2020-2021 Game 33: San Diego Gulls @ San Jose Barracuda

With Trevor Zegras and Nik Brouillard returning from an absence due to illness the Gulls continued their road-trip, visiting San Jose for a back to back. Josh Mahura also came back into the line-up. Lukas Dostal got the start in a game that San Diego looked to bounce back from a pedestrian effort against the Condors.

It took just eighteen seconds for the Gulls to strike first. Captain Sam Carrick making a statement in his first game back by setting up Andrew Poturalski in the slot with a nifty pass from the goal line. 1-0 Gulls.

It was all Gulls for the next few minutes with the odd Barracuda frenzy in the San Diego zone until Alex Limoges came in on a two on one with Andrew Agozzino, looked off his winger and fired a hard wrist shot top corner that looked reminiscent of a vintage Corey Perry goal. Bryce Kindopp started the play by forcing a turnover near the San Jose blueline. 2-0 Gulls.

The Gulls continued to dominated possession for much of the rest of the period – broken up by a Barracuda Power Play with Jamie Devane in the box for tripping. Lukas Dostal only had to make the one good blocker side stop with San Diego keeping much of the rest of the play to the perimeter.

In the last minute of the action Bryce Kindopp drew a call of sorts when he was beat to an icing but as he went to shift the puck to the official his stick came up and caught the veteran Meloche who for some reason got his panties in a knot over the matter. The Gulls headed to their first Power Play of the game with 56 seconds left in the period but could not get set in the San Jose zone as they struggled to gain the blue line with possession. Two zip Gulls after twenty and shots even at eleven a piece.

Although they managed to get set for two stanzas of play in the San Jose zone the Gulls Power Play could not generate any high danger chances and play returned to five on five.

Sam Carrick continued his terrific night by creating a two on one with Alex Limoges, tucking in a tidy finish after a nice give and go with the rookie out of Penn State. 3-0 Gulls.

San Jose came back with a huge push. Keeping the Gulls in their zone for what seemed like the next five minutes of action. Simon Benoit was drawn into taking a tripping penalty and then Andrew Agozzino appeared to have left the bench too early as the Gulls were additionally called for a too many men infraction later in the kill to create a two man disadvantage.

Some key blocks made short work of the brief five on three and as the Gulls regained possession – quickly turned into a three on one shorthanded break when Benoit exited the box. Nothing amounted from the odd man opportunity but momentum allowed the Gulls to carry over their good work and kill the too many men bench minor,

Action was back and forth as teams traded extended pressure in each-others zone until the Barracuda drew yet another call as Jacob Perreault was found guilty of hooking. The Gulls again, made short work of the two minutes but San Jose continued to pressure in their zone as time wound down. San Diego had one last foray into the Barracuda zone and thought they had added a fourth tally through what would have been Greg Printz first AHL goal but it was immediately waved off as having been tipped by a high stick. The Gulls taking a 3-0 lead to the second intermission but suddenly behind in shots 27-14.

San Jose started the third by getting a lucky bounce. Josh Mahura and Trevor Carrick struggled to control a bouncing puck and fortuitous bounce to the Barracudas Bergmann ended in the cancellation of Lukas Dostal’s shutout bid. 3-1 Gulls.

Both teams reverted to their familiar cycle of trading chances before the Gulls started to slowly gain the upper hand thanks to a great shift by the fourth line of Badini, Printz and Devane.

Just as it felt the Officials were never going to give the Gulls another Power Play the Barracudas hot-headed defencemen Ryan Merkley obliged by pulling down a Gulls player in the San Jose zone with just over ten minutes remaining in the period.

This time the Gulls looked deadly with the man advantage. Vinni Lettieri hitting the post right off the face-off as the Power Play started. The next sequence of events were hard to follow because the San Jose camera crew for some reason kept reverting to this weird extreme close up of play but Alex Limoges got his second of the night on a deflection from a Nik Brouillard shot. 4-1 Gulls.

The Barracuda continued to run a dirty campaign against Trevor Zegras but were caught on this instance as Bergmann was called for interference when he ran Trevor Zegras into the boards with the puck no where in sight.

The first unit that had scored previously was held off the board but the second unit – appearing to be made up of Jack Badini, Josh Mahura, Bryce Kindopp, Axel Andersson and a seemingly rewarded for his good play – Greg Printz; broke through. Josh Mahura finding space and drawing defenders to him on the right side while spotting Axel Anderson activating to the left side and feeding him with a perfect pass across the circles. The rookie defencemen wasting no time in potting his first AHL goal on a play I have seen him execute more than a few times in Junior. 5-1 Gulls.

That goal appeared to turn the lights out on the Barracuda as they meekly played out the rest of the game just trying to keep pace with the Gulls quick passing and transition. San Diego taking first blood in the back to back 5-1.

Post Game Notes:

Zoom In On Zegras

I didn’t track his face-offs like I did the other game but I am fairly certain he lost every single one I was able to notice that he took. I also found it strange that for the Gulls last two Power Play chances he saw maybe twenty seconds of ice time and in the final minute of the game he was put out with Jamie Devane and Greg Printz. It felt to me like Kevin Dineen may have been sending an in-game message and although he didn’t dominate like he has in previous games, he didn’t have a bad game either. There were maybe two or three brilliant plays that almost resulted in goals but he was also very obviously a target for the Barracuda who made no secret of giving him extra attention whenever they could.

Three Points Limoges

Staying somewhat true to the rough introduction that College players get when they turn Pro, Limoges had fallen off the pace somewhat after his torrent four points in three games introduction at the end of March. Tonight he got back on the horse with a three point performance to give him 9 points in 12 games. I said it on Twitter and I know I have made the comparison before but his goal in the first period looked vintage Corey Perry – just on the wrong side.

Quiet Performers

Axel Andersson not only scored his first AHL goal tonight but also assisted on another to give him four points in six games thus far. I will be the first to admit that if you had told me that six months ago I would have told you to quit watching Fox News. But it is true. The Ducks might have something here. I also want to give credit to Jacob Perreault, who also picked up two points tonight. He now has 13 points in 19 games on the season and three of those are goals. As a nineteen year old playing his first pro hockey that is pretty damn impressive, imagine what those totals will look like once he gets his scoring touch in tune.