Bakersfield, California. After starting slow and staring down the barrel of a 6-1 deficit to start the third period in their home opener, the San Diego Gulls fought back to almost make an improbable come back – eventually coming up one short to go down 6-5 to the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Buoyed by their third period performance they looked to head north and break the Condors early season two game win streak.
Jansen Harkins was returned to the Gulls line-up after missing last nights home-opener while making his Ducks debut in the place of Frank Vatrano. Sam Colangelo’s two goal night earned him a promotion to the top line while Nesterenko was moved to the second line to join the veterans Harkins and Meyer. All other lines remained the same with Myatovic drawing back in for Travis Howe on the fourth line and Jan Mysak drawing out to make room for the returned Harkins.
Most interestingly – Power Play fixture Rodwin Dionicio was benched for Roman Kinal.
Calle Clang got the start after looking good in relief of the under siege Oscar Dansk the night before.
Tomas Suchanek started the season on long term injured reserve – not due back until at least April while Jan Mysak, Travis Howe and Rodwin Dionicio were the healthy scratches.
First Period:
It felt like a somewhat one-sided battle to start – looking at the Condors veteran-heavy line-up and stingy goals-allowed stats through their first two games but San Diego held their own. Pavol Regenda once again led the way offensively – working a two on one rush with Sam Colangelo but forcing the pass when he likely should have shot it as he came down the slot.
Teams traded Power Play opportunities and while the Gulls struggled to gain the zone and get set on theirs, the Condors almost opened the scoring but for a desperate diving effort by Roland McKeown to get a stick lift on a sitter for one of the Condors parked in front.
Pavol Regenda exploded onto a shorthanded breakaway but fumbled the puck just as he went to shoot and his fanned shot was easily stopped.
San Diego managed to enforce some nice fore-checking pressure as time passed over the midway point, creating at least one high danger chance in the process but Nico Myatovic made one extra stick handle before losing the puck as he received the puck in the slot.
The Condors similarly put the Gulls on their heels for a few minutes soon after and the period ended with mostly back and forth opportunities for both sides.
Scoreless after one with the Condors leading the way in shots 12-7 but the shot map showing high danger chances were mostly even.
Second Period: San Diego Gulls 0 – Bakersfield Condors 0
Approaching the start of the second with perhaps just as much dread as the first – I was pleasantly surprised as the Gulls continued to hold their own for the first eight minutes of minimal stoppage play and the game settled into a clash of Gulls offense vs Condors stingy defense.
As the Gulls continued to come close to putting a scoring play together but failing to connect on the final pass the Condors were given the only man advantage of the period as Carson Meyer was called for tripping. Bakersfield spent the majority of the minor in the San Diego zone but Calle Clang looked locked in as he turned aside every single chance.
After killing the minor the Gulls went right back to the attack – getting back to their forecheck and causing havoc in the neutral zone and forcing multiple turnovers before eventually sending play toward the Bakersfield net. Once again it seemed they might have made one pass too many but a loose puck found its way to the side where Yegor Sidorov wired it home from a severe angle for his first AHL goal. 1-0 Gulls lead.
Bakersfield launched an instant response and held the Gulls under pressure – breaking through to tie things up with 45 seconds left in the period after Nikita Nesterenko was absolutely felled by a slap shot that saw him unable to put weight on one leg while the Condors were then able to isolate him and eventually funnel the puck onto the San Diego net through traffic. Calle Clang making the initial stop but unable to track the rebound as it squeaked by him. 1-1 tie game.
Things got feisty to close the period with Judd Caulfield (who moments earlier elected not to shoot from the slot and instead send a pass to Sidorov that didn’t connect) and other Gulls found themselves in a net front scrum with various Condors players.
Shots were 7-6 Bakersfield on the period and 19-13 overall with the shot map showing a tighter defensive period.
Third Period: San Diego Gulls 1 – Bakersfield Condors 1
Play was once again back and forth for much of the mostly non stop action to begin the third.
Jansen Harkins with perhaps the Gulls best opportunity to give San Diego back the lead but he was too selfish with the puck on the rush and the golden opportunity went begging.
The Condors sensed blood in the water as San Diego began to grow frustrated and broke through on a mental miscue – Connor Carrick receiving a pass off of an offensive zone face-off and skating in unmarked to beat Clang from the high slot. 2-1 Condors.
San Diego was awarded a Power Play soon after as Lane Pederson was called for hooking. With the offensive zone face-off the Gulls were able control and get set in the Bakersfield zone. The “vet” unit immediately teeing up an opportunity and cashing in as Ryan Carpenter dived at a loose puck which then squeaked out to Carson Meyer who banged it in. 2-2 tie game.
San Diego were given another Power Play to make things interesting but they could not convert this time despite both units creating some fairly decent opportunities.
Pushing back against a Bakersfield response the Gulls kept the pressure up and Nathan Gaucher almost created the go ahead goal off a nice pass from behind the net but Olivier Rodrigue made the huge stop on Pavol Regenda in front. Time expired with an additional Gulls flurry down low and we headed to overtime.
Overtime:
The Condors initially got control off the opening draw but the Gulls were able to take back possession and proceeded to hold onto it as they played keep away much to the home-crowds chagrin. Cycling through four sets of trios the Gulls finally saw their opportunity when a Condors collision with Calle Clang saw Josh Lopina, Roland McKeown and Yegor Sidirov sprint up ice on an outnumbered attack. Their attempt stopped by Rodrigue but the young Condors netminder elected to force the issue and went to play the puck – seemingly underestimating how near Josh Lopina was to him – who then proceeded to steal the puck and feed it to a waiting Yegor Sidirov. 3-2 Gulls win.
Post Game Notes:
Hard Pass On The Passing FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SHOOT THE PUCK
It is getting kind of ridiculous now. The amount of scoring opportunities that are going begging because the Gulls are trying to force that one extra pass whilst sitting in a perfectly good shooting lane. There were at least ten if not more instances of this tonight – Judd Caufield was guilty of it the most as he deferred to his sniper line-mate Yegor Sidorov on more than one occasion. If San Diego can stop doing this I would guarantee they will score twice as much as they currently do and ultimately win more games because of it.
Kinal Debuts, Harkins Comes Back, Sidorov Arrives
I will admit seeing Roman Kinal making the team over Andrew Lucas was a confusing decision for me and then seeing Power Play quarterback Rodwin Dionico scratched so that he could suit up tonight was even more baffling but the ECHL/AHL journeyman wasn’t terrible and even made a very nice pass while under pressure from the blue line to set up Judd Caulfield in the high slot. The Gulls did miss Dionicios one-man break out ability and I missed seeing his token big open ice hit – but I am sure we will see him back in for the next game. On the flipside – Kinal seemed a calmer more reliable presence on the back-end; perhaps Dionicios unpredictable turnovers downlow are the reason for his benching.
Jansen Harkins looked good – but he also looked like he was trying to do too much. You know that guy that plays as a ring-in for your beer league team that comes from a higher league and thinks he can do everything by himself? That’s the vibe Harkins gave tonight.
Much like Colangelo got his first two goal game the night before – Sidorov got his tonight – but he did it in dramatic fashion. I have a very strong feeling that he will be leading the Gulls in game winning goals by seasons end.
Standings Update and Outlook
The win brings the Gulls out of the basement and into a three-way tie with Henderson, Coachella Valley and Ontario for second to last in the division (purposefully ignoring points percentage because we need this). It also saw them continue their strong play from the final period of the previous game – something you cannot always rely on from a San Diego team. The key element moving forward will be whether they can be consistent about keeping that strong play up. If this team gets their fore-check going – they can run over any team. They also have likely one more player yet to come down from Anaheim as right now Olen Zellweger appears to have won the job of the position left vacant by the unwell Jackson LaCombe but once LaCombe returns – it either means LaCombe gets sent to San Diego on conditioning loan – or I am betting Zellweger gets sent down to do more than just sit in the press box in Anaheim.
2024-2025 Game 25: San Diego Gulls at Tucson Roadrunners
Tucson, Arizona. After seeing their point streak ended at the hands of a 2-0 shut-out the …