After dropping a wild and high scoring but close affair with the division leading Stockton Heat the Gulls welcomed in the Wild from further out East for a rare visit. Newly signed Ducks 2021 fourth round pick Josh Lopina made his debut centering the fourth line, while Brendan Guhle and Danny O’Regan also returned to the line-up.
Vincent Marleau, Jack Badini and Nathan Larose were sat to make room for the Lopina, O’Regan and Guhle. Lukas Dostal got the start in net.
First Period:
The Gulls started things off with the top line – calling upon them to set the tone and that they did. Creating some chances in the early going and creating room in the neutral zone for some good transition play.
Unfortunately Josh Lopina was given a rough introduction to the AHL as his line was hemmed in against the Wild’s grind line – one of the heavier lines in the AHL and barely escaped without a goal against as they struggled to escape their own zone.
Within the first five minutes you could already tell that this game would be a hell of a lot more fun than the last time they saw the Wild in Iowa – a tight checking game with little to no room allowed for speed or transition.
After ten minutes the Gulls had golden opportunities for BO Groulx, Drew Helleson and Bryce Kindopp – the later of those two occurring on the same shift – a great sequence from the Gulls spent entirely in the Iowa zone.
Lopina in particular looked very good on that shift – dishing to Kindopp in the slot – recognizing his winger had the better angle. It felt like only a matter of time before he would make an impact in the game and that came very soon after as Buddy Robinson gained the Iowa zone, shifted into the center lane and dropped off to Lopina in the same motion to leave the newest Gull an open side shot. The recently signed UMass-Amerst convert wasting no time in firing a shot that was stopped but the driving Brendan Guhle was right there to pick up and deposit it into the net. 1-0 Gulls.
San Diego continued to have the better of chances as time wound down on the period, the Gulls taking a 1-0 lead and a deserved edge in shots 13-10 to the first intermission.
Second Period: San Diego Gulls 1 – Iowa Wild 0
Iowa strangely played a much more conservative style to start the second but there was a definite shift in the physicality of the game punctuated by a shift in which Connor Dewar stood up Jacob Perreault near the Gulls bench and then attempted to physically lift him into the bench. Hunter Drew was having none of it and challenged the smaller Dewar who swiftly cowered behind Turner Ottenbreit and the two went for matching roughing minors.
The period continued to fly by with the physicality continuing to pick up and the Wild slowly shifting momentum in their favour.
With Iowa controlling their zone for the final five minutes of the period the Gulls were forced into a mistake by the constant pressure and faced some tense moments whilst killing a penalty for an unlucky clearance of the puck over the glass by Greg Printz.
Thankfully they escaped the minor and the remainder of the period unscathed thanks to some clutch goal-tending from Lukas Dostal as the Gulls retained their one goal lead heading into the second intermission. Iowa controlling the later half of the frame and carrying momentum heading into the third – taking the lead in shots 23-21 overall while outgunning the Gulls 13-8 on the period.
Third Period: San Diego Gulls 1 – Iowa Wild 0
San Diego attempted to get back to their open-ice style but Iowa quickly clogged the neutral zone and slowed everything down. Cycling and wearing the Gulls down in their zone shift after shift for the first five minutes of the period.
The Gulls were finally awarded their first power play of the game when Cale Addison airmailed a puck over the glass after Hunter Drew stole a clearance and had a partial break stopped.
Unable to find clear passing lanes with the man advantage San Diego were unable to capitalise and play returned to five on five with time in the period slowly winding down.
With two minutes remaining and the Wild controlling the Gulls zone the Wild pulled their goaltender and successfully won on their bet as they continued to control the Gulls zone and tied the game via a point shot that beat Dostal through traffic. 1-1 tie game.
The Gulls headed to overtime for the second time in a week and looking to make good on some less than 100% full game efforts.
Again the Gulls didn’t look like they have had much practise in the three on three game as the Wild successfully crossed them up on the first shift to create outnumbered chances down low. The Gulls were able to escape that hiccup but then a bad line-change led to a break for the Wild and Cale Addison was able to follow up a rebound to win it for the Wild. 2-1. The Gulls failing to play the full sixty minutes and paying for it.
Post Game Notes:
Legit Lopina
I am incredibly sorry that I did not give the heads up or even the remotest inkling that 2021 fourth round pick Josh Lopina might be one of those collegiate black-aces to join the Gulls in this stretch drive to the playoffs. He honestly completely escaped my radar being such a recent draft pick – I do remember remarking at the time that he was taken as an overager and that he could turn pro sooner rather than later given winning a National Championship in your freshman-year would be hard to top. This was a very impressive debut and one of the more recent by a black-ace in recent memory for me. He was everywhere and put in every situation, seemingly instantly becoming Coach Bouchards ace in the hole for defensive zone face-offs. What stood out to me was his reads – he gave the Wild headaches on their break out by creating chaos at their blue line, positioning himself perfectly to force a turnover on multiple occasions. I also love his poise and decision making – in just his first AHL game he always made the right and smart play, for example – during a barrage of chances by the Gulls on the Iowa net he recovered the puck in the slot but instead of turning to shoot from a prime position he realised that Kindopp was already in a better position and dished it to him for a chance.
Getting Deeper
With the inclusions of Helleson, Lopina and the return of O’Regan, Robinson and Guhle it has seen the benching of Badini, Larose and Marleau (and the trade of Kodie Curran). The line-up is suddenly looking very deep and is only going to get deeper. Simon Benoit and Blake McLaughlin are likely two other additions yet to arrive – as well as possibly Henry Thrun and Jackson Lacombe. Some hard calls are going to need to be made. Who comes out for McLaughlin? It would have to be a similar type of player. Printz? Who comes out for Benoit? Guhle or Larsson? Now I can understand why not more of the Ducks eligible players were assigned via paper transaction on deadline day. It would be unfair for the players who had given their all for the majority of this season to be unceremoniously benched for guys who spent their years with either the Ducks or other team.
Checking In On Perreault
I just want to revisit how I feel about how NHL ready Perreault is. I still feel he needs more maturity in his game. Once again tonight he went a little OTT or “over the top” as he more than over embellished an elbow to the head behind the play. It’s a hard one to talk about because – I am with him in that the players should be protected and the Officials should be making those calls to prevent that kind of thing but he also does not need to be so dramatic about trying to get a call. It is not a good look and will give him a reputation that is hard to shake. Will he be treated better in the NHL? Likely. I have often heard that it is actually better for some players to develop in the NHL rather than in the AHL – perhaps Perreault is one of those. The NHL game has gone through a complete make-over in the last five years – where once size and physicality were the game-changing attributes it is now speed and skill. The AHL is still an echo of that old-NHL, size and physicality does still dominate in most games – particularly this one. I guess what I am saying is, maybe Perreault should be in the NHL next year – full time, even if he isn’t quite ready yet. It might just be better for him. Of course just after I wrote this I tuned in to the remainder of the Ducks game to see Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry getting roughed up by goons on the Coyotes.
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