Pacific Division Playoffs Semi Finals Game 2: San Diego Gulls @ Bakersfield Condors

Looking to join the Henderson Silver Knights in the Pacific Division Final the Gulls had an early chance to do so when Trevor Zegras drew a very obvious call for Interference when Luke Esposito stepped into him to prevent a back-check.

Moments later San Diego was given a five on three after Brad Malone was called for cross-checking. The Gulls did not look nearly as dangerous as they did in the first game of the series while the Condors aggressively closed gaps and kept things scoreless through the first five minutes as they killed both minors.

Jack Badini tried to follow up the forward momentum created from the added special teams time but was called for roughing as he bullied his way through the Condors slot. The Gulls were able to kill the minor thanks to some huge blocks from Keegan Lowe.

Bakersfield forced the Gulls into some uncharacteristic mistakes as they took every opportunity to finish their checks and Lukas Dostal had to come up big on some last minute turnovers.

Just as it seemed the Condors had things in control an opening goal from the Oilers affiliate would be inevitable – BO Groulx lost his man and snuck into a soft area beside the net while Simon Benoit retrieved a puck and quickly fired a pass across to him. The Ducks second round pick taking the pass off his skate and then getting his stick to it to slam it by Skinner to make it 1-0.

Bakersfield came back with a push, keeping the Gulls hemmed in their own zone for back to back shifts until Adam Cracknell found a loose puck and sent it through three Gulls players into the slot to a waiting Cooper Marody. 1-1 tie game, no chance for Dostal thanks to some unfocused defense in front of him.

The mental and defensive lapses that we saw from the Gulls in the first period of the first game felt like they were making an unwanted re-emergence as Dostal saw yet more shots and follow up chances before San Diego responded with some sustained pressure of their own in the Bakersfield zone.

With the fourth line running the Condors zone, Nik Brouillard recovered a puck in the high slot and fed Trevor Carrick at the point. The former Barracuda winding up and blasting a shot that beat Skinner clean through a screen set by a passing Jamie Devane. 2-1 Gulls.

The back and forth continued for the remainder of the period with San Diego ending the period in the Bakersfield zone, bringing their shot total to a more respectable level but still short of the Condors. The Gulls taking a 2-1 lead into the first intermission but down in shots 16-10.

Much like the first game, the second period began with San Diego making it look like men against boys as they controlled the Bakersfield zone generating chance after high danger chance.

Just as Lukas Dostal was the story of the first period of game one, it felt as though Stuart Skinner was writing his own story for game two. The Zegras line in particular had at least six or seven sure-goals denied by the Oilers top goal-tending prospect.

Bakersfield were able to halt momentum when Vinni Lettieri was called for roughing after he requested Tyler Benson answer for a dirty hit from behind that he declined in cowardly fashion. San Diego were able to escape the minor but did get some help from the right post during the sequence. Heading back on the attack the Gulls continued to be frustrated by Skinner and tensions started to rise as well as an escalation in physical play, culminating in a dangerous hit – again by Tyler Benson – on Jamie Drysdale in the final few seconds of the period and teams eventually went to the second intermission after a brief scuffle behind Dostals net. Once again Benson cravenly refusing to answer for his indiscretions.

San Diego started the third as they left off the second, continuing to take it to the Condors but unable to solve Skinner – or having a Bakersfield defender making a key block at the last moment.

As play went the other way Lukas Dostal made yet another huge save as he came out to challenge and deny Adam Cracknell but then had a Condors player fall on top of him and cause some discomfort that left him prone for a few moments before play was called dead. A scary moment – but the rookie net-minder regained his footing while the Bakersfield faithful made audibly drunken taunts, stay class B-Town.

Play started to open up as we passed the halfway point of the period and the Gulls looked to expose the Condors pinching defenders, Chase De Leo was hauled down on a partial break but no call was made on the play.

Tragedy struck with seven minutes left as the Condors caught the Gulls chasing in their own zone and a point shot bounced its way through traffic and by Dostal to tie the game. 2-2.

San Diego came back with a response shift lead by the Groulx line but Skinner was still on his game and the Condors took action back the other way to force Dostal to make some desperation saves to keep the Gulls season alive. An errant clearance from Goulx resulted in a delay of game penalty and all of a sudden things got very very tense.

The Gulls killed the penalty with some great work closing gaps and preventing clear entries then went back to the attack, trying to get the winning goal in the final minute. Jamie Drysdale with perhaps the best chance but he made the extra pass – trying to get the puck back to Trevor Zegras on a 50/50 play that I would have like to see him take the shot on.

Regulation could not settle things and we headed to the first sudden death overtime of the abbreviated series.

Teams battled for possession to start overtime but less than a minute in, Keegan Lowe got caught pinching too high in the neutral zone and a turnover left Jamie Drysdale all alone against a three on one Condors partial break. The rookie defense man deciding at the last second to try take the pass but the puck squeaked free to Seth Griffith at the far side of the net and Dostal could not get across in time to prevent his one time shot. 3-2 Condors in overtime.

Post Game Notes

Positives

Despite the loss, the Gulls deserved to win this game based on complete disparity in quality chances. Do not get me wrong, it was a lot tighter game then game one but San Diego were mostly beaten by a hot goalie tonight. I have full confidence they will rebound and come back with a strong performance tomorrow.

Negatives

Team-wise I cannot really fault much. The Power Play was not great, but that appears mostly in part to the Condors doing a much better job of playing aggressive on the Kill. Oh and Tyler Benson might need to watch his back in the next game. Whomever in the Bakersfield arena was jeering and taunting Dostal while he was injured needs to re-evaluate their life choices.

Changes?

Does Coach Dineen make any changes? I don’t know, like I said – I believe the Gulls deserved to win this one, I can’t really fault any one particular player. I haven’t really understood why Devane is in the line-up but he was pretty instrumental in the Trevor Carrick goal, that said, we haven’t seen Jacob Perreault since the first of the season-ending three game set against Colorado. Is he hurt again?