Heading home to San Diego the Gulls welcomed their most recent opponents for the first of a three game homestand. With BO Groulx and Vinni Lettieri called up to the Ducks – Jack Badini and Hunter Drew back in.
Defensive pairings remained the same while Lukas Dostal got the start.
Axel Andersson and Kodie Curran remained out with injuries.
First Period:
San Diego thought they had the games opening marker via a Greg Printz tip just over a minute into the action but it was called back and deemed to have been played by a high stick.
San Diego kept up the frenetic start and opened the games scoring just over five minutes later when the very hot Nik Brouillard took the puck at the blue line, skated the line to find a lane then fired a shot that got by Sawchenko via some friendly bounces on the way to the net. 1-0 Gulls.
The Barracuda believed they had tied it up on the shift immediately following but again the puck was deemed to have been played by a high stick.
San Diego continued to apply a heavy forecheck and generated some chances while the Barracuda responded with stretch passes that occasionally caught the Gulls flat-footed. Jacob Perreault found himself on a partial break but the puck wouldn’t settle and he was stopped.
Meanwhile another San Jose stretch pass saw Jaden Halbegwachs attacking the Gulls line with speed, burning Jacob Larsson in the process and delivering a very pretty backhand strike by Dostal. 1-1 tie game.
As both teams traded opportunities with the man advantage time wound down on the period as both teams headed to the first intermission all even at one and deadlocked in shots at eight a piece. The shot-map showing that San Jose had the better of the opportunities.
Second Period: San Diego Gulls 1 – San Jose Barracuda 1
San Diego appeared to have control through the first five minutes of the period until Nick Merkley was sprung on a clear cut breakaway, Dostal stayed with him and was able to slow down his backhand to forehand chance and Greg Printz came in behind to sweep away the puck before it crossed the goal-line.
Jacob Perreault then made some nice one-touch passes from a stand-still to the right side of the Barracuda net, setting up first Greg Printz and then Brogan Rafferty.
San Jose briefly looked to be driving some pressure in the Gulls zone and slowly building momentum before Kindopp was tripped behind the net to send San Diego on the Power Play.
The first unit had one good chance off of a Rafferty one-timer but could never really get set again after and as the second unit came on with thirty seconds left in the minor Bryce Kindopp took the puck with speed to make a perfect zone entry only made less perfect by attempting to hand the puck off to Tracey on a less than 50/50 play, however the puck was cleared by the Barracuda right back to a waiting Greg Pateryn who (thanks to the aforementioned Kindopp and Tracey driving the lane) had all kinds of time and space to wind up and wire a slap shot top corner for his first goal as a Gull. 2-1 Gulls.
Greg Pateryn clearly had a spring in his step after the goal and the spark seemed to run through the entire Gulls team as all four lines created chances in the San Jose zone. The fourth line finally broke through as Vincent Marleau cleaned up a Brayden Tracey rebound off of a three on one break and the party really got started as the Pechanga arena celebrated his first AHL goal. 3-1 Gulls.
San Diego continued to run the Barracuda zone with the fourth line again enjoying the majority of the time and chances. With a minute left in the period on one such spirited foray into the Barracuda zone the Officials dinged Marleau for slashing with an additional coincidental minor for roughing to Adams-Moisan and Raska.
The Gulls killed the first portion of the minor and as time expired on the period they headed to the second intermission up by two but behind on shots 18-15.
Third Period: San Diego Gulls 3 – San Jose Barracuda 1
The Gulls carried over their momentum from the middle frame by hitting the Barracuda hard with a heavy forecheck. Generating chances across all four lines until Brayden Tracey found a rebound in the low slot and flicked it by Sawchenko on the backhand. 4-1 Gulls.
Jacob Perreault had another chance moments later as the puck found him for a one-timer in the slot but it was bouncing and he could not get off a clean shot.
The physicality picked up as the Barracuda attempted to match the Gulls heavy forecheck, Greg Printz asked Zachary Gallant to answer for a hard hit on Perreault and the two engaged in a wild bout.
San Diego continued to run the Barracuda zone, winning puck battles and keeping possession through a cycle of shots on net. Brayden Tracey added to his game total by presenting his stick for Bryce Kindopp to fire a shot-pass that he slipped in at the back post to make it 5-1.
With the Pechanga rocking the Gulls survived a further two San Jose Power Play opportunities and closed out the victory to go 3-0 over their last three games
Post Game Notes:
Dick Tracey On The Case
I had a hunch Brayden Tracey would get back on the scoresheet in a big way this game, the kid felt due. He also appears to love playing in front of a crowd and feeds off their energy. I am also not surprised at all to find Tracey leading the team in +/- with a +7. I realise it is a flawed stat but he does seem to be involved a lot on offense and very rarely a negative factor on the defensive side of things.
Back to .500
Three straight wins moves the Gulls to .500 and tied with Abbotsford for fifth place in the Pacific. They now sit two wins behind Bakersfield for the fourth and final playoff spot. As I said in my last game recap. Given how bad the Pacific has been (other than the top two teams) – the climb from absolute last place to a playoff spot was a remarkably small one. Of course that also means it’s just as easy to fall back there. The Gulls have another match-up with the Barracuda on Friday and hopefully a less boring re-match with the Condors on Saturday to close out the month.
Honey Badger On The Hunt
With the games opening goal Nik Brouillard extended his points streak to four games and moved into a tie for eighth in scoring by defencemen. As per Sean O’Briens Offensive Point Share vs Defensive Point Share chart, Brouillard is far and away the Gulls best defender. It is only a matter of time before he starts getting noticed league wide.
The Underlying Numbers Darlings
Speaking of fancy stats. Every year the Gulls have one player that stands out in the game but dosent always appear on the scoresheet. Last year it was Brouillard, previous years it was Morand. This year – or at least currently – it is a joint effort between Max Golod and Greg Printz. Golod has 3 points in 9 games while Printz has just the one goal in 11 games but you can tell that if they continue to play the way they have been lately and on a consistent basis, the breakout is not too far away. Sean O’Briens chart doesnt tend to help Printz’s case much but it does show Golod trending very much in the right direction (sorry I tried to isolate him more but I’m no good with excluding players, it gets pretty finnicky) – he is sitting just behind Hunter Drew on this image.
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