2021-2022 Game 28: San Diego Gulls @ Stockton Heat

On a mid-week back to back the Gulls headed from San Jose with a well earned two points to Stockton – seemingly losing half their roster along the way.

For the second time in as many weeks the Gulls were forced to ice essentially three forward lines as Danny O’Regan was called up to the taxi squad, while both Vincent Marleau and Bryce Kindopp appeared to be out with illness or injury. Max Golod drew in but it still meant the Gulls could only ice 10 forwards. Back on defense Axel Andersson finally made a return from injury and couldn’t have chosen a better time to come back as Brogan Rafferty was recalled directly to the Anaheim roster. While Francis Marotte got his fifth straight start.

First Period:

I could not watch this live and apparently a lot of others could not either as AHL TV was reportedly down for the first fifteen minutes of the first period. (NOTE: Seeing the very empty arena in Stockton, didn’t seem like many saw it live in person either). Both the Stockton and San Diego twitter accounts doing their best to make light of the much too common situation with AHL TV and games in Stockton.

Brent Gates Jr opened the scoring just under seven minutes in to the opening period, his goal assisted by Lucas Elvenes.

However Stockton tied it up just under seven minutes later. 1-1 tie game.

AHL TV started working with just over five minutes left in the period and we got to watch Stockton generate some high quality chances but Francis Marotte turned them all aside as the Gulls deployed some short counter attacks toward the end of the period. Stockton’s Kevin Gravel received the games first penalty with twenty seconds left in the period as he delivered two cross-checks on BO Groulx near the player benches.

The Gulls heading to the first intermission tied up at one but with a minute and forty Power Play to carry over into the second period. The Gulls leading in shots 10-8.

Second Period: San Diego Gulls 1 – Stockton Heat 1

San Diego made full use of their minute and forty second man advantage, making some neat one touch passes into the middle of the Heat penalty killing box but could not solve Werner.

The Gulls would carry forward momentum from the time spent in Stockton’s zone and Max Golod showed some good leg work – drawing a call in the offensive zone as he attempted to create an overlap with some nice back and forth skating down low.

San Diegos lack of personnel saw Morgan Adams-Moisan spend time with one of the man advantage units as the net front presence but the Gulls looked decidedly less effective with this second chance on the Power Play.

Axel Andersson showed no rust as he pinched, drove play and created chances toward the tail end of the man advantage as well as at five on five in the moments after.

San Diego continued to create more momentum – coming in waves across a mix of their ten forwards but playing as a five man unit as defenders jumped up into the play to be in turn covered by the more defensively minded forwards.

The Gulls were forced to kill back to back penalties in the later half of the period but as they extinguished the second minor to Hunter Drew a great counter rush after a key defensive play by Andersson was then finished by the offensive defenseman as he trailed the rush and played the trigger man at the back door as Lucas Elvenes fed him the puck after receiving it via a saucer pass from Brayden Tracey. 2-1 Gulls.

Stockton came back with a push but the Gulls stifled their attack and took the two to one lead into the break, finishing even on shots at 11 a piece and leading 21-19 overall through forty minutes.

Third Period: San Diego Gulls 2 – Stockton Heat 1

A fast and ferocious start to the third resulted in a full two minutes of four on four play as Nik Brouillard and Justin Kirkland engaged in an altercation just under a minute in that would be revisited later.

As play returned to even strength a replay showed the Gulls dodged a bullet as it clearly showed Lucas Elvenes guilty of tripping Kirkland coming through the neutral zone, then moments later the Heat’s Greg Moro was given a double minor for high sticking and drawing blood from Alex Limoges in front of the Stockton net.

San Diego did spend the majority of the four minutes in the Stockton zone but could not quite find the time and space to get a quality high danger chance on Werner and the Heat killed the extended minor.

Teams traded Power Plays as time passed over the midway point and the physical play picked up, then with just over two minutes remaining Greg Printz continued his recent strong play by getting his second of the season. The collegiate signing finishing off a rebound from a shot by Jack Badinin in close as he was setup by a nice pass by Lucas Elvenes to lead him on a partial break. 3-1 Gulls.

Stockton pulled Werner with two minutes remaining and got one back with twenty five seconds left but the Gulls held on for the win – literally – as Greg Printz turtled on the puck in the far corner to take their third straight and second on the road 3-2. Stockton were not too happy with the former Providence College forwards defensive effort and scuffles broke out among the teams as the final horn sounded. Nik Brouillard once again not backing down from a fight despite gross height disadvantage (honey badger dont give an F) and took on Justin Kirkland while the Officials desperately tried to usher the players from the ice. There was definitely no love lost and it will be very interesting to see how the next match up in March goes back in Stockton.

Post Game Notes:

Depth Test

Just when we thought it was over. The Gulls being forced to roll three forward lines while shifting a converted defender back to defense is a story line that is becoming very tired. But this game really did show why Max Golod is often the odd man out when they do have spare bodies. Don’t get me wrong, on the offensive side of the puck he brings a lot of hustle, energy, shifty skating and is always looking to make a pass to an open man in a shooting lane. But on the defensive side he seems a step slower to react with the puck at times and his size doesn’t help either. That doesn’t mean all hope is lost for him though. One only needs to look as far as Brent Gates Jr….

Second Chances

You saw glimpses of this side of Brent Gates in the previous appearances we saw him with the Gulls but this version of the Ducks former 2015 third round pick is like seeing a confident and transformed Sandy come back at the end of Grease (I’m sorry I couldn’t think of another example off the top of my head). He seems so much more in control, stronger on the puck and willing to shoot whenever he sees an opportunity. He has five points in six games now and is – out of nowhere – one of the Gulls most important forwards on the ice.

Addendum and Correction

I was completely wrong about my assumption of the Jacob Perreault injury. As pointed out to me on twitter, he played in the first Abbotsford game that I missed – in which the Gulls lost 5-1, his last noted point of action being a holding call late in the second period. So he was presumably injured in that game. But on the note of injuries…

Welcome Back To The Jungle

After an 18 game absence, Axel Andersson came back with a vengeance and played the kind of game that you dont need analytics to know that this kid is something special if he can stay healthy. He was a part of nearly ninety percent of all Gulls scoring chances. He is just so smart with the puck on his stick – knowing when to shoot it on net to generate a rebound in traffic, or pass to a man with time to create a play. He instantly became the Gulls number one defender after just one game back in the line-up.