2020-2021 Game 26: San Diego Gulls vs Ontario Reign

Hot off of the drubbing of the Barracuda the night prior the Gulls headed to El Segundo to face the rival Reign without their Captain. Sam Carrick was called up to the Ducks to cover for the sudden injury plague that had hit the center position. Thankfully Jack Badini was returned to the line-up from injury to help fill the void in the middle. Lukas Dostal got the start in the back to back.

Jacob Perreault wasted no time getting back on the scoresheet as he followed up and buried a rebound after a partial break and shot from Andrew Agozzino was stopped. 1-0 Gulls.

It was a tense battle for control of the neutral zone for much of the next ten minutes with no space or quarter given. Grosenick prevented a certain Gulls two goal lead by stopping a Vinni Lettieri chance without allowing a rebound as Jacob Perreault sniffed around in front. While Dostal the other way was locked in as he came out to challenge an Arthur Kaliyev one-timer from the slot.

But the Reign would tie it up with just under five minutes left in the period, again from one-timer in the high slot that beat Dostal clean. 1-1 tie game.

Teams reverted to their stubborn war for possession with time winding down and the score stayed 1-1 to end the first set of twenty minutes. Ontario with the slight edge in shots 9-8.

San Diego went down a man early to star the second as Brendan Guhle was whistled for slashing but the leagues best penalty killing unit made short work of the Reign Power Play and play returned to five on five without incident.

Ontario slowly began to increase possession as they also began to run away with the shot total and took the lead five minutes in – once again beating Lukas Dostal from a one-timer that beat the rookie net-minder clean. 2-2 Reign.

Ontario continued to run the Gulls zone, winning puck battles and playing a simple cycle game.

Just when it appeared the Reigns stingy game plan might choke all life out of the Gulls attack the Perreault-Lettieri-Agozzino combination broke through on a beautiful passing play in the Reign zone. Lettieri finishing what felt like the fourth or fifth one-touch pass in the sequence to tie things up at two. 2-2 tie game.

Ontario went right back to the attack, keeping the Gulls pinned in their zone and grinding away while trying to free up space for a one-timer play.

But again the Gulls got one against the grain as a breakdown by the Reign lead to a rare three on one rush lead by Alex Limoges, the recently signed two-time Hobey Baker nominee looking off both passing options and firing a shot that beat Grosenick nearside to give the Gulls a 3-2 lead and his first AHL goal.

Ontario were called for boarding as Mikey Essyimont was sent packing and the Gulls first unit took all of twenty seconds to win an offensive zone face-off and win the puck back to the point where Kodie Curran leaned into a heavy slapshot that Grosenick couldnt track. 4-2 Gulls.

San Diego taking a lead to the second intermission up by two goals but behind in shots 16-19.

Ontario took advantage of a slow star to the third on the part of the Gulls as Akil Thomas was allowed too much time and space to measure and fire a shot that beat Dostal through traffic as the Reign entered the Gulls zone on a rush. 4-3 Gulls.

The Reign continued their momentum, getting a Power Play as Brendan Guhle was called for interference and the Reign brought the Gulls recent penalty kill streak to a close, beating Dostal by piling too many bodies in front and preventing him from getting to a rebound. 4-4 tie game.

Hunter Drew took the lead right back as he tipped a shot from Kodie Curran by Grosenick on the very next shift. 5-4 Gulls.

Teams exchanged Power Plays for the remainder of the period as play became tight and thing started to get chippy. Ontario made one last desperate attempt in the final few minutes – pulling Grosenick with just over a minute remaining but the Gulls aggressive forecheck prevented them from getting set-up and forcing a turnover to allow Andrew Poturalski to pot the empty net goal. 6-4 Gulls. Note: Jason “JD” Hernandez who was present at the game wanted to note that the reason Grosenick took so long to come to the Reign bench for the extra attacker was that he fell flat on his face while on his way there. The cameras didn’t pick that up but it would have been pretty funny to see in person!

San Diego skating away with the victory, their seventh straight and brought Lukas Dostal back to .500 – his seventh win on the season.

Post Game Notes:

PK Back on Top

The Gulls penalty kill is tops in the league once again with an 86.7% kill rate, they have allowed just three shorthanded goals on 105 times short handed.

Welcome Back Badini and Perreault

Getting players back from injury could not have come at a better time as the Ducks now appear to be under an injury cloud. Perreault has showed no signs of rust or fear in his game as he has picked up right where he left off before going down to injury. The 2020 late first round draft pick has four points in two games and eight points in 13 games this season. He has shown a very underrated element of playmaking ability in his game since his return.

I Guess He Aint Coming

About ready to give up on McLaughlin watch given the Ducks recent announcement of signing College UFA Greg Printz to a PTO. The Providence College captains numbers aren’t world beaters but also not too shabby for the NCAA. Will be interesting to see how San Diego eases him into the line-up for game time. The same could be said for Axel Andersson, I imagine he must be quarantining right now or going through protocols and again it will be interesting to see where he fits, my guess is he might be sent to Tulsa and in a normal non-covid world he probably would.