2021-2022 Game 4: San Diego Gulls @ Tucson Roadrunners

Looking for their first win of the season the Gulls headed on the road to Tucson for a back to back that would end their October schedule. They were joined on the trip by Captain Sam Carrick and 2021 third overall selection Mason McTavish – assigned to the Gulls on a conditioning loan. Vinni Lettieri was called up to Anaheim with the injury to Rickard Rakell in the Ducks most recent game against Buffalo.

Nik Brouillard was moved to forward while McTavish made his North American professional debut at his native position of Center. Axel Andersson was still absent from action and has yet to see a game this season. Dostal got the start in net. Other scratches included Max Golod and Vincent Marleau.

First Period:

The Gulls came out with a relentless and physical forecheck that cycled through all four of their lines and I didn’t need to check his number to know that number 37 was McTavish swinging around the zone and setting up Perreault for a one-timer with a cross-ice pass on his first touch of the puck.

Eventually the Roadrunners turned the tables and began to get shots on Dostal, drawing a cross-checking penalty on Mason McTavish on one such heavy shift in the San Diego zone.

The penalty kill managed to keep Tucson to the perimeter for the majority of the infraction but broke through when 2018 seventh round pick Liam Kirk snuck into a soft area to collect a pass and wire it by Dostal to open the scoring. 1-0 Tucson.

The Gulls came back with a response shift – starting with Perreault accidentally taking out Tucson net-minder Korenar but play continued as both players regained their footing. Alex Limoges regained the puck near the blue line slowed things down on a spin move and found Perreault coming late. The nineteen year-olds’ shot fired wide but was collected by O’Regan who found Limoges at the side of the net. 1-1 tie game.

The San Diego Gulls continued to carry momentum after the goal, trying to get a garbage goal in front via Greg Printz but Korenar was there to make the stop.

The Roadrunners then rallied and caused some headaches for the Gulls in their own zone as the period seemed to go by in double speed.

The Gulls were awarded a Power Play when Nik Brouillard was blindsided by a boarding hit near the Tucson bench and the leagues best Power Play went to work.

With San Diego showing several options on the first unit the Roadrunners put themselves under more pressure by clearing the puck over the glass and giving the Gulls a shortened five on three advantage.

With time running out in the opening frame San Diego could not solve Korenar with the two extra men and headed to the first intermission with a minute left on a five on four power play to resume in the second period. Shots were even at 10 a piece with the score fittingly level at 1.

Second Period: San Diego Gulls 1 – Tucson Roadrunners 1

With the Gulls carrying over the minute remaining from the second delay of game minor into the second period they set to work moving the puck around the Tucson zone but were frustrated by some tight gap control from the home team. With a stoppage in play and seven seconds left on the man advantage the first unit came off and was replaced by the fourth line with Badini winning the face-off in the offensive zone. As Greg Pateryn fired back to back shots on net and into the slot-area the Gulls took the lead via a nice collection and pass from Brayden Tracey in front to Jack Badini for his first AHL goal. 2-1 Gulls.

Moments later Brouillard continued to be a sucker for punishment and drew another call when he was double teamed coming through the neutral zone.

Tuscon did a much better job of containing the Gulls unit and drew a call of their own with four seconds left in the San Diego man advantage. San Diego killed the minor with minimal drama, Dostal only being called on twice to stop a chance in front. With time running out on the kill Buddy Robinson dove to swat a puck to an open Greg Printz but missed and then caught an errant stick in the face as Jan Jenik also dove to prevent him on the same play.

This time the Gulls made the Roadrunners pay as Alex Limoges found himself with a loose puck as well as time and space in the slot – a dangerous combination for the Gulls leading goal scorer – and wired a shot top shelf to make it 3-1 on the Power Play.

The Roadrunners had no answer as the Gulls kept the puck in their zone, rolling line after line with relentless pressure as the shots disparity began to spiral out of control.

Not content with dominating in shots the fourth line also had their way with the Roadrunners physically, resulting in back to back post whistle skirmishes with just over five minutes remaining in the period.

The Gulls heading to the second intermission having played the best period in the young season. Shots were 29-15 after forty with the Gulls out-shooting Tucson 19-5 on the period.

Note: Danny O’Regan went to the locker room after taking a hard hit during this period and did not return, Jack Badini was double shifted to cover for him. O’Regan did return for the third period.

Third Period: San Diego Gulls 3 – Tucson Roadrunners 1

Tucson began the third strong with some heavy physical play that San Diego managed to contain and counter up until Boko Imama drew a retaliation call on Greg Pateryn just under five minutes into the period.

From there the Roadrunners built momentum by finding open shooting lanes and forcing Dostal to make some tremendous stops as well as thanking his posts for making the one save he did not.

As the penalty expired the Roadrunners kept up the pressure and had the Gulls on their heels until the twelve minute mark when Sam Carrick took matters into his own hands and lead the charge with his own brand of physical play. Laying out noted Roadrunner pest Jan Jenik with a huge open ice hit then following up on the resulting Gulls rush with a nice deflection on a point shot from Jacob Larsson. 4-1 Gulls.

Tucson again tried to respond – this time on the rush but Dostal stood tall and turned aside the brief barrage of chances before his team could shift momentum again.

Both teams continued to trade chances with the Roadrunners enjoying the better and more consistent of them before Jacob Perreault forced a turnover below the Tucson goal line and fed the puck to Mason McTavish in the slot. His shot was partially blocked but Perreault collected the ricochet to deposit it top shelf. 5-1 Gulls with just over five minutes remaining.

The Gulls successfully closed out the win, making a statement in Arizona to collect their first standing points on the season.

Post Game Notes:

League Leading Power Play?

It has been noted several times during the broadcast over the last few games though I hadn’t really paid it that much attention, but the Gulls have the leagues best Power Play despite their 1-3-0 record. I am sure that is just as confusing to everyone else as it is to me so lets dive a bit deeper on that shall we? The Gulls have scored 10 goals and 4 of them have been on the Power Play. I am going to take the glass half full approach and say that once the five on five game for this squad kicks in and these players get some chemistry. Look out rest of the league.

Synergy Between Clubs

You would think that the Ducks and Gulls would employ very similar systems so that players would have little trouble adjusting between teams but it hasn’t been that obvious over the previous few seasons. This games first instance of the Gulls Power Play was like a mirror image of what the Ducks have been doing on their very much improved man advantage unit this season. It is all about options. Perreault open on the left side for one-timers, giving one option, O’Regan in the slot as the bumper ready to fire quick shots from a high danger area and a point man controlling and switching with either side-board player. With all of these options available it gives opposing teams penalty killers too many scenarios to defend against and creates openings that the extra-man overlap can exploit.

Volkov Vanished

Not the best ending to the Volkov drama from last week. If you didn’t already see my twitter thread on it I will sum it up here. What a waste of the Antoine Morand trade. Morand has 4 points in 4 games (or did at the time I tweeted about it) for the Crunch and I haven’t watched him play but I am assuming he is still the play driving strong two way forward that he was with the Gulls. He is currently on the second line for the Crunch but I have no doubt he will develop into a key depth player for the Lightning. If Jeff Solomon was in the fold at the time of the Volkov deal, I bet it doesn’t happen because the Ducks knew nothing of or cared little for underlying metrics before he came on board. Granted I dont have any advanced stats to go by either but I know a play driving player when I see one, and Morand is that. Time will again tell, but I am still very confident that I am right in this.

Forward Concerns

The Gulls core of forwards or lack there of was always my main concern going into this season and the fact that Nik Brouillard was deployed there tonight over the likes of Golod might be a little worrying. Don’t get me wrong, Bouillard looked great – because he is a good player (even better on defense) but with Lettieri being called up the Gulls are now down another forward with the imminent departure of Mason McTavish making it two spots they will need to fill. I just feel like they might need to deal one of their many defenders for a forward at some point this season. Why is Axel Andersson yet to play a game?