot from Chris Wideman. 3-1 Gulls.

Less than a minute later Simon Benoit fired home another as he finished off a great cross-ice pass from Alex Broadhurst after some inspiring play by Morand and Sherwood in the Iowa zone. 3-1 Gulls.

The Wild attempted to mount a come-back with an initial kick-start from a Power Play earned when Jani Hakanpaa was called for elbowing but the Gulls played a quietly confident defensive game against the one of the leagues top-ranked Power Plays.

San Diego killed the minor with ease and stopped an additional Iowa high danger chance with less than six minutes left in the period when Kevin Boyle calmly came out to stop Sokolov on a broken play after Keifer Sherwood made a rare gaff in his own zone.

With less than three minutes left the Wild gave their crowd some life as a puck snuck behind Boyle and Sokolov got to it before any of the San Diego defense could track it. The Wild commentary sounding the most animated they had since the first period. 4-2 Gulls.

With the Wild net empty, Max Comtois hit the vacated goal from his own side of the red-line to make it 5-2 Gulls with less than a minute left in the period.

San Diego taking the win and two of a possible four (and what should have been three) points on the weekend swing.