After following a huge win over the Barracuda with back to back losses to the Roadrunners to complete their home stand the San Diego Gulls looked to bounce back as they hit the road to face the Condors.
The end of season line shuffling continued as Brayden Tracey once again drew back out of the line-up while Ben King also made way. Nikita Nesterenko was returned from his stint in Anaheim and drew back in on the Gaucher line while Andrew Lucas saw back to back games after his strong debut the previous game.
Calle Clang was given the start with Tomas Suchanek backing up.
Colton White was the only injured player listed. Brayden Tracey, Ben King, Konnor Smith, Luca Profaca and Travis Howe were the healthy scratches.
San Diego came out of the gates playing the perfect road game as they harried and put the Condors under pressure at each and every opportunity. The constant pressure lead to possession and after almost seven minutes a break-through as Chase De Leo found and deposited a rebound from a Trevor Carrick blast. 1-0 Gulls.
Just seconds later Sasha Pastujov caught the Condors napping as he collected on a loose puck after a turnover and spotted a streaking Andrew Agozzino ahead of the play. The veteran scorer making sure of his shot as he came in on a partial break. 2-0 Gulls.
Baskersfield attempted a meek response via the talented puck-handler Seth Griffith but the Gulls again overran them with tight forechecking and soon turned up the volume on the attack. Making it 3-0 with just under seven minutes left to play as Sam Colangelo, Glenn Gawdin and Chase De Leo connected on a great passing play in the low slot. 3-0 Gulls.
It was all Gulls after the goal but a rare venture in the San Diego zone against the fourth line saw the Condors get one back as they cycled the Gulls zone and forced a mistake as Jan Mysak and Nick Wolff skated into each-other attempting to follow their checks. 3-1 Gulls.
The Gulls went right back to the attack and almost got one more to close out the period as Josh Lopina hit the post after a frenzy in the Bakersfield zone.
San Diego taking a 3-1 lead to the first intermission and a 13-9 lead in shots.
In what is traditionally not the Gulls best period they predictably took their foot off the gas and allowed Bakersfield to not only enjoy the majority of possession but struggled to regain momentum and push offense in the other direction as time approached the midway point of the frame.
Settling for in-and-out drive-by offense San Diego did manage to put together a few more chances but it was largely up to Calle Clang to shut down the Condors for the rest of the period and allow the Gulls to maintain their 3-1 lead as they went to the second intermission.
Shots were 7-6 for the Condors on the period to make it 19-16 for San Diego overall.
Following on from the middle frame the Gulls settled into a familiar neutral zone trap strategy that we have seen them deploy to mostly success en route to their 15th in the league road-winning record.
The stifling defense paid off as San Diego took the Condors to the final three minutes of play before a desperation goal from defender Philip Broberg brought them within one. 3-2 Gulls.
Battening down the hatches and awaiting the onslaught the Gulls met the Condors with steadfast resolve as they kept their opponents to the perimeter after Bakersfield pulled goaltender Jack Campbell with two minutes remaining. A failed attempt to set up Captain Chase De Leo for the hat-trick goal saw the Condors gain and set up in the Gulls zone one more time before Andrew Agozzino was able to disrupt a puck and fire a shot from his own into the yawning empty net at the other end. 4-2 Gulls.
San Diego taking the win on the road to prevent Bakersfield from jumping into a four way tie for fourth in the division.
More New Guy Notes
This was my first time seeing Andrew Lucas and I did not dislike what I saw. You can see why he has been given another look with possibly more to come before seasons end. He makes a very good first pass on the breakout and is also adept at rushing the puck. Defensively there were no obvious mistakes or transgressions and he kept his game simple but incredibly effective. He has the one assist in two games played so far. On the subject of points by the new guys…
Sam Goalangelo
After getting his first goal in his AHL debut Sam Colangelo has silently settled into a groove, already developing some great chemistry with his line-mates Glenn Gawdin and Chase De Leo. He now has four points in four games – possibly one of the more impressive Black Ace stat-lines in recent memory. He is active in the play but has also shown he does not always need to be the trigger-man despite his great shot. He could be a 20 goal scorer next season and with the cast of newcomers joining him I am even more excited about how this teams looks next year….
Verbeek Drops Some Names
On the most recent “From The Nest” not to be confused with my own “Defend The Nest” Aaron spoke to Verbeek at the Gulls Elite members event and asked him a few questions the most interesting (to me) of which was who could Gulls fans be excited about seeing join the team next year (not exactly worded that way but reading between the lines..).
He mentioned in addition to who we have seen join the team as Black Aces already we could look forward to seeing “maybe five players” including:
Wait what? Vyacheslav Buteyets? The Russian goaltender selected in the sixth round of 2022? The 6’4″ 185lb net-minder catches left and had an outstanding year last season as he went 18-12-4 with a 2.11 GAA and .933 SV%. He hasn’t fared as well this year on a – from reports – significantly worse Chelmet Chelyabinsk team. It does make sense to bring him over now in order to give Tulsa an all Ducks one-two tandem while also pushing competition within the organization. I’d expect Suchanek and Clang would stay with San Diego while Gibson and Dostal continue to be the tandem in Anaheim. I wouldn’t expect the Ducks to bring another veteran depth tendy next season.
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