2023-2024 Game 38: San Diego Gulls at Iowa Wild

After cruising to a 6-3 victory the night before the San Diego Gulls took to the ice in Iowa to close out their season series with the Wild looking for back to back wins.

In a somewhat surprising turn of events Coach McIlvane instead opted to mix up his top nine. Swapping out Ben King from the previously unbreakable third line trio of King – Gaucher and Tracey to insert Sasha Pastujov and keep the fourth line from the night before intact. Defensive pairings remained the same with Colton White once again out for personal reasons and Anthony Costantini earning his second straight AHL game.

Calle Clang was given the start with Stalock once again backing up.

Jacob Perreault still remained out with an injury, the aforementioned White remained out due to personal reasons and Ben King joined Travis Howe as a healthy scratch while Tomas Suchanek was given the night off.

First Period:

Starting the game with a good flow across the first three lines the Gulls earned a Power Play just three minutes in. The first unit able to gain the zone and get set but unable to convert before being replaced by the second unit featuring Sasha Pastujov at the right point. Right off the face-off the addition of Pastujov at the point paid dividends as he received a pass from Brayden Tracey and then spotted Nikita Nesterenko at the side of the net. His crisp shot-pass easily redirected past the veteran goaltender Zane McIntyre to open the scoring. 1-0 Gulls.

Iowa attempted a response and picked up the hitting but the Gulls held firm, keeping the puck moving while not retaliating to the added aggression.

The top line stayed hot as a three on one break led by Nikita Nesterenko saw the former BC standout gain the zone and back off the Iowa defenders with his speed before receiving a give and go pass from Andrew Agozzino on the left side. His one timer going low and to the right side was barely stopped by McIntyre and created an easy rebound for Pavol Regenda. 2-0 Gulls.

In comparison to the night before the Wild didn’t have a response to the second goal and the Gulls essentially ran time down on the period, keeping a disciplined structure while transitioning from their own zone and making the soft dump at the end of each shift.

With less than two minutes remaining the Gaucher line made an easy break out as Brayden Tracey won a puck battle and saw both Gaucher and Pastujov streaking up through the neutral zone. Tracey electing to send the puck to Pastujov on the right side with more space and the Ducks prospect finally showed just how very deadly his shot is as he took two steps into the Iowa zone before firing a bullet that beat McInyre clean for his first AHL goal. 3-0 Gulls.

A completely deflated Iowa Wild and their fans then watched as the Gulls dictated possession for the remainder of the first frame. San Diego taking a 3-0 lead to the first intermission and a 9-6 lead in shots. The shot map showing the Gulls getting good chances and volume of shots in the Iowa zone with Clang barely challenged at the other end.

Second Period: San Diego Gulls 3 – Iowa Wild 0

Expecting a response from the Wild to start the second the Gulls were almost a little too tense in their anticipation as they took back to back penalties through the first seven minutes.

After killing the infractions thanks in huge part to some big saves from Calle Clang the Gulls settled back into a rhythm and were awarded a Power Play themselves as Luca Profaca was boarded from behind after the midway point of the period.

Starting in the Wild zone with the second unit the Gulls wasted no time punishing the Wild for the penalty and Sasha Pastujov added to his breakout performance as he received a pass in space (once again) from Brayden Tracey. The Ducks touted sniper prospect once again unleashing an absolute laser to make it 4-0. 4-0 Gulls.

Just as it seemed the Wild could not respond to anything the Gulls threw at them they promptly got on the board as a relentless pummeling of shots at the San Diego net followed by multiple bodies in white crashing both the crease and Calle Clang ended in a goal. 4-1 Gulls.

Sniffing a come back the Wild went right back to it – creating chaos around the Gulls net with relentless pressure and traffic before a point shot beat Clang for the second time in less than two minutes. 4-2 Gulls.

The Wild almost had another but the San Diego defense collapsed just in time to protect their netminder and avoid another barrage driven goal.

As the Gulls tried to weather the storm and get momentum going back the other direction a simple breakout pass that Sasha Pastujov battled and juggled past a struggling Wild defender landed neatly at his feet in a perfect shooting lane and he wasted no time in connecting once again for his third goal of the night and first AHL hat trick. 5-2 Gulls.

San Diego taking a 5-2 lead into the second intermission despite the Wild out-shooting them 16-5 on the frame and the shot map showing a very one-sided outlook after the second set of twenty.

Third Period: San Diego Gulls 5 – Iowa Wild 2

Starting the third on the attack the Gulls shrugged off yet more physical attacks from the Wild and got on the board once again as Nikita Nesterenko picked himself up off the ice from a hit near the neutral zone, joined the ongoing play and found himself on the end of a great pass in a shooting position. 6-2 Gulls and his second of the night.

A Gulls Power Play shortly after the goal saw San Diego spend the majority of the full two minutes in the Iowa zone, starting with the second unit – who showed some good poise and passing to try create openings for both Pastujov on the right side and Lopina in the bumper position.

Unable to convert this time the Gulls were guilty of lacking urgency in their own zone as the Wild got another one back off a broken play. 6-3 Gulls.

Looking decidedly unlike their usual disciplined and clinical selves of late the Gulls allowed the Wild to get another – this time short handed and it was suddenly 6-4 Gulls with seven and a half minutes remaining.

A testy final few minutes with a goal mouth scramble that ended in Nikita Nesterenko intercepting a pass and puck handling out of the zone to create his own breakaway on the now empty Iowa net sealed the deal as he completed the hat trick to make it two San Diego hat tricks on the night.

Gulls win 7-4 to take their third straight.

Post Game Notes:

Pastujov Party

Wow. Just wow. Where was that shot all of this time Sasha? Good things do take time and I am glad it is finally here. You can now see why the Ducks were so high on him when they selected him 66th overall in 2021. Anaheim has needed snipers for the longest time and starting with Jacob Perreault they started slowly building that pipeline back in 2020, its easy to forget that Perreault came ahead of schedule due to the allowances made during the pandemic so I might have been a little impatient with the development of Pastujov thus far but I am so glad he is finally showing signs of the absolute weapon he can be on the Power Play. But his assist on the games opening goal was not to be ignored either – that was pure poetry and the kind of play the Gulls need him to step up and make in the absence of Olen Zellweger. If Pastujov can stay hot and put up consistent points it is going to make for some hard decisions for Coach McIlvane with regards to his forward group….

Fourth Line Conundrum Part Two

I mentioned in the last games post game notes that the recent play of all three wingers in Coach McIlvanes regular rotation in and out of the fourth line might mean some changes in the top nine might need to be made and sure enough he was one step ahead of me – dropping Ben King out of tonight’s action to insert Pastujov while keeping the previous nights fourth line trio intact. A somewhat huge call given King is currently tied for sixth on the team in scoring. King last had a point against the Canucks in Abbotsford – a goal in a 4-3 win. It will be interesting to see how he responds to his scratch and who sits next. Having depth at forward is a good thing but what the Gulls are now lacking is depth on defense..

Dropping D

Luca Profaca left in the second period after a vicious boarding and thankfully returned in the third. While Colton White missed his second straight game due to “personal reasons”. Whether or not White just didn’t make the trip due to needing to take care of something on the home front or some other reason I really hope he comes back for the next game in Milwaukee. In the meantime Robert Hagg has been noted as being returned to the Gulls on AHL transactions but given he has been noted as such in a back and forth paper transaction for the past two weeks or so its hard to tell whether that actually means he really is back with the team or not. If for whatever reason the Gulls do need to pull up another defender from Tulsa – Jarod Hilderman is the next most likely option even though he isn’t under contract.

Standings Update

The back to back wins now puts the Gulls three points ahead of San Jose and now six points behind Bakersfield and eight behind Henderson respectively. Like I have been saying – if the Gulls can continue to pick up points and their division rivals start to falter; a playoff spot is definitely still possible. Henderson in a particular now on a two game skid. The bad news is the Admirals – whom the Gulls face next – are the hottest team in the league – currently on a ten game win streak and sit atop the Central with a 27-10-1 record.