Game 51: San Diego Gulls @ Tuscon Roadrunners

As the dust settled after the NHL Trade Deadline it became clear that the Ducks had a clear directive for San Diego. Unfinished business.

Coach Dineen inserted newly acquired veteran forward Kyle Criscuolo and defencemen Joel Persson into the lineup but also replaced the departed Daniel Sprong on the top line with Troy Terry – the talented Ducks prospect in the last year of his waiver eligibility was asked to lead San Diego back to the conference finals and perhaps do one better.

The best chance in the early goings for San Diego came courtesy of Chris Mueller as Alex Dostie made a nifty pass into the soft area across the slot. But Aidin Hill was equal to the play.

• 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

Tuscon responded with some pressure on the Gulls and Stolarz, putting the Comtois line from getting back possession and forcing the former Flyers second round pick to make a few stops down low.

The first time I noticed Persson was when he made a smart reverse spin pass at the blue-line to keep the puck in the offensive zone, but then quickly followed that up by standing aimlessly at the side of the Gulls net as the Roadrunners produced back to back chances on Stolarz in close.

Teams exchanged chances for the remainder of the period but San Diego had the better of them to close out the final two minutes as we headed to a scoreless first intermission. Shots were 12 to 9 for San Diego after twenty.

It wasn’t a great start to the second period for San Diego as things started to open up. Persson again was caught out of position and Benoit was left to attempt to break up a two on one rush but he and Stolarz were able to prevent the chance. However the Roadrunners kept up the pressure and drew Stolarz way out of his net by circling the zone and executing several passes within range of his crease before circling and getting a pass out to the backdoor for an easy tap in for Cam Dineen. 1-0 Roadrunners.

Tuscon controlled play for much of the next six minutes before San Diego could finally get some semblance of offensive pressure in the home teams zone, Alex Dostie once again on the receiving end of a setup in front but lost the handle on the puck before he could finish. That would be his third chance of the night in what had been mostly a standout night for him thus far.

A few minutes later Sam Carrick collected the puck on the left boards in the Tuscon zone with speed and swung around the Turscon net before banking in the puck off of Aidin Hills skate to tie it up 1-1. Tie game.

Tuscon responded two minutes later with some pretty passing in the San Diego zone, sending the puck around the blue line before zipping a pass down low to Beau Bennett who one-timed a shot top corner on the near side before Stolarz could get across. 2-1 Roadrunners.

A few minutes later Antoine Morand was found guilty of tripping in the Tuscon zone as he fought to retrieve the puck and the Gulls penalty kill was put to work for the first time in the game.

The Gulls were able to kill the minor and managed two separate scoring chances on Hill during the disadvantage courtesy of Chase De Leo and the newcomer Kyle Criscuolo but the Tuscon net-minder kept the 2nd most dangerous shorthanded unit in the league off the board.

The Gulls continued to struggle to contain the Tuscon zone entry and movement once within their zone and again Persson stood out to me as looking … not very good.

The Roadrunners taking a 2-1 lead into the second intermission with shots heavily in their favor 15-4 for the period and 24-16 overall.

Tuscon continued their dominance to start the third period and drew another call as Joel Persson was called for hooking.

San Diego were able to kill the penalty and were given a Power Play of their own with just under thirteen minutes remaining in the period as Blake Speers was called for interference.

The Gulls had a couple of near chances with the man advantage but looked slightly disjointed or just a step behind on each attempt to setup a shot. The Roadrunners killing the minor and then adding insult to injury as they then countered on a three on two rush, getting a soft one by Stolarz on the near side to make it 3-1.

San Diego tried to fight back but would more often than not, be turned away at the Tuscon blue-line as the home team settled into a defensive shell to preserve the lead.

With five minutes remaining the Roadrunners struck again as this time they got a shot off from the point that Stolarz appeared to be unable to track through traffic, failing to get set in time as it went under him and in. 4-1 Tuscon.

San Diego falling too far behind and dropping this one on the road in a largely disappointing fashion.

Post Game Notes:

Terry Who? – You have to wonder if the demotion really affected Terry mentally as he did not appear himself at all tonight. The only time I recall him really do anything notable was when he tried to stick handle himself out of a slowly closing box of Tuscon defenders. I hope he can pick himself back up again for both he and the Gulls sake.

Poor start for Persson – Joel Persson did not have a great debut, the only positive effort I saw from him was that nifty spin-o-rama forehand pass at the blue line to hold the zone in the first period. He was caught out of position or on the wrong side of his man a few times and the penalty wasn’t that great. Though he was only on the ice for one of the Tuscon goals, the last one. Which leads me to.

Yikes – Josh Mahura and Jani Hakanpaa were the pairing on ice for two of the Tuscon goals and Mahura was on for three of them as it came at the end of a Gulls man advantage in which he was the lone defender. They didn’t appear to visibly have a poor game but the numbers dont lie.