2020-2021 Game 2: San Diego Gulls vs Bakersfield Condors

Hot off their season opening win, the Gulls made no changes to the line-up, giving Lukas Dostal his second straight start.

Lines remained the same from the season opener also.

The pace was frantic to start with both teams exchanging chances within the first two minutes, BO Groulx looked great on a rush where he feed Tracey at the far post but the puck would not sit for him. Bakersfield answered with a similar rush of their own and Seth Griffith finished an Alan Quine pass, beating Dostal top corner to give the Condors an early 1-0 lead.

Chase De Leo drew a call a few minutes later as he went down behind the Condors net. The Gulls showed some good movement with the man advantage but could not convert.

Midway through the period the Gulls started to turn things around after successfully killing a slashing call on Jacob Perreault. Trevor Zegras chased down and in all in one motion – fired a dump in from Carrick on Rodrigue. The top line then went to work cycling the zone and generating chances on the Condors goal until Chase De Leo jumped on a loose puck coming around the back of the net and fired it home to tie the game. 1-1.

Moments later a neutral zone turnover saw Alex Dostie finding Jamie Drysdale streaking across the red line. The eighteen year old rookie made no mistake on the partial break, firing a hard wrist shot low blocker side to give the Gulls a 2-1 lead.

Teams exchanged penalties for the remainder of the period with the Condors only managing to setup toward the end of theirs and the Gulls looking very dangerous with their own. As time expired Adam Cracknell finished a clean hit on Jacob Perreault that saw the young rookie lay prone for a few moments before slowly making his way to the bench.

The Gulls took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission, but were worringly behind in shots 10-16. The shot map showing the Condors appearing to control the high hash-mark area of their zone and San Diego needing to tighten up in their own end.

It was a rough start to the second for Lukas Dostal as Cooper Marody snuck a loose puck at the side of the net through him to tie things up at two.

The Gulls responded once again through the first line as Trevor Zegras swung around the point and spotted an unchecked Sam Carrick in the low slot. His shot-pass to the Captain was easily deflected past Rodrigue to give the Gulls the lead once again. 3-2 Gulls.

The Condors made another push but it was short lived as Jacob Perreault once again was at the center of some rough play from the Condors, taking a heavy borderline-boarding hit in the defensive zone that lead to another Gulls man advantage.

On the resulting Power Play Trevor Zegras set up shop at the right hash marks, received a pass from Kodie Curran and fired a shot by Rodrigue to make it 4-2 Gulls.

Things settled down for the remainder of the middle frame as both clubs battled to control neutral ice. Lukas Dostal was called upon to make a big stop as he came out to challenge on a three on one after a rare personnel mistake from the Gulls.

The Condors continued to increase their shot total but nothing that really caused Dostal any trouble and the Gulls took a 4-2 lead into the second intermission down in shots 28-18. Dostal again proving to be the difference between the pipes.

Bakersfield began the third with a push and their desperation resulted in getting one back as Theodor Linnstrom faked out Jacob Perreault and bought himself some time to skate in and fire a shot that beat Dostal five-hole. I am thinking he would probably like to have that one back. 4-3 Gulls.

The Condors continued their pressure in the San Diego zone and managed to ease themselves from it briefly with a rush that turned into some possession in the Bakersfield end but Alex Dostie was then called for slashing as he battled for a puck down low.

Jack Badini and Antoine Morand proved the heroes on the PK as they teamed up to prevent what would have been an out numbered chance down low by a combination of a courageous and well-timed block from Badini and a diving swipe to clear the zone from Morand.

Morand followed that up with drawing a call (Drink). As he chased down a puck and was taken out before he could get to it. Bakersfield were able to kill the penalty without much trouble and a miscue between Dostie and Drysdale at the Condors blue-line ended in Drysdale going for holding and Dostal being forced to make some tricky saves.

Again the Gulls were able to kill the penalty – and again Badini did a great job, at one point passing the puck to himself off the boards, collecting it again around the Condors net and diving to swipe it back to his defense.

The Simon Benoit that we know and love made a triumphant return – first with a big open ice hit on the penalty kill. Then with an old school hip-check that left the Condors Niemelainen visibly upset.

The remainder of the game was a tense final two minutes, with the Condors pulling Rodrigue for the extra attacker and the Gulls struggling to clear the zone. Dostal stood tall though and San Diego came away with the home-stand sweep.

Post Game Notes:

Jamie Drysdale was awarded first star, with his first AHL goal and an assist on the Carrick goal. It could be argued that Dostal – seeing 43 shots and saving 40 was just as worthy. Though he did let in two goals that he would probably want back. Keeping opponents shot totals down is something the Gulls will definitely need to work on as the season progresses and particularly against tougher competition such as the upcoming match against Ontario.

Trevor Zegras, what can you say. Enjoy him while you can. He will be up in Anaheim soon. He now has five points in two games and I am not sure how the Ducks brass ignore that should the Ducks have another poor showing or if another forward goes down with injury.

Jack Badini – only his second AHL game and he is already growing on me. He was more than impressive on the penalty kill and made no mistakes at all that I could see at five on five. Will watch him with keen interest.