2021-2022 Game 3: San Diego Gulls @ Ontario Reign

After a disappointing loss in their home opener to the Stockton Heat the Gulls took to the road to see their (the social media accounts words not mine) “favourite” cross town rivals – the Ontario Reign.

Max Golod drew in while Alex Limoges was moved to center to make room, Vincent Marleau came out and Jack Badini shifted down to the fourth line. Nik Brouillard also drew in while Trevor Carrick came out. Not quite the changes I requested in my post game notes from yesterdays game, but at least a change. It was noted during action that Alexander Volkov was a late scratch and Greg Printz took his place.

First Period:

Things looked somewhat hopeful for the first two minutes, with the Gulls playing structured defense to start. But that quickly fell apart as the Reign established control in the San Diego zone and proceeded to pepper Eriksson Ek.

In what felt like an inevitability, the Reign opened the scoring, getting one by Eriksson Ek with a shot from the high slot that fooled the Swedish netminder through traffic in front.

Less than a minute later the Reign struck again on a seemingly innocent play when an attempted pass/shot from behind the goal line, ramped up and over Eriksson Ek to make it 2-0.

The game settled down somewhat after that with San Diego able to generate some momentum while keeping any Ontario chances to a bare minimum. Hunter Drew proved to be the Gulls best forward as he caused havoc around the Reign net, drawing a call in the process. San Diego could not do much with the man advantage opportunity and skated into the first intermission down by two and trailing in shots 11-8.

Second Period: Ontario Reign 2 – San Diego Gulls 0

Ontario came out with another push and had the Gulls on their heels for the first two to three minutes of action before San Diego was able to settle things down and regain their composure.

Max Golod had the Gulls best chance of the night when he took the puck off the red line and muscled in on Villalta who was forced to make a pad stop.

Ontario responded with a push but Eriksson Ek stood tall before Brayden Tracey found himself with time and space on the wing and a slowly developing three on one. But the young forward seemed to freeze up in a moment of indecision and ended up taking the puck as well as his body into the Reign net-minder, taking a goaltender interference penalty in the process.

On the resulting Power Play the Reign added to their lead when a cross-ice pass found its way across the Gulls penalty killing box. 3-0 Ontario.

A break down in the Gulls zone a minute later ended in the same fashion and it was 4-0 all of a sudden with San Diego looking much the same as they did the night before. Despondent.

A late scrap between Cameron Gaunce and Nik Brouillard punctuated a strangely emotionless Reign/Gulls game and the Gulls once again headed to the second intermission behind by large margin although managing to keep pace in shots, trailing 18 to 21.

Third Period: Ontario Reign 4 – San Diego Gulls 0

With 1:59 remaining on a carried over Power Play the Gulls took all of ten seconds to get on the board as Vinni Lettieri took a pass and came in alone on Villalta, pump-faking before sliding it home five-hole. 4-1 Reign.

San Diego then followed that up with a spirited shift that almost resulted in another goal and all of a sudden this Gulls squad was looking the best they had all season.

Ontario managed to settle things down but the Gulls kept pushing, they just couldn’t find a way past Villalta.

Some good work in the offensive zone lead to another goal mouth scramble and Jack Badini was adamant he had a goal that lead to the officials reviewing an initial no-goal call. But it was upheld.

The Reign added further salt to the wound with another tally in the final minute of play as the Gulls dropped their third straight decision by a score of 5-1.

Post Game Notes:

Pain

Still early, but you do get the sense that this season is probably going to be a long one. I tweeted about it but this game shows how deep the Kings system is as compared to the Ducks. Both parent clubs are in self-declared “Rebuild mode” with a lot of their developing talent up with the big club – yet the Kings have enough leftover talent to keep the Reign more than competitive. There is some light at the end of the tunnel though. A lot of the Ducks better College committed kids will be joining the Gulls at the conclusion of their respective seasons. Blake McLaughlin for sure will be coming over. Jackson LaCombe is a strong chance also. Henry Thrun is a maybe and there may also be others. That is not to mention the Ducks will likely be dealing pending UFAs Rickard Rakell, Josh Manson and Hampus Lindholm at the deadline. The return on those deals will likely be prospects and picks – which does mean some Gulls being called up but should also mean some hopefully talented new faces.

Changes Still Needed

So Brouillard and Golod came in, which is as I requested. But Guhle still stayed in, which was not. Personally – I would like to see Axel Andersson see a game. If anything just to try something different? Personally I felt he looked better than Guhle in the preseason, but what do I know?

At Least They Looked Better In The Third

To end on a positive note again, at least the Gulls looked much much much better in the third period. They were the dominant team even though they could not get one by the Reign net-minder after the initial Lettieri strike. It does lend some hope that the systems Bouchard is attempting to lay down will actually result in some better games in future – the only concern is whether or not the Gulls have the required personnel to make them work.

Volkov Vanishing Act

Will we find out why Volkov was a very late scratch? Is he being called up? Is he being traded? Or is he just sick. Tune in next week!