2024-2025 Game 18: San Diego Gulls vs Tucson Roadrunners

San Diego California. Looking to finish the month of November on a high the San Diego Gulls welcomed the Roadrunners into Pechanga Arena after suffering five straight losses in the time between meeting them in Tucson last.

Returning from illness Coach McIlvane opted to place Pavol Regenda on the fourth line alongside Jan Mysak and Jaxsen Wiebe. Keeping the top line intact he swapped Sasha Pastujob and Yegor Sidirov on the second and third lines.

Defensive pairings remained the same, meaning Rodwin Dionicio sat out his second straight game.

Calle Clang got the start – backed up by Oscar Dansk.

The injury list grew one body longer as Travis Howe was announced as out with an upper body injury, joining Dillon Heatherington and Carson Meyer on the medical ward. Newly recalled Anthony Costantini was the only other healthy scratch.

First Period:

With the Gulls first golden chance coming just 45 seconds into the game courtesy of Nathan Gaucher setting up Judd Caulfield but seeing the puck sail wide – it seemed like a good omen to start but it was all Roadrunners after that and a very tired fourth line gave up the first goal as Pavol Regenda failed to clear when he had the chance to and the visitors struck first. 1-0 Roadrunners.

San Diego manage to come back with a push to halt any further momentum on the Roadrunners part and then calmed things down to play some good man to man defense in their own zone as time passed by the midway point of the period.

The Gulls didn’t really generate another high danger chance until the final minute of the period when again – the Caulfield and Gaucher combination saw this time Nathan Gaucher fire a one-timer from the left side but it was stopped.

San Diego entering the first intermission down by one and trailing in shots 10-6. The shot map showing Tucson generating high danger chances in front at a 4-1 advantage.

Second Period: Tuscon Roadrunners 1 – San Diego Gulls 0

Turning the tide – the Gulls started the period well and carried it right through as they dominated play and shots for the first twelve minutes of action. The hard work by the Gaucher trio continued as they were again the most dangerous line out there but that slowly filtered through to the others as San Diego held the Tucson zone shift after shift.

Time started to become their enemy as the score remained 1-0 to the visitors and frustrations stated to mount but did not overwhelm the Gulls and they were rewarded with the games first Power Play.

The man advantage started off well – with Lopina winning the offensive zone face-off and the set-play was executed at a 90% success rate but the shot did not fall the Gulls way. San Diego struggled to enter the zone again after the Roadrunners cleared – a clear example of which was Tristan Luneau making a successful carry through the neutral zone and able to enter the offensive zone himself but instead opting to loop and drop pass to Yegor Sidorov who promptly had it stripped from him as he tried to enter at the left side.

Tucson in turn were given a Power Play also but the Gulls played a perfect penalty kill – clogging the neutral zone and turning away zone entries at will.

As play returned to five on five San Diego again took back momentum and saw out the period with a distinct advantage in opportunities but as often the case in the most recent losing streak – frustratingly came close but could not find the back of the net. A scoreless second frame seeing them enter the second intermission still down by one but clawing back the shot disparity to 17-13 overall as they were an even 7-7 on the period. The shot map showing the Gulls having the better of the chances down low while keeping Tucson to the perimeter in their own zone.

Third Period: Tucson Roadrunners 1 – San Diego Gulls 0

A terrible start to the third saw the Roadrunners double up on their lead as a counter to the Gulls four man rush saw them out of sorts the other way. A lack of defensive bodies saw Calle Clang desperately trying to locate a puck as it bounced around his crease and then finally put behind him. 2-0 Roadrunners.

Again the Gulls tried to respond but again were frustrated in the Tucson zone – with any chance looking extremely unlikely given how much time and space they were allowed.

It took until the 11:43 mark but the Gulls finally earned another Power Play on a rare odd-man rush lead by Tristan Luneau that saw Nikita Nesterenko hooked as he attempted to finish the play in the crease.

San Diego did a better job of staying in the Tucson zone on this sequence of the man advantage but again could not get a decent high danger chance as the Roadrunners completely collapsed in front of their goaltender.

Again the Roadrunners were given a Power Play in response as the man out of the box was hooked as he drove to the net from the corner and the resulting power play a risky three man rush cost the Gulls as Kailer Yamamoto made them look silly in response, able to dangle and collect a loose puck and swing it by Clang with San Diego bodies lying harmlessly around him. 3-0 Roadrunners.

The Gulls pulled Clang with just over a minute left and spent the entire time in the Tucson zone but still somehow could not solve their goaltender Matt Villalta – just as it seemed they would come close they were thwarted by a stick at the last moment and you had to wonder how many of those plays were legal.

None the less they were handed their sixth straight loss in a game which saw them appear to take strides in tidying up their defensive structure at home but at the expense of their offense.

Post Game Notes:

Ducks New Development Plan?

Tyson Hinds has been the new astronaut this season as he has spent the last two weeks on the I5 Shuttle but he doesn’t seem likely to see action with the Ducks with Helleson already filling in for the injury to Vaakanainen. From social media videos you can see he has been taking part in team practices all the same – so perhaps this is a new part of the Ducks development plan moving forward? Are they preparing Hinds for a role with the big club in the near future by integrating him slowly? Watch this space.

Power Play Zone Entries

I get it – in today’s modern game Power Play zone entries are easier said than done with teams studying tape on other teams various methods of entry and setting plays to counter it. I get that the puck-carrier drop pass seems to be the new hotness to attempt to break through a potential neutral zone trap but for the life of me players need to know when to trust their own judgement and “use the force” instead of the targeting computer. Even BJ McPherson said as much on the broadcast when Tristan Luneau had a clear opening as well as speed on his carry through the neutral zone in the second period – a rare occasion in which I agreed with McPherson.

Free Dionicio

Dionicio appears to be back in the dog box and the only circumstance I can think of for the reason why is the incident in a game a week or so ago when he dropped his stick on a play and expected a call but none came. I get a one game punishment benching for the youngster but how long this time?