Back at home to start a weekend home and home with the rival Ontario Reign, the Gulls looked to stay in the win column against the second placed team in the Pacific.
Coach Bouchard shuffled the lines once again, moving Limoges back to the fourth line and rewarding the strong play of Printz by elevating him to a line with Groulx and the equally high-performing Brent Gates. The other two lines remained intact. Lukas Dostal was given his fourth straight start.
First Period:
San Diego definitely came out with more jump and came close to opening the scoring off of a turnover caused by Alex Limoges on a very good shift by he and his line, but his chance in close was stopped.
The Reign in response caught the Gulls out of position on a neutral zone turnover by Braden Tracey and took advantage, getting the games first goal from their sniper – Martin Frk. 1-0 Reign.
The goal appeared to give Ontario an extra lift as they set about making life difficult for San Diego in their zone, drawing a holding call on Brendan Guhle as he and his line-mates where hemmed in the zone unable to exit.
After killing the minor the Gulls were given a Power Play of their own and looked ever dangerous on it, Brent Gates having the best chance when he hit the post from a shot as he jumped into a soft area in the slot with speed.
Ontario continued to gain momentum and hold San Diego back on their heels for most of the rest of the period, drawing several calls in the process. With each penalty kill the Gulls seem to get a nice push back and come close on a opportunity only to be assessed another minor in the process.
The period wound to a close with San Diego in the midst of their second straight penalty kill after Danny O’Regan was called for tripping after a lengthy shift in the Gulls zone in which he appeared too tired to move much more than a few skate lengths from his position near the point.
The Gulls headed to the first intermission down by one and out-shot 14-6 with the shot map not looking pretty at all.
Second Period: Ontario Reign 1 – San Diego Gulls 0
San Diego killed the minor and play returned to five on five for a rare lengthy longer set of time.
Just as it seemed the Gulls were looking relatively OK despite being vastly outmatched speed and skill wise, a very bad fore-checking formation that saw two wingers (I didn’t catch who) standing one in front of the Reign net and one to the right side meant an easy Reign stretch pass resulted in an odd man break in which Jacob Larsson was beat wide and a cross ice pass from Jaret Anderson-Dolan was inadvertently put into the San Diego net by Kodie Curran attempting to cut off the pass with his stick. 2-0 Reign.
The Gulls got one back via a nice four on two break lead by Brent Gates and as the puck found its way into the Ontario Reign net it appeared initially to be his goal but it turned out to be Bryce Kindopp who got the final touch. 2-1. Reign.
Unfortunately another odd-man partial break caused by the speed of the Kupari/Frk line resulted in the later getting his second of the night as we was allowed too much time and space in a dangerous position, beating Dostal clean. 3-1 Reign.
The penalty parade began back up again in earnest only this time both Gulls players and fans had reason to feel aggrieved by the calls as it was pretty evident that Ontario players were utilizing dramatic license to obtain the Officials favor – with TJ Tynan getting some great air on a BO Groulx contact with his stick to give the Reign an almost full two minute five on three near the periods end. Then Vinni Lettieri obtained a clear cut breakaway on this five on three only to have a Reign player draped all over his back with no call made.
The Gulls going to the second intermission down 3-1 but having a much better period, out-shot by one 10-9 on the frame.
Third Period: Ontario Reign 3 – San Diego Gulls 1
San Diego began the period killing the remaining 49 seconds of the five on three and did so thanks to some great team effort and stops from Dostal when needed.
Pushing right to the attack at the conclusion of the kill the Gulls looked a completely different team as they surrounded the Reign net and held possession in their zone, firing shots and collecting rebounds or forcing turnovers in their zone. Brent Gates eventually rewarded for his hard work and staying red hot with his sixth goal, finding the puck in the feet of a Reign player in the slot and firing a quick snap shot over Villaltas shoulder to make it 3-2 Reign.
San Diego continue to ride their momentum, enjoying the majority of the chances and shots as the clocked ticked over.
An extremely bad penalty taken by Brogan Rafferty as he slammed a Reign player against the boards long after he had moved the puck meant a very obvious and easy interference call for the Officials and the Reign made him pay, as TJ Tynan stepped in from the right side on the Power Play and sent a quick slap-shot over the shoulder of Lukas Dostal just moments after he had made a huge glove save on a cross-ice pass.
With Dostal pulled for an extra attacked with three minutes remaining the Gulls once again made things interesting as Trevor Carrick hammered home a shot from the point to make it 4-3.
But it was too little too late as the Reign held on to take the win despite a late surge from the Gulls in the final minutes.
Post Game Notes:
Faulty Fore-checking
I keep wanting to revisit the second Ontario goal as a turning point, the Gulls were looking like they could even things up but went down by two and that only happened because both Gulls wingers were positioned, stationary in the Ontario zone, not marking any one particular player, just trying to prevent a Reign pass. Which does not make a heck of a lot of sense because at least one of them should have been marking an open Reign player. Just the kind of play that I wish had not happened and is hard to pinpoint on either a bad decision by a player or a bad tactic instilled in them by the coaching staff.
Passive Perreault
I almost forgot Perreault was even in the line-up until the third period when he tried to create his own partial break but up until that point he was largely in the background and it follows the same pattern that has been unfolding since his return from injury. He has been a shadow of the player we saw to start the season and he seems almost afraid to get involved now. It is now quite and very obvious that Brayden Tracey is the more developed of the two of them at this point, which is fair because he is a year older but it does give cause for concern that Perreualt’s season has regressed since his injury.
Hit The Road Jack
The Gulls now hit the road for a record eight game road trip to face a combination of Ontario, Henderson, Colorado and Stockton and it will be the deciding factor as to whether they remain in the final playoff spot or move up to give themselves some breathing room.
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