2024-2025 Game 14: San Diego Gulls vs Bakersfield Condors

San Diego, California. Coming home for a Saturday night match with their northern rivals from Bakersfield the Gulls tried to put aside the lingering taste of a bitter heart breaking defeat to the Barracuda.

With Drew Helleson and Jansen Harkins still up with the Ducks and producing in their recent win over the Red Wings, Coach Matt McIlvane kept the bottom six together but switched up the top two lines – switching Nikita Nesterneko and Pavol Regenda on the top two lines.

Defensive pairings remained the same.

Calle Clang was once again given the start after his win over San Jose a few days before.

Travis Howe remained a healthy scratch and was joined by the recently recalled Roman Kinal while Dillon Heatherington remained out with an upper body injury.

First Period:

San Diego started the period with attrition – throwing the body and immediately putting the Condors on the back-foot but were found guilty of the the games first penalty as Rodwin Dionicio was called for hooking.

The Gulls were aggressive on the kill and forty seconds into it evened things up when Carson Meyer was tripped attempting to get to a loose puck. As San Diego held possession during the four on four sequence then entered the Condors zone to finish their abbreviated man advantage – a beautiful passing play saw Ryan Carpenter finish an easy tap in goal at the left post to make it 1-0 Gulls.

The goal should have sparked San Diego in front of their home crowd but achieved the opposite affect – as it was all Condors for the next few minutes and the Gulls seemingly forgot how to play defense.

As time passed over the midway point of the period it was 4-1 Condors and the end of Calle Clangs night – surrendering four goals on nine shots.

The Gulls tried to push back after the goal but were physically out-matched and as the Condors rugged defender Josh Brown laid a cheap shot on Yegor Sidorov by the Gulls bench – Nathan Gaucher stood up for his team-mate but was vastly out of his weight class in the bout.

The Condors added insult to injury by following up the fight by adding another goal to their tally – beating Dansk down the left side. 5-1 Condors.

With just under five minutes left in the period the Gulls mounted enough of a somewhat disjointed attack to earn a Power Play as the Condors James Stefan was called for slashing.

San Diego were unable to convert on the minor but carried forward momentum to hold tentative possession in the Bakersfield zone and as the final thirty seconds counted down to end the period Captain Ryan Carpenter found himself in the right place at the right time once again to receive a pass and bury it for his second of the night. 5-2 Condors.

San Diego leaving the first period with a lot of work to do in front of their home crowd after allowing a five goal barrage in the first twenty minutes of play, shots were 16-7 for the Condors and the shot map a hilarious display of non-existent defense on the right side.

Second Period: Bakersfield Condors 5 – San Diego Gulls 2

Despite San Diego enjoying much of the possession to start the middle frame a quick Condors counter-rush at the five minute mark ended up in the back of their net as Dansk could not contain the rebound. 6-2 Condors.

San Diego did manage to respond although not on the score sheet – they kept the Condors in their zone but again did not find it as easy to score goals as their opponent and the score remain unchanged at the thirteen minute mark.

As the Gulls frustration and desperation mounted it felt like the inevitable calls would come and that they did as Carson Meyer was called for goaltender interference trying to provide a moving screen on a rush. Just as it was noted on the broadcast that the Gulls were yet to score a short handed tally this season – Pavol Regenda provided the goods as he finished off a play started by Tristan Luneau who smartly received a pass after a zone entry, drove down low and fired a low hard shot to create the rebound in front. 6-3 Condors.

The Condors bounced right back – finishing a back-door play on the remaining seven seconds of their man advantage as Tyson Hinds failed to track the man that snuck in behind him. 7-4 Condors.

The final buzzer sounding and seeing a five on five scuffle as the Condors players took exception to a last second blast from the red line on their net. The Gulls playing better – in that they did not surrender five goals – but still down by four as they went to the second intermission. Shots were 13-9 Condors on the period and 29-16 overall.

Third Period: Bakersfield Condors 7 – San Diego Gulls 3

Staring down a four goal deficit but well aware they have been able to surmount that kind of adversity before the Gulls started the period strong as Tristan Luneau drew a holding call.

Once again San Diego was unable to convert but kept up the sustained pressure in the Bakersfield zone as time quickly became their enemy.

Nathan Gaucher had his stick slashed in half as he crashed the net to get to a loose puck in front and the Gulls went back to the man advantage. The officials appeared to be in a generous mood as they awarded a slashing call to the Condors Captain Drake Caggiula and this time the Gulls converted on the two man advantage. Sam Colangelo – the AHL player of the month – staying hot as he wound up and wired a huge one-timer. 7-4 Condors.

With over a minute left on the remaining Power Play the Gulls gained the zone and set up – looking like a slick five man unit they perfectly set up a shooting lane for Roland McKeown to have time and space in the high slot to wire a shot by Condors netminder Colin Delia. 7-5 Condors.

Bakersfield managed to settle things down as play returned to five on five and once again the clock became the enemy of the Gulls as they searched for two more goals. Another infraction – this time on both sides as Judd Caulfield was hit with a blindside head-high hit at the blue line that he took exception to lead to matching penalties that saw teams skate at four on four. The extra space allowed created the perfect opportunity for the Gulls hottest forward make his mark again as Sam Colangelo gained the Condors zone, weaved through three players before losing the puck in the slot but Josh Lopina was there to back him up – stopping and sending a shot high past the Condors netminder to make it a one goal game with under five minutes left. 7-6 Condors.

Just as time ticked over the minute forty mark it felt like the Gulls had possibly jumped the gun when they pulled Dansk for the extra attacker but some last minute heroics were still in store as Roland McKeown spotted Rodwin Dionicio sneaking low into the zone and found him right at the goal line. The rookie defender making no mistake to tie things up at seven and send the Pechanga fans into a frenzy. 7-7 tie game.

A final slice of adversity appeared in the form of Nathan Gaucher sending the puck over the glass after an aggressive response from the Condors saw the Gulls need to finish regulation while down a man but they managed to keep it even at seven to head to overtime.

Overtime

Starting the overtime session on the penalty kill the Gulls faced some initial pressure but were able to survive and erase the minor before heading to the attack. They pressed but could not get the go-ahead goal against Delia so we headed to the shoot-out.

Shoot-out

Starting first, the Condors went with Petrov who was stopped by Dansk on the left side.

The Gulls countered with Nesterenko who lost the handle at the last moment.

The Condors next went with the veteran Drake Cagguila who beat Dansk to put the pressure on the Gulls next shooter – Yegor Sidirov who started fast then slowed and undressed Delia to tie it up.

But Matt Savoie retook the lead on a move that Dansk did not see coming and all the pressure resided on Sam Colangelos shoulders whose side to side move was stopped to give the Condors the win.

Post Game Notes:

Do The Gulls Forget How Defense Works At Home?

The Gulls have allowed 21 goals at home through three games and 33 goals on the road through ten. So they have allowed 7 goals per game at home and 3.3 on the road, they allow more than double the amount of goals at home then they do on the road. Why? Less pressure on the road? It really makes no sense.

Standings Update Sad Face Huge Comebacks Happy Face

With the Gulls having some breaks in the schedule it has allowed the other Pacific Division teams to catch up with some depressing results. San Diego is just slightly above the Silver Knights for last in the division with the extra point gained in tonight’s overtime loss but they are not completely out of the picture yet. The Reign currently hold the seventh and final spot with just one point separating them and the next three teams above them. While San Diego is just four points back of the Reign, they do – as I have mentioned previously – need to start stringing back to back wins together if they have any hope of keeping up with the pace.

That said – the fact that this is the second time they have made this kind of come-back does give a lot of hope for the rest of the season. It is becoming evident that they might be out-classed by experience in a lot of games – they can counter that with youthful skill and enthusiam. It is only a matter of time before they put it all together and play like they did in the third of this game (and the previous four goal third period come back) all game to completely dominate opponents from start to finish.

Sorry Captain Sam I Got a New Fav Sam

Sam Colangelo is developing at a rate that I will admit is a huge surprise. He is a threat whenever on the ice and his hands, speed and skating are leaps and bounds above the competition on most nights. I will admit I did not expect this kind of utter league dominance from him – but then again I didn’t follow his College career that closely. Right now he is a very important spark plug in a Gulls team that requires a lot of heroic skill and I am sad to say that as Derek Lee noted in his most recent injury-update for the Ducks, we might not be enjoying his services for much longer with Dante Fabbri out 4-6 weeks. That does mean a Sasha Pastujov call up so it’s not all bad and the way that all of the players are clicking right now it is very heartening to see that no doubt somebody will take up the mantle – I just hope we won’t be without Colangelo for too long that it hurts the race to stay in the Playoff picture.