Game 53: San Diego Gulls @ San Jose Barracuda

Coming off a big win over Stockton the night before the Gulls heads to San Jose for an early afternoon affair with the Barracuda. With news reported just before game time that center Isac Lundestrom would be sidelined with illness – the Gulls made some shuffles in the forward lines to cover for his absence. Alex Broadhurst moved up to center the second line whilst Antoine Morand switched from the wing on the fourth line to centering the third line. Jack Kopacka was inserted back in to the line-up to join Morand and Criscuolo on the new speed line.

• 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

With San Jose wearing some weird Hotdog Cowboy jerseys the Gulls seemed a little slow to start as they were perhaps momentarily confused by their opponents bold fashion crime. Once they regained their senses they went right to work and took the lead when Alex Dostie finished a perfect feed from Chris Mueller on a two on one rush. 1-0 Gulls and a goal that yours truly called in Andy Zilchs #BreakTheZilch opening score predictor challenge.

San Diego kept up the pace and kept the Barracuda on their heels for much of the next few minutes with both the Comtois and Morand lines generating some good chances with sustained zone time.

The Gulls momentum was halted part way through the period as they made the egregious error of having one too many men on the ice.

San Diego killed the minor without too much concern and came close to getting a two goal lead on an odd-man rush as Alex Dostie stepped from the box but San Jose goaltender Zach Sawchenko came up with the big stop.

The Barracuda managed to halt the Gulls forecheck and attempted to some offensive intrusions of their own into the San Diego zone but could not consistently make it much further than the San Diego blue line. That is until just after the fifteen minute mark when Anthony Greco took the puck with speed and came down the left wing to wire a shot high over Boyles glove hand to tie things up. 1-1.

Smelling blood in the water the Barracuda kept up the attack and took the lead just over a minute later as they gained the Gulls zone, passed the puck around the horn and fired a shot from the point that was deflected by a screen in front of Boyle to make it 2-1 San Jose.

The Dostie-Mueller-Kloos line came back with a strong shift in response and Dostie drew a call when he was prevented from receiving a Kloos pass near the front of the San Jose net. Coach Dineen again rolling with the first Power Play unit and although they looked slightly better again than they had last night, gaining the zone and getting a few shots on Sawchenko – they also didn’t appear to have any plan or idea for how to generate the best opportunities.

The first period concluding with the Barracuda ahead by one and shots 9-6 for San Diego.

Teams exchanged chances for the first ten minutes of the middle frame with the Barracuda slowly building further momentum over the Gulls as they pressured the San Diego defense by outnumbering them in puck battles and causing turnovers.

San Diego managed a couple of forays into the San Jose zone in the second half of the middle frame but could not quite get a clear chance on Sawchenko as the Barracuda gave no quarter as soon any Gull got possession of the puck in their territory.

The Gulls slowly but surely generated some momentum as they held the Barracuda zone for a few shifts, getting some good looks from the Comtois line and some nice work from Persson at the point but they could not tie things up during the second set of twenty and teams headed to the intermission with Barracuda still holding the one goal lead and shots 19-18 for San Diego.

A poor start to the third did not help the Gulls comeback attempt as the rookie Blichfeld chased a San Jose dump in with speed and dislodged the puck from Jani Hakanpaa with a huge hit then fired it out in front all in one motion to Halbgewachs. Boyle had no chance and it was 3-1 Barracuda just twenty seconds into the third.

The Gulls responded just under a minute later as Sam Carrick took advantage of some very sloppy Barracuda defense as he chased down a missed San Jose clearing pass then spun and set up Troy Terry in the slot with a beautiful pass from behind the net on the backhand. The Ducks talented prospect made no mistake and brought San Diego back within one. 3-2 Barracuda.

Things opened up dramatically after that as teams exchanged back and forth odd man rushes with the Speed Line coming close on two such occasions but still developing line-chemistry seemed to be lacking at the finish.

With under eight minutes remaining the Gulls stepped up the desperation and slowly chipped away at the San Jose defense. Troy Terry causing havoc in the Barracuda zone on one shift and Dostie following that up by making a nuisance of himself on the next.

But it would be Troy Terry that proved the hero, getting San Diego tied back up with just under six minutes remaining as he perfectly deflected a Josh Mahura shot that was originally heading low blockerside but flew up high in the top corner thanks to his deft stick work in the slot. 3-3 tie game.

San Jose managed to halt the Gulls momentarily over the next five minutes but with just over two minutes to go in the period Sawchenko was forced to make a game-saving stop as Troy Terry stick handled around his defender and sent a perfect backhand cross-crease pass to a waiting Blake Pietela. The former Devils shot snagged out of the air by the lunging Barrcuda netminder.

With thirty seconds left Jayden Halbegwachs hit iron as he found space down low in the Gulls zone and we headed to the extra session after what could have been a last minute dagger in the Gulls comeback was thankfully thwarted.

The Barracuda had three stellar opportunities to end it early in the overtime session – the final of which being a two on zero breakaway but Kevin Boyle turned all aside with some calm and momentous saves.

The Barracuda followed that up with what could have been a legendary highlight reel goal as Sasha Chmelevski spun into a turn around move to get around Wideman before bring the puck around with him and across the crease all in one motion but could not get the angle right as he sent his shot by Boyle but out the other side and wide.

As hockey games go – with the Barracuda deserving to take the extra point with all of the glorious chances they had, Max Comtois and Justin Kloos connected on the rush to get the game winner as Kloos looked off the Quebec native, stick handled around his defender and fired a shot that Sawchenko stopped but Comtois quickly batted in the rebound out of mid-air. 4-3 Gulls win.

Post Game Notes:

Oh There Your Are Troy! I was really starting to worry that we might not see the game-breaking Terry in-time for the critical playoff push but he appears to have arrived in the nick of time. Two goals and what could have been an assist if not for an amazing save from Sawchenko is the kind of game I hope we can expect from Terry from here on out.

Coming around on Persson: I was and still am Persson’s worst critic since his acquisition but I understand now that I was perhaps too harsh. He is rounding into his game and settling into the San Diego style of play while also building some good chemistry with Simon Benoit. Who says the Gulls cant have their own version of Josh Manson and Hampus Lindholm? Persson had a team high 6 shots and was a +2, Benoit was a +3.

Boyle is Back: With the win Boyle is officially now above .500 this season. His GAA still isn’t too hot but his Save Percentage is back to a much more respectable .909, placing him in the top 20 in the league.