Gulls Blank Vegas, 1-0

December 27, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


LAS VEGAS – Brian Gornick scored the game's only goal early in the second period and Mathieu Chouinard was perfect in net, leading the San Diego Gulls to a 1-0 victory over the Las Vegas Wranglers Sunday night at the Orleans Arena.

This game figured to be tight all the way. San Diego came into the game having played six straight one-goal games and 19 of Las Vegas' 25 games heading into Sunday's contest were one-goal decisions. Well, make it seven straight one-goal games for the Gulls and 20 of 26 one-goal affairs for the Wranglers.

Brian Gornick scored the lone goal for the Gulls, who have now won 10 of their last 13 games. More importantly, San Diego (14-8-2) moves into sole possession of second place in the West Division, one point ahead of the idle Idaho Steelheads and Long Beach Ice Dogs. Las Vegas (11-11-4) is now winless in its last three games and remains sixth in the West, two points back of the fourth-place Alaska Aces.

Chouinard, who was returned from the American Hockey League's Cincinnati Mighty Ducks last week, made Gornick's goal stand-up as he steered aside all 30 shots. It was his 12th career shutout and first as a Gull.

Teams skated to a scoreless first period thanks in large part to Chouinard, who turned aside 16 shots in the opening frame, a bunch of which came at point blank range. On the other side was Vegas goaltender Sebastien Centomo, who stopped all 10 San Diego shots.

San Diego, however, dented the scoreboard with a power-play marker 3:53 into the second period. With former Gull Billy Tibbetts serving a minor penalty, the Blue and Orange went to work on the man advantage. After battling for the puck behind the Wranglers net, Sylvain Deschatelets whipped a pass to Evgueni Nourislamov, stationed just inside the blue line. Brian Gornick then redirected Nourislamov's ensuing wrist shot behind a screened Centomo for his seventh goal of the season.

Besides that, offense pretty much remained at a standstill through the rest of middle frame. And when there were scoring opportunities, both goaltenders were ready and waiting. Chouinard was perfect through two periods, stopping all 23 shots thrown at him. Meanwhile Centomo, only letting in Gornick's redirection, had a two-period total of 19 saves.

The trend continued in the third period, which was just fine with Chouinard and company. The Gulls' defense, just as solid as their netminder, held Vegas to only seven shots in the final frame and kept its scoring chances to the bare minimum. Centomo finished the game with 24 saves, but suffered the hard-luck loss.

Notes: San Diego is 10-3-0 in its last 13 games, outscoring its opponents 47-32 during that span... The Gulls are now 4-6-1 on the road and 10-2-1 at home... The Blue and Orange average 4.43 goals a game when they win, but just 1.5 goals a game when they lose... San Diego had allowed 12 power-play goals in its previous seven games... The Gulls are just two points behind last season's pace. They wound up with a franchise record 108 points in 2003-04... Chouinard was returned from Cincinnati on Tuesday... Nourislamov was returned Tuesday from the AHL's Syracuse Crunch... Jonathon Shockey was placed on the 30-day injured list Dec. 19 with a shoulder injury... Mark Pederson was placed on the seven-day injured list Tuesday with a back injury. He's expected back for San Diego's next game... Sean Murphy returned to lineup after sitting out a month with a fractured knuckle...

The Gulls conclude their road trip with a pair of games, Wednesday and Friday, against the Aces, with both starting at 8:15 PST. San Diego then comes home to face the Bakersfield Condors Sunday, Jan. 2 at 5:05 p.m. It will be another "Kids Night" featuring "Skate with the Gulls" immediately follow the game. ALL THREE UPCOMING GAMES WILL BE TELEVISED LIVE ON THE GULLS' WEB SITE, VIA B2 NETWORKS.

All games can be heard live on KLSD 1360AM and www.sandiegogulls.com with Chris Ello calling the play-by-play. All home games and many road games can be viewed on the Gulls' web site, courtesy of B2 Networks. Click the B2 Networks link on the home page for a list of the upcoming telecasted games. To view pictures from this season, visit www.sdgullsphotos.com and www.zerodogentertainment.com.



ECHL Stories from December 27, 2004


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