2020-2021 Game 34: San Diego Gulls @ San Jose Barracuda

Coach Dineen made minimal changes to his starting line-up on the back to back. Swapping out Jamie Devane for Hunter Drew on the fourth line and giving Olle Eriksson Ek the start.

The Gulls picked up where they left off the night before as they immediately put the Barracuda under pressure early with some succinct and quick transitional play. The fourth line getting things started just over three minutes in with a great passing play that resulted in Axel Andersson getting his second AHL goal and second in as many games. 1-0 Gulls.

San Jose came back with a push that put the Gulls and Eriksson Ek under siege for parts of the remainder of the period with the Barracuda eventually being rewarded with a game tying goal courtesy of Joachim Blichfeld. The San Jose leading goal scorer given one too many chances as the Gulls struggled to get a clearance. 1-1 tie game.

Play was back and forth for the rest of the period as San Jose took the edge in shots into the first intermission 14-13.

It was a disjointed and somewhat apathetic start to the middle frame as all three lines could not seem to find any open ice or be able to string more than one accurate pass together while the Barracuda dominated the San Diego zone. The fourth line – of Printz, Badini and Drew were the only highlight offensively as they came close to taking the lead back on another beautiful passing play.

Riding the momentum generated from that great shift by the fourth line the Gulls finally awoke from their first intermission slumber to start to pile on the shots. Vinni Litteri finishing off a lightning fast passing play between Trevor Zegras, Chase De Leo and himself. A goal of beauty. 2-1 Gulls.

Moments later the top line almost added to the score as Captain Sam set up Jacob Perreault for a perfect opportunity at the right side of the San Jose net but the Ducks 2020 draft pick forced one extra pass to Poturalski at the far side and was denied.

Never the less the Gulls kept rolling and did add to their score as Simon Benoit slammed home his first goal of the season from the point. 3-1 Gulls.

The Gulls took their foot of the gas slightly and allowed the Barracuda to get a sniff of possession. San Jose getting one back via a great individual effort from Jaden Halbegwachs. The Gulls allowing him to dodge and weave his way through neutral ice and the Gulls zone before sending a perfect back-door pass to Alexander True. 3-2 Gulls.

San Diego re-exerted their dominance to close out the period, running the San Jose zone and building toward what felt like an inevitable goal that came with just two seconds left as Andrew Agozzino threw a puck into the crease filled with tired Barracuda defenders and saw it bounce off and trickle into the net. 4-2 Gulls.

The Gulls taking the two goal lead into the second intermission and ahead in shots 27-23.

It was a goal-tending duel to start the third as first; the San Jose netminder gloved an insane Lietteri tip right in front then Olle Eriksson Ek followed that up with an equally impressive pad save on a backdoor feed.

The rest of the period would follow a similar script as both teams displayed some great passing and skill play but could not get another puck by the respective opposing netminder.

Ironically it would take an empty net goal for the Gulls to get the floodgates open once again as the Barracuda pulled their goaltender with just under two minutes remaining. San Diego forced a turn over at center ice and Captain Sam Carrick fired a hard accurate wrist shot from just over the red line to make it 5-2 Gulls.

Trevor Zegras followed that up with a snipe as he looked off Chase De Leo on a two on one. The Ducks 2019 9th overall selection scoring the kind of goal he should be scoring in plentiful amounts during his time back in the AHL. 6-2 Gulls.

San Diego taking the long way to San Jose and coming home with a four point haul. They face the table topping Henderson Silverknights this weekend.

Post Game Notes:

What Now?

It has been speculated that Trevor Zegras will be back up with the Ducks for the remaining nine games left for the parent club so as not to go over the maximum amount that would accrue his years of service tenure. The question is though; does he deserve it? He hasn’t dominated like he did earlier in the year and you could tell that he was either very jaded with the decision to send hm down or understood he would be back up at the end of the year and was just biding his time. Either way – the supposed reasoning for his demotion – to relearn the center position – hasn’t really been going all that well. Over the last two games I have noticed he has not really always been the forward back to help out the defense like a Center should and even though his face-off percentages appeared to look fine against the Reign – with a much younger roster, they looked brutal against San Jose in this two game series. In today’s game I noticed a few times it was De Leo who took it upon himself to help out his defense to a free-up a loose puck or engage in the corners; where this should be Zegras’ job.

Much Passing, Wow

It doesn’t always translate because it depends on the opposition but wow the Gulls passing and transition over these last two or three games has been some of the best all season. I would love to see how their team practices are run because it feels like it has been indentured into the players to always be looking for that extra pass and it appears to have complete buy in from all players. The fourth line in particular showed some great chemistry and passing prowess today while the others had their moments. The only downside I can see to this is its effectively instructing the natural snipers on the team to go against their basic instincts. I already noted it within the recap but Jacob Perreault passed on a grade-A scoring opportunity today and that’s not the first time I have seen him do that lately.

At Last

With the recent injuries to Guhle and call ups for Curran/Mahura the Gulls defensive core is at last stable and consistent. No more forcing defenders to play forward. But are you not forgetting about Hunter Drew you ask? No. I already wrote in a previous recap that Drew is essentially a permanent forward now and is much better for it. Hell, even Andy Zilch noted on the broadcast that he looks better as a forward and looked so very poised on setting up Axel Andersson for that first goal. This also means Nik Brouillard gets some consistent time in his natural position and boy does he look good at it. He and Benoit already have some nice chemistry developing, I hope he returns next season.