2020-2021 Game 1: San Diego Gull vs Bakersfield Condors

Anybody else get goosebumps seeing pregame warmups for this one? I sure did. Especially when I saw Jack Badini. The Gulls got a much needed forward into their line up and set the lines for their opening game as follows:

Zegras – S Carrick – De Leo

Lorito – Morand – Perreault

Tracey – Groulx – Poturalski

Dostie – Badini – Roy (not that Roy)

Lowe – Drysdale

Benoit – Curran

T Carrick – Mahura

Dostal

The first period started with both teams feeling each-other out and a few medium danger chances for both sides. The Gulls first opportunity came courtesy of a Trevor Zegras centering pass from behind the net but rookie Condors netminder Rodrigue was equal to the Sam Carrick chance. Similarly Lukas Dostal came up big on a partial break from Marody after a neutral zone turnover.

From there momentum shifted in the Condors favor and they slowly asserted their will over San Diego by employing a ferocious forecheck that saw a lot of the Gulls younger players rush decisions with the puck. After several shifts without any clean breakouts and under pressure from the Condors, the visitors struck first. A point shot from rookie defender Theodor Lennstrom was tipped by Devin Brosseau in traffic. 1-0 Bakersfield.

Bakersfield dominated the majority of the rest of the period but for maybe two bright spots from the Gulls – or at least plays that stood out to me. Jacob Perreault stripped a Condor of the puck near their blue-line and went in on a partial break where his shot nearly handcuffed Rodrigue – you could see it caused the net-minder some difficulty. Trevor Zegras drew a call by attempting to shift in and out from the far-side boards but was held and on the ensuing Power Play, is nifty one-touch pass to Carrick near the hash-marks created a high-danger one-timer opportunity for the Captain.

After the first twenty – San Diego headed to the dressing room down by one and behind in shots 11-7. Bakersfield dominated possession by allowing no-space, pressuring at all times and forcing the Gulls into uncharacteristic mistakes.

The second period started with the Gulls on the Power Play but only managed to get one chance on the remaining 58 seconds of it. They then appeared to settle into a “much the same” kind of effort that was reminiscent of the first period until Chase De Leo finally broke through.

Forcing a turnover right by the Condors net he slammed a shot through Rodrigue and then followed it up as it trickled slowly toward the goal-line. Zegras was also there to finish the play but De Leo got there first.

Riding the momentum the Gulls finally started to show the kind of zone dominance they are capable of as line after line had chances on Rodrigue, including a play that I guarantee we will see a lot this season from Brayden Tracey. I mentioned it on a podcast with Stephen Doehner for Forever Mighty but he has this knack for finding soft areas and getting open and that he did as he slid into a soft area where Jacob Perreault found him for a high danger chance that Rodrigue was able to stop.

Chase De Leo struck again during one of the top-lines many skirmishes in the Condors zone. As Trevor Zegras tracked and found a loose puck in the high slot he pivoted and fired it on Rodrigue all in one motion. The besieged netminder could only make a right pad-stop where the rebound bounced nicely to Chase De Leo sitting to the right of the net, who neatly potted it for his second of the game.

Jacob Perreault drew a call with a great hustle on the sideboards to send the Gulls back to the Power Play and the Gulls run continued as Trevor Zegras was afforded WAY too much time to setup behind their net and even make several attempts at “the Michigan move” before he decided to last-minute pass it to Kodie Curran. The SHL Gold Helemt winning defender corralled the puck and fired a shot through a screen and past Rodrigue to make it 3-1 Gulls.

Bakersfield attempted a brief amount of resistance in the final two minutes of the period through a spirited individual rush from Adam Cracknell but the Gulls carried momentum into the second intermission up 3-1 and ahead in shots 24-17.

San Diego started the third well, the first line appeared to be making it their mission to get De Leo the hat-trick. Jacob Perreault again made a brilliant play as he one-touched a pass in the slot to Matt Lorito for a great opportunity. A very underrated play where he caused some misdirection by passing up a shot in the high slot to free up space for the open man.

The Condors fought back and earned some time in the San Diego zone for a few shifts but the Gulls did a good job of pressuring any shots and eventually shifted momentum back to the Bakersfield end.

Just as I wrote about how well Perreault was playing he collected a loose puck at the Condors blue-line and skated in with Matt Lorito on a two on one. The two exchanged three passes back and forth before Lorito finished the play off of a beautiful finishing pass from Perreault. 4-1 Gulls.

San Diego eased off the throttle and allowed the Condors to get a Power Play as the visitors amped up possession and the shots on Dostal. In our first look at the Gulls penalty kill for this season we saw Badini centering Morand on the first unit with Mahura and Trevor Carrick. The first unit gained possession and were able to ice it pretty easily as well as prevent a couple of zone entries before switching out for the second unit which consisted of Groulx, De Leo, Curran and Lowe. Dostal was called upon to make important saves while this unit was on but the Gulls were able to eventually kill the minor.

Controlling the remainder of the period the Gulls closed out the game with ease. There was one last show from Zegras as he batted down a long and high pass with his stick and tee’d up a hard wrist shot that was stopped but oh boy it was fun to watch his skill level on display there.

San Diego taking the season opening game 4-1 with shots 31-30 for the Gulls. Lukas Dostal stopping 29 of 30 shots he faced in his North-American debut and given second star of the game. Trevor Zegras was third star with two assists on the night and Chase De Leo the obvious first star with two goals and an assist.

Post Game Notes:

Jacob Perreault also had a great game, collecting a primary assist on the Lorito goal. He did not look like a kid fresh from the 2020 NHL entry draft and is already showing signs of being an absolute steal at 27th overall.

Jamie Drysdale similarly looked good in flashes. He had an end to end rush in the third period that showed just how good he is with his skating and puck protection in transition.

Jack Badini did not look out of place in the face-off dot, I have been listening to the Tulsa Oilers broadcast when I can and they mention a lot that he is very consistent at winning face-offs, that was definitely noticeable in this game.

Jeremy Roy did not do too badly at forward, put it this way, he is probably the best option of all the defenseman to move up. He used his speed and experience with turning pucks over to great effect. But you could also tell it wasn’t his natural position. Hopefully his defenseman as a forward thing doesn’t last much longer.