2023-2024 Game 41: San Diego Gulls vs Colorado Eagles

After suffering a tough 2-1 loss the night before at the hand of the Tucson Roadrunners, the San Diego Gulls resolved to get back in the win column against the very hot Colorado Eagles.

The fourth line rotation continued, as Blake McLaughlin sat this time in favour of Ben King. The temporarily returned for the NHL All Star break – Olen Zellweger stayed paired with Nick Wolff. Colton White also saw his second game back since missing the road trip. All other lines and pairings remained the same.

Tomas Suchanek was given the start with Alex Stalock backing up.

Jacob Perreault still remained out with an injury, while the aforementioned Blake McLaughlin joined Calle Clang, Robert Hagg, Luca Profaca and Travis Howe as healthy scratches.

First Period:

Colorado started with their familiar physical style and it took less than two minutes for them to target Olen Zellweger. The Ducks prospect taking a heavy hit behind the Gulls net from Riley Tufte which Nick Wolff made him answer for in a lengthy bout.

The Gulls fed of the energy in the building after the fight and a lengthy shift from the De Leo-Gawdin-Caulfield line saw several chances created before culminating in a 1-0 Gulls lead after Chase De Leo was spotted by Glen Gawdin open on the right side after Trevor Carrick made a great play to keep the puck in the zone. The Captain putting the Gulls up by one early. 1-0 Gulls.

San Diego kept up the pressure while the Eagles also attempted to take back momentum.

The Gulls could not convert on back to back Power Plays despite the Eagles playing a strangely passive box – allowing San Diego to sneak an open man out in front on more than one occasion.

A third straight Power Play was the charm as Ben King was tripped in the neutral zone and once again the Eagles strangely allowed San Diego to get an open man right in front. Pavol Regenda able to connect on a pass to him in the slot from Chase De Leo, the rebound landing neatly by Andrew Agozzino to deposit into the net for a 2-0 Gulls lead.

San Diego followed up the goal with a good shift from the fourth line before the Eagles responded and piled on the final two shots of the period both of which Suchanek was equal to. The Gulls heading to the first intermission up by two and continuing their great work on offense from the previous game – out-shooting Colorado 14-6.

Second Period: San Diego Gulls 2 – Colorado Eagles 0

It felt like a make-up call was inevitable and sure enough the Eagles were given a Power Play just under three minutes into the middle frame when Nick Wolff was called for cross checking.

San Diego played the penalty kill to perfection to continue their streak of 32 straight kills then settled in to keeping Colorado to the perimeter as they tried to carry forward momentum toward getting on the board.

Another Colorado Power Play awarded for tripping to Colton White – on a play in which the veteran defender was able to dive and dislodge the puck first before the follow through caught the player – allowed the Eagles to garner yet more momentum.

Killing the minor the Gulls looked to have everything under control until a bad bounce caught Tyson Hinds in the wrong position as he received a hard pass from Olen Zellweger at the Gulls blue line and could not control it. The resulting Eagles counter-attack ending up in the back of the San Diego net. 2-1 Gulls.

Colorado continued to own the title for most disliked team for me to watch and the feeling seemed mutual among the Gulls players as post whistle scrum after post whistle scrum seeped over to penalties and eventually the Eagles caught up in terms of Power Play opportunities awarded.

The Gulls skating to the second intermission now holding a one goal lead but looking seemingly fired up to maintain that going into the third against a long hated foe. Shots were 11-4 for the Eagles on the period to make it a close 18-17 through forty minutes. The shot map showing Colorado enjoying the majority of possession which translated to shots but the Gulls doing a relatively good job of keeping them to the outside.

Third Period: San Diego Gulls 2 – Colorado Eagles 1

Relentless pressure from the Eagles dominated the first five minutes of play in the third.

San Diego did eventually take back some momentum and enjoyed some better possession as time moved on throughout the final frame.

A fourth Power Play for the Gulls came in the form of an interference penalty drawn by Chase De Leo but the Eagles were able to kill the minor – once again causing headaches on zone entry for the second unit while the first unit were able to get set off the face-off but only managed to create the one chance in front.

The final minute was surrounded by controversy as the Eagles pulled their netminder and Nikita Nesterenko took a shot from his own end that missed but Glen Gawdin chased down and swatted the puck into the vacated cage but the goal was called back due to an icing being called on the play.

Despite the call the Gulls were able to win the next two face-offs in their own zone after another two icings and took the 2-1 win as the teams came together for one last post whistle scrum to put an exclamation point on a long standing heated rivalry.

Post Game Notes:

Eagles Still The Worst

Despite not having Greg Cronin coaching them the Eagles are still the same slow, boring, rugged and physical team – so I guess it wasn’t a Cronin thing. It baffles me because the Avalanche are the complete opposite. Why are they this way? Why do I (and the Gulls clearly) dislike them so much? It will forever be one of life’s mysteries. One would think the presence of two former and fan favorite Duck players would make them slightly more endearing but seeing Chris Wagner grinning stupidly after a shove from Gaucher earned the youngster a penalty in retaliation to Wagners dirty hit on Tracey after the play made him officially dead to me. I still have a soft spot for Holland though – I met him when he came to New Zealand during a promotional hockey tour, he seems a good dude.

Veterans Stepping Up

Trevor Carrick rebounded nicely after his horrible outing the night before – I didn’t see it but I saw what fans were saying on Facebook and they even mentioned on the broadcast that it was a night to forget for him. All of he, De Leo, Gawdin and Agozzino played monster games and were a huge part of the win.

Shout Out To The PK

The Gulls penalty kill is currently unstoppable – killing all 34 of their last 34 penalties for a club record. They did a phenomenal job of keeping the Eagles to the perimeter in the zone and an even better job of preventing zone entries. Suchanek of course was there to make the stop should the Eagles get frustrated and chuck the puck on net after getting nowhere attempting to find a seam.

Standings Update

The win gives the Gulls 39 points to help them climb the Pacific standings ladder. Bakersfield also won today while Henderson at the time of writing this are tied with Iowa with a period left to go. Should the Silver Knights lose it would mean the Gulls edged another two points closer to their 46 point total. They currently sit tied with Bakersfield on that marker but the Condors hold the final playoff spot by points percentage. Three more wins and the Gulls will be at an even .500 and that much closer to that final playoff spot.