2020-2021 Game 39: San Diego Gulls @ Ontario Reign

Looking to respond after a 9-2 drubbing by the Roadrunners the Gulls headed to El Segundo to face their cross-town rivals. They would be doing so without some of their usual regulars as Josh Mahura had been called up earlier in the week, while Captain Sam Carrick and third year defender Simon Benoit were also still seeing duty with the Ducks.

Teams spent the first five minutes feeling each-other out and staking their respective claim on the neutral zone before the Reign got the scoring started by catching Nik Brouillard pinching as the Gulls first year defender could not get back to prevent his man from a follow up opportunity on an aggressive Lukas Dostal save. 1-0 Reign.

It took San Diego another five minutes of action to even things up as Jacob Perreault made himself open on a three man rush to receive a pass that he attempted to one-time on net but heeled the shot and it bounced harmlessly to the left and behind the Reign net. Showing great hustle he followed up and got to the puck first, quickly sending a backhand pass to Matt Lorito camped out to the right of the net. Bang bang play. 1-1 tie game.

San Diego rode momentum from the goal and started to pile on the shots, Andrew Poturalski came close to getting the lead on one key shift but then followed that up with a great rush and feed behind the net to Greg Printz for his first AHL goal and the 2-1 lead.

San Diego continued to pour on the shots for the final minutes of the opening period while the Reign were found guilty of high sticking in the final six seconds of the period to give the Gulls a Power Play that carried over to the second frame. Shots were 12-7 after the first twenty with the Gulls carrying the 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

San Diego spent almost the entire first two minutes in the Ontario zone and as the carry-over Power Play expired Hunter Drew collected a puck from the boards near the point, stepped into space and absolutely sniped a shot that beat JF Berube clean. 3-1 Gulls.

The Reign answered courtesy of Akil Thomas as the Kings promising prospect received a pass as the late man in and beat Lukas Dostal with an insanely good release in tight. 3-2 Gulls.

Teams traded chances as the game began to open up. JF Berube appeared to have gotten inside Andrew Poturalski’s head as the veteran passed up a couple of in-close shooting opportunities – instead opting to try to continue the play and find a better option.

Things got chippy as BO Groulx finished a hard clean check in the Ontario zone but was run over by Frk after the play and Hunter Drew jumping on Frk in turn to protect his star center. As teams fought for possession at four on four the Reign took another penalty as BO Groulx was tripped coming through the neutral zone.

It took all of four seconds for the Gulls to capitalise on the brief four on three Power Play as a Gulls face-off win allowed Andrew Poturalski to circle the Reign zone, feed Jacob Perreault at the side boards for a one timer which was partially blocked but bounced directly out to Chase De Leo in front of the net. 4-2 Gulls on the La Mirada natives 13th of the year.

Boko Imama and Keegan Kanzig dropped the gloves with seven minutes remaining in a controlled heavyweight bout that the taller Kanzig easily won. San Diego continued to enjoy momentum and the better of chances until Mikey Essymont made the slightly bad decision of trying to take on Jeremy Roy in a fight that quickly turned into a strange artistic skating demonstration as he grabbed a hold of Roy’s sweater and clung on while they spun.

Jacob Perreault attempted a dangerous weak back-pass in the slot but was rescued by the poised and smooth skating of Kodie Curran, the former SHL MVP skating the puck up the center clear from danger.

The physical play and chippiness continued to escalate and the Reign made a push to close out the second period as they spent most of the remaining minutes of the period in the San Diego zone. The Gulls taking a 4-2 lead and a 29-16 shot lead to the final period.

Despite the Gulls controlling most of possession for the first three minutes of the period the Reign got one back against the grain as Keegan Kanzig missed his check and an open man to the side of the net was able to get one by Dostal 4-3 Gulls.

San Diego tried to come back with an instant response with Chase De Leo leading the charge but JF Berube continued to frustrate the suddenly snake-bitten Andrew Poturalski.

Ontario went right back on the attack and beat Dostal again on a bad-angle shot that he appeared to be hand-cuffed by. 4-4 tie game, the Gulls yet to arrive in the third period.

The Reign continued to exert themselves physically, punishing the Gulls in their own zone and making them work to get a clean breakout. As the Gulls managed to get some momentum and possession back the Reign caught them unawares on an odd-man rush and beat Dostal with a two on one finished by Mikey Essymont for a natural hat-trick. 5-4 Reign with ten minutes left.

Ontario continued to pour it on, running the San Diego zone but strangely not dominating in shots on net despite the score. Chase De Leo was given a dubious boarding call on what at best might have been charging but looked fairly clean to me overall and the Gulls went to the penalty kill with six and half minutes left in the game.

Moments later on a Reign counter rush after De Leo was sprung from the box Kodie Curran made a desperation dive to poke-check away a would be scoring opportunity but was called for tripping when he took the Reign player down in the process. As the penalty expired the Gulls had another chance to even things up on an odd man rush but Alex Dostie was stopped.

With a minute remaining the Gulls opted for the extra attacker on one final push to get the equalizer but came up short as the Reign were able to catch up to a loose puck and deposit it into the empty net. The Gulls dropping this one 6-4 after holding a 4-2 lead heading into the final period.

Post Game Notes

Depth The Difference

If anything this game showed the difference in depth that currently exists between the Kings and Ducks. LA has called up a lot of their star prospects up also (namely Lias Andersson and Quentin Byfield) but still have the skilled youth to “back up” the loss of that talent. Where they could replace the likes of Byfield and Andersson with Akil Thomas, Rasmus Kupari and Arthur Kaliyev. The Gulls replaced Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale, Simon Benoit and Josh Mahura with .. Alex Dostie, Max Golod and Axel Andersson. Los Angeles is much further ahead in their rebuild but a positive to take from that – the next two NHL entry drafts after this year are very very deep; well at least there are some definitive generational talents coming through in the 2022 and 2023 drafts based on the most recent U18 tournament. So if the Ducks have inadvertently delayed this rebuild it might be a happy accident because the odds are better they will draft another Trevor Zegras to add to the future corps.

#SnipeCityDrew

Hunter Drew continues to have a great year despite all odds. Remember he started the year in Europe, putting up some very good offensive numbers in Slovakia. Then he started the season at forward out of necessity, surprising many (including myself) by not looking out of place at all and also putting up the best numbers of his AHL career thus far. Now he is back to his natural (though that’s debatable) position of defense and continues to pot the odd goal thanks in major part to his very very good release.

The Final Stretch

The Gulls have just five games left in the regular season. Tonight’s loss dropped them to third in the Pacific, the last spot that allows them an automatic bye into the second round of the Pacific Division post season tournament. The next closest team – the Barracuda have a .529 points percentage. If the Gulls drop all of their remaining games the worst points percentage they can finish with is .534. The Barracuda have just two games left and the best points percentage they can finish with is 0.556 so there is a chance they could overtake the Gulls for that final spot, but it would involve the Gulls losing all of their next five games in regulation and the Barracuda winning their next two against the Silver Knights in Henderson. I am too tired to work out the nuances like the Gulls losing in OT in any of those games but as of now, although there is a chance the Barracuda could overtake them for that final spot. It is a slim one. To add to that, the Gulls will be receiving Jamie Drysdale, Trevor Zegras, Simon Benoit and Captain Sam Carrick back during that stretch as the Ducks season comes to an end. San Jose similarly will be receiving some of their called-up talent as will Ontario. But the same cannot be said for Henderson or Colorado. San Jose faces Henderson in their final two game series and the Gulls have a final three game stretch with the Eagles to close out the regular season. Buckle up.