Sports stats



AHL San Diego Gulls

Elvenes, Gulls Sneak past Stockton

January 20, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls downed the Stockton Heat 3-2 tonight at Stockton Arena to extend their win streak into a third game (3-0-0-0). The Gulls have earned standings points in five of their first six contests to begin the 2022 calendar year (4-1-1-0).

Lucas Elvenes matched his career best with a three-assist night (0-3=3) for his first multi-point game as a Gull and now has 1-4=5 points in four games with the Gulls.

Brent Gates Jr. opened the scoring with his second goal of the season at 6:48 of the first period. Gates has earned 2-3=5 points in six games with San Diego since signing with the club on Dec. 31.

Axel Andersson and Greg Printz each scored their second goals of the campaign. Printz's goal established a new career high while Andersson matched his career best.

Jack Badini and Brayden Tracey earned assists. Tracey's helper marked his 15th assist on the year and he continues to lead the Gulls in scoring with 9-15=24 points. Among AHL rookie leaders, Tracey ranks eighth in points, tied for eighth in goals and tied for 10th in assists.

Francis Marotte stopped 28-of-30 shots for his third straight victory and has backstopped the Gulls to standings points in four of his first five AHL starts (3-1-1-0). During his current three-game winning streak, Marotte has posted a 2.34 goals against average with a .931 save percentage.

The Gulls make their first-ever trip to Abbotsford, British Columbia for a weekend back-to-back with the Canucks beginning Saturday, Jan. 22 at Abbotsford Centre (7 p.m.)

POSTGAME QUOTES

San Diego Gulls

Assistant Coach Daniel Jacob

On the team's mindset entering tonight's game facing so much adversity:

We wanted to make sure the guys would stick together. That was the main thing. You know, whatever would happen we wanted to stay positive, we wanted to stay upbeat, we wanted to keep the shifts short. We needed to simplify that game and I think we've done that from the start.

On their game frustrating Stockton:

Yeah, we wanted to make sure the puck got deep so we could establish our forecheck, but I think our habits really showed tonight. You know, we came out hard. We got some routes, we had good sticks, and, you know, it's about us. It's about making sure we take care of both blue lines, that we can establish our style from the start. That's what we've done in San Jose, and we really wanted to focus on the first five minutes, which we've done, and set the tone for the rest of the game.

On the penalty kill:

We give them so much information before the game. We were really proud as a staff that they took everything in and all the little details: the sticks positioning, the d-men coming out to block shots. We've seen it even in the five-on-six, guys paid the price. They were desperate to get that puck out. So proud of them.

On tonight's win moving forward:

It's big. We knew they're a good team. They're a mature team. We've been saying that since day one, but, again, the focus was on us. Making sure that everybody provided something, and they did. Everybody stepped up their game. Everybody made sure that they brought a little something to the table and we're really proud of them. It's huge. Like we said from the beginning, it's not about the win, it's the way we won and tonight's a great example.

Trevor Carrick

On how this win demonstrated the team's simple approach to the game:

That was the game plan going into it and obviously, thin lineup for us. When you're going into this barn with this team, they've got a good team over there, so the game plan was juts to work hard, stay together and stick to our game plan and the guys just did a hell of a job tonight.

On what earning back-to-back wins will do for the team:

It's fun to see. The guys are coming together right now. It's fun to watch, it's fun to be apart of. We're having some adversity in the team right now and guys are overcoming it, guys are stepping up. It's been fun right now. We've got a good challenge going to Canada there against Abbotsford so hopefully we can keep it going here.

On the key to shutting down Stockton's offense:

I think a team like that, they run on offense. They run off the rush and in the first period they had some good chances. Hitting their d (defense) late and getting some chances off the rush, but as the game went on, we kind of tightened up. Our forwards were getting back, we were stopping them off the rush and when we're playing in their end, they get frustrated too. They don't want us, a team that doesn't like to play in their own end. Our forwards were hounding them in their end, behind their own net and they were just doing a great job so props to them.

Check out the San Diego Gulls Statistics

• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...

American Hockey League Stories from January 20, 2022


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central