2023-2024 Game 35: San Diego Gulls at Abbottsford Canucks

Taking a close and hard fought 4-3 victory against their most difficult north of the border rivals the night before, the Gulls went right back at it the next day.

This time Jaxsen Wiebe was given the night off as Blake McLaughlin was given some time on the fourth line, defensive pairings remained the same.

Jacob Perreault still remained out with an injury while Alex Stalock was given the start with Calle Clang backing up.

First Period:

From the outset it was clear the Canucks were not going to make this one easy for the Gulls as they locked up the neutral zone and prevented San Diego to enter their zone with any real speed. Meanwhile as they forced turnovers to send play back the other way or goaded the Gulls into making back to back mistakes that lead to icings – the mounting pressure proved too much as Alex Stalock (not for the first time in the early goings of the game) came way too far out to challenge a shooter and the Canucks converted by slipping a pass behind him to Jet Woo at the backdoor. 1-0 Canucks.

San Diego managed to mount some form of a response and kept things at 1-0 for much of the remainder of the period but has time approached the six minutes left mark a Canucks attack beat Stalock once again as he was unable to get set after making an initial stop in close, Abbotsford moved the puck back to the point and swung a long shot that beat him through traffic. 2-0 Canucks.

The story followed the exact same as yesterdays action but with the hero and villain switching roles as the Gulls couldn’t seem to catch a break, finding themselves on the wrong end of a five on three for thirty seconds after Pavol Regenda was called for tripping on an errant call.

The Gulls were able to kill the first minor and survived the majority of the second one but would start the second period down a man 19 seconds as they skated to the first intermission behind by two goals and trailing in shots 12-6. The shot map showing the Canucks utter domination on the period with San Diego unable to generate in either quantity or quality.

Second Period: Abbotsford Canucks 2 – San Diego Gulls 0

It went from bad to worse as the Gulls went down 3-0 after a very exhausted line were stuck out on the ice for an extended amount of time while the Officials allowed Abbotsford to get away with a trip on Colton White and then later did not call the play dead when the puck sat on the back of the Gulls net for more than a few seconds. 3-0 Canucks.

At this point I gave up watching the game.

The Gulls hit back with a Drew Helleson goal in the closing minute of the second. 3-1 Canucks after forty.

Third Period: Abbotsford Canucks 3 – San Diego Gulls 1

As mentioned – I had given up watching at this point.

Canucks Captain Chase Wouters made it 4-1 less than eight minutes into the third and three minutes later Glenn Gawdin made it 4-2 but Jett Woo sealed the deal with an unassisted goal with just over three minutes left in the game.

Canucks take this one 5-2.

Post Game Notes:

No More Stalock Please

I feel bad for calling him out in this way but Stalock isn’t helping with the Gulls trying to stay in the playoff race. He is always way too aggressive, too slow to make it back and too slow to get set again after making the initial save. Just no.

Go See The Previous PostGame For My Notes

It’s better than these ones and covers the upcoming trade deadline etc

Standings Update

Remarkably the loss does not drop the Gulls back to the bottom of the Pacific as the Barracuda also lost today. But the worse news is both the Eagles and Condors did win. The gap is now nine points and eleven points respectfully. Still not impossible but if McIlvane keeps insisting on playing Stalock I won’t hold hope for much longer.