In their first of ten meetings this season, the Gulls made sure to be prepared for the always physical rivalry by inserting both Keegan Kanzig and Hunter Drew into the line-up. Jeremy Roy drew out to make room while Kodie Curran had already been called up to the Ducks earlier in the week.
Lines remained largely the same but for Matt Lorito moving up to the second line and Kanzig joining Morand and Tracey on the fourth line. Ontario started the season 0-2 after two disappointing losses to the Henderson Silver Knights and were looking to right the ship against their Southern Californian rivals.
The Reign came out with gusto to start but the Gulls weathered the first minute of action before Antoine Morand drew a call with a high stick that caught him around the mouth area, to give the Gulls a four minute Power Play.
The San Diego Power Play seemed lethargic in comparison to the frenetic Ontario forecheck and although they spent a lot of the four minutes in the Reign zone they didn’t really get any good looks.
The Reign carried momentum from the extended penalty kill and pressed Dostal, forcing the young net-minder to stand tall under their barrage.
The physical play picked up as we passed the midway point of the period and Simon Benoit made his presence known with an open ice hit on Arthur Kaliyev at the Gulls blue line to set the tone.
The first line had the periods best chance as Chase De Leo, Sam Carrick and Trevor Zegras combined to get two high danger chances on the Reign net. Zegras coming the closest – receiving a feed from De Leo as he cruised through the slot but could not get a shot off as his stick was tied up.
The Reign responded with a big change of their own moments later with Alex Tucotte finding himself alone in the slot but Lukas Dostal snagged his shot with the glove. The Reign kept up the pressure with Dostal being forced to stop Byfield on the doorstep. The Gulls were able to get some chances in spurts, including a nice play from BO Groulx with two minutes left as he demonstrated how good his hands are in tight but Villalta denied his between-the-legs backhand chance in front.
The opening frame ending in a scoreless tie, with Lukas Dostal proving the difference. Shots were 13 to 7 for the Reign, the shot map indicating San Diego desperately needing to tighten their man to man defense.
The second period began with the Gulls getting their second Power Play opportunity of the night as Quentin Byfield was sent packing for slashing. A weak centering pass from Lorito was intercepted by the Reign Captain Brett Sutter and he skated it down ice, fending off would be attackers and finding a shooting lane before getting a shot off that appeared to either hit something or get completely whiffed on by Dostal. Either way it opened the scoring. 1-0 Reign shorthanded.
Ontario followed up the goal by killing the remainder of the penalty and then spending the next five minutes in San Diego’s zone with the Gulls desperately clearing their zone at whatever opportunity they could.
Brayden Tracey had the game tying goal on his stick but was stopped by the stick of Villalta in a desperation save made by the Reign netminder. Antoine Morand had started the play by entering the Ontario zone with speed, swinging behind the net and drawing attackers, with the puck eventually finding Tracey alone at the side of the net in a soft area.
After a brief interlude featuring a short tilt between Kanzig and Imama, the Gulls again almost got the game tying goal on a partial break by Matt Lorito. They continued the pressure and drew a call on Durzi for tripping but Trevor Zegras was forced to even things up with a slash to prevent a Reign odd man break during the man advantage.
On the four on four a Gulls rush lead by Chase De Leo ended with Trevor Carrick getting an opportunity but his bean-pot move could not be completed and San Diego stayed scoreless.
The Gulls picked things up toward the end of the period, keeping possession and territory largely in the Ontario zone but unable to get many high danger chances on Villalta. Dostal had to make one last monster stop in the final seconds of the period as a puck was turned over right in front and Akil Thomas had both time and space to try get the Reign a 2-0 lead but the Czech rookie net-minder out-waited and snagged his shot with the glove.
It should also be noted that Coach Dineen changed things up a bit and tried Zegras at Center with De Leo and Perreault toward the end of the second.
Teams headed to the second intermission with San Diego down by one and behind in shots 27-16. The shot map showing the Gulls still not quite in their groove and requiring a big push to start the third.
The third started without much action until the four minute mark when Antoine Morand looked to have forced a turn over and an outnumbered opportunity down low as he went to strip the puck from Villalta behind the net but alas he was called for interference in one of those gray-area calls that protect goaltenders.
To make matters worse Chase De Leo was then called for hooking on Akil Thomas less than a minute later to put the Gulls down two men.
The three man unit of Groulx, Mahura and Benoit heroically killed the two man advantage with some big plays by Mahura to block a one timer and Groulx taking a puck out of the zone. He then took into the Reign end and held it against the boards against three different players for a good twenty seconds.
With the penalty killed Josh Mahura got a bit overzealous by leveling Akil Thomas before he could touch the puck and was called for interference.
Again the Gulls were able to kill the penalty through some good blocks and getting sticks in lanes, getting possession just as Josh Mahura exited the box and sending him on a breakaway. The third year defender looking like a seasoned sniper as he fired it top shelf over Villaltas shoulder to tie the game. 1-1.
The penalties continued and there were way too many to cover here but essentially the Gulls had a four on three, came close on one chance for De Leo off a beautiful feed from Perreault but he could not get the handle on it to slam it into an open net.
The Gulls followed that with a traditional five on four that featured up to three Jacob Perreault one-timer chances that Villalta was equal to but still so fun to watch.
The Reign then had their tun with the man-advantage as Brayden Tracey was called for interference behind the play and Keegan Lowe soon after for boarding (though it looked like the call was on Benoit for a slow-mo take-down), giving the Reign another shot at the five on three. The Gulls were able to again kill the two man advantage, pressuring the puck and forcing turnovers during the kill with Dostal making the stops when needed to.
Just as it looked as though we were going to see overtime Alex Dostie chased down a puck in the Reign end and got a shot on net that Villalta had trouble with and the puck bounced out into the high slot where the trailing Keegan Lowe jumped on it and fired it easily into the open net over a sprawling Villalta with just under five seconds left in the period. 2-1 Gulls.
The Reign pulled Villalta but couldn’t get the puck much further than the Gulls blue line in the remaining seconds and San Diego proved the victors. 3-0 to start the season and up one game in the ten game series.
Post Game Notes:
- Josh Mahura looks very good. He was by far the Gulls standout defenceman tonight. The game tying goal was a perfect snipe under pressure on a breakaway. He made more than one huge play on the two different five on three kills. He was physical. He was everywhere.
- Antoine Morand is doing the thing again. He drew a crucial call on the Reign in the final minutes of the third. Hustled. Forechecked. Harrassed. He created the Brayden Tracey chance and almost had the game winner but for the goal-post.
- Lukas Dostal. What more can you say. He leads the AHL in Save Percentage with a .956 through three games. Is second in GAA with a 1.67 and has faced the most shots in the league with 114. He has also played the most games so far. #TheBakeryIsClosed
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