Gulls Beat Vegas In OT, 2-1

Published on April 1, 2004 under ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


SAN DIEGO – Overtime has been a bug-a-boo for the San Diego Gulls all season, but they turned the tables Wednesday night defeating the Las Vegas Wranglers 2-1, before 3,954 at the Sports Arena.

It was a defensive struggle all game long. The Gulls took a 1-0 lead midway through the second period, before Las Vegas tied it minutes later. That's how it would stay until Brian Gornick gave San Diego the two points with his overtime tally 1:52 into the extra frame.

Win the win, the Gulls (47-13-10) move into a tie with the Wheeling Nailers for the best overall record in the ECHL. Both teams have 104 points, but Wheeling owns the tiebreaker with more wins. The Nailers have 50 wins, while the most wins the Gulls can get are 49.

Even with the overtime setback, the Wranglers (42-21-7) clinch home-ice advantage in the first round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs. Their one point Wednesday combined with Idaho's loss in Bakersfield gives Las Vegas the second seed in the Pacific Division.

The only bad news for the Gulls is that Sylvain Deschatelets failed to score a point, snapping his career-high and ECHL season high 23-game point streak.

After a scoreless first period, San Diego finally broke the stalemate 10:38 into the second on a power-play goal by Greg Barber. Mark Pederson started the play when he picked the puck off the end boards and centered it to Gornick, standing in between the hash marks. Gornick then tapped a pass to a wide-open Barber, who one-timed it past a sprawled Dany Sabourin for his 30th goal of the season.

Las Vegas quickly tied it at 13:16 on Joff Kehler's first professional goal. It came on a lucky bounce though as Kehler's shot deflected off David Neale's skate and caught Trevor Koenig out of position. Eric Skaug had possession of the puck behind the net, but his ensuing clearing pass hit Kehler in the shoulder and fell to the ice. The Wranglers rookie pounced on it in the left wing circle and flung a shot that pin-balled its way into the net.

Both teams settled down defensively from there, keeping it a 1-1 game through the remainder of regulation. The Gulls had a couple of power play chances in the third period to regain their lead, but couldn't muster a sustained attack. Meanwhile, it too was a struggle for the Wranglers, as San Diego's stingy defense kept them in check.

The Gulls, however, would find some offense early in overtime and it was enough to give them the victory. Dan Cousineau had the puck just inside the blue line and fired a shot that was blocked by Clayton Read, standing a few feet away from the crease. Read then dumped it to Gornick, who launched it past a screened Sabourin for the game-winning tally. It was Gornick's sixth goal in a San Diego uniform.

Notes: Deschatelets had 37 points (13g, 24a) during his 23-game point streak. The Gulls' franchise record for longest point streak remains at 26 games, set by Kyle Reeves in 1997-98... Barber was named to the All-Rookie Team Wednesday... Koenig is unbeaten in 26 of his last 28 games (20-2-6)... Read has a six-game point streak (5g, 4a)... Gornick has nine points in his last six games (4g, 5a)... The Gulls have won six in a row and are unbeaten in 16 of their last 17 games (12-1-4)... They've lost in regulation only three times in their last 36 games (26-3-7) and six times in their last 52 games (38-6-8)... San Diego is 29-5-1 at the Sports Arena this season... Rookie Paul Caponigri was signed... Kevin Grant was placed on the injured list, retroactive to Sunday. He joins Chris Gobert, Dennis Purdie and Jamie Black... San Diego still has three players in the American Hockey League: Billy Tibbetts (Houston), Nick Lent (Springfield) and Josh Gratton (Cincinnati)...

The Gulls close out the regular season with a pair of games this weekend. Friday, San Diego will be in Bakersfield, with game-time set for 7 p.m. The season finale will be right back at the Sports Arena Saturday against the Alaska Aces, the Gulls' first-round playoff opponent. Saturday's game begins at 7:05 p.m. and will be Fan Appreciation night. Free Gulls T-shirts, courtesy of the San Diego Hall of Champions, will be given to the first 9,000 fans. All games can be heard live on KPOP 1360AM and www.sandiegogulls.com with Chris Ello calling the play-by-play. The next edition of the Gulls Internet Radio show, hosted by Tera Black and Jeremy Zager on wsRadio.com, will air live Monday from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. To view pictures from this season, visit www.sdgullsphotos.com and www.zerodogentertainment.com.

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