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AHL San Diego Gulls

Gulls Breakout in Third to Top Tucson

February 5, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls defeated the Tucson Roadrunners 5-3 Friday night at Pechanga Arena San Diego. The Gulls scored three goals in the third period, the most goals scored in a third period by San Diego this season, to break a 2-2 tie enroute to the victory.

Danny O'Regan set a new career high with a four-point performance (1-3=4), while matching his career best with three assists. O'Regan's goal marked the first shorthanded goal of his AHL career and his assist on Bryce Kindopp's second period power-play goal moved him into a tie for the team lead in power-play scoring with 4-4=8 points.

Greg Printz recorded a career-high three-point night (1-2=3) for his first multi-point and multi-assist game of his AHL career. Printz earned assists in back-to-back games (1-3=4) for the first time in his AHL career and has recorded 2-3=5 points over his last four games.

Nikolas Brouillard scored his seventh goal of the season to draw into a tied for the AHL goal scoring lead among defensemen. Brouillard's 7-12=19 points leads Gulls blueliners, while ranking tied for second among all club skaters in points (19), third in assists (12) and tied for fourth in goals (7).

Brogan Rafferty earned his second multi-point contest of the season with 0-2=2 points. His assist on Bryce Kindopp's second period power-play goal marked his seventh power-play assist of the year to lead the team, while his 1-7=8 points on the man advantage are tied for the team lead.

Bryce Kindopp scored his fifth goal and first power-play goal of the season, while Brendan Guhle netted his second goal and first game-winning goal of the campaign. Jacob Perreault earned an assist to climb to second on the club in scoring with 8-11=19 points.

Lukas Dostal stopped 27-of-30 shots for his seventh victory of the campaign.

The Gulls continue their weekend back-to-back with the Tucson Roadrunners Saturday, Feb. 5 at Pechanga Arena San Diego (7 p.m. PT).

POSTGAME QUOTES

San Diego Gulls

Head Coach Joel Bouchard

On the feeling in the locker room after the win:

Like I've told the guys, it's six losses, but it was with so many moving parts. Not too many guys lost all the six games. We had five guys coming from the NHL-they just lost one so it's a different time in our life and I didn't want to let the losing streak affect the effort that was done before. It's nice to some of the guys that lost six in a row, but they weren't losses where we got dominated. I feel guys clung in there and we've talked about a few losses to say 'remember when we win next time, the feeling that it's going to be' and it was tonight. So, it's a good feeling. The guys really responded well in there second and third and we got some bounces that, you know, we liked tonight because we pushed hard and created those bounces, forced them in the third period by making good action.

On what clicked for the team between the first and second periods:

We had a bit of a talk, but it was not, it was like 'I've been there, I've played the game'. There's not one guy there that's going to tell me how it is to be in the American League. I was called up, I was a young guy in the minors, I've had to go back down, I had to go back down later in my career. I know what that is. A lot of moving parts in the AHL. You don't coach in the AHL like you would in the NHL or even Junior, USHL, college- it's a moving target and it's the same thing for everybody, but this year more than ever and for the last month and a half for us, it's been kind of what it is. The guys felt the last few weeks has been getting into them mentally too and we refresh and changed the lines. We had a plan and from the first shift, I felt the guys were, we had more energy. So, it worked tonight.

On what it does for the team when a veteran leader like Danny O'Regan contributes offensively:

That's what you're looking for. When you're in a bit of a jam here, you need some guys to step up and Danny O did step up for sure. Yeah, he did and again, you look at Danny O'Regan and you look at Larsson and you look at Lettieri and Dostal- those guys didn't play that much the last few weeks. Like, you know, they didn't get much. For Danny O, he came back with us for a few games and gets called up and doesn't really play, goes to the taxi squad. So, it's nice to see guys in the right mindset and get their game back so that, tonight, I saw a lot of good things. Again, Wednesday against Colorado, we've talked about that and we didn't get the result, but it was a lot of positive and I feel tonight we connected second and third on those positives.

On what he is looking for from the team tomorrow to ensure another win:

Looking for a team that's got a bit of a monkey off their back and can keep gelling together. They're a fast team so we need to be better in some areas. That being said, I want them to enjoy it a little bit tonight. It's been a battle, guys. I admit, it's been hard. Guys have been good, the attitude has been good. We have guys that play off position. Even tonight- Kodie Curran came up front and played really good for two periods. We needed help in front and he came in with Lettieri and Groulx and he was really good. Guys have been buying into what we've been doing. So, I want them to enjoy tonight, but obviously, I'm going to ask for a little bit more tomorrow on some few areas, but I want that same spirit, that same sticking together and fight that they did tonight.

Danny O'Regan

On what allowed him to do so well tonight:

You know, we were just trying to play the right way. I got a few bounces that I think I maybe had coming. You never complain when things are going your way and I was just fortunate enough to be on the ice for a few good plays with my teammates and we were able to capitalize, which has been something we haven't been doing great lately. So, it was great.

On what he saw before scoring his shorthanded goal:

Well, a big thing we try to do on the penalty kill is pressure them, especially when they don't have full control. I forget which d (defense) were out there with me, but as a four-man unit we did a good job pressuring, made them rim the puck around. Then, I kind of was just able to get the puck off the guy, stick-handle around a guy and Printzy (Printz) did the rest. He showed a lot of poise and he made some eye contact with me. I could tell he was coming to me with that puck and he found the seam. It was a really, really great pass. I had the whole net so it was a great play by him.

On Greg Printz's career-night and what his contributions do for the team:

Yeah, it's awesome. It's great to see a guy that works that hard every game and doesn't always get rewarded on the stat sheet. All the guys really get up for that stuff. That's always great to see. They deserve it, they're working hard at practice and games every day, blocking shots and to see them, to see a guy like Greg finally get rewarded for that is just great to see. He deserved it.

On the feeling in the locker room after breaking the losing streak:

It was definitely nice. It was a long time coming. It's been a difficult start to the season. We've had, not to make excuses, but we've had guys in and out every day, practices, games and it's hard to get a good rhythm going if you're playing with different guys on your line or in the lineup. So, hopefully we can build on this. We deserved that win and those are tied third period, we haven't done well with that in the past so I think that was really big to find a way to win that game and hopefully carry that momentum onto the second half.

On what the team needs to do to get the same result against Tucson tomorrow:

I don't think we played a perfect game. We can clean up a few details, but luckily, a few of them are pretty simple. Just kind of keeping the other team in front of us. They're a really good team on the rush and just a few more details like that we could be sharper on and now that the offense is clicking, which has been a problem for us maybe lately, if we could just focus on the defensive and transition side of things, we could play a complete sixty minutes and end this first half on a really good note.

Greg Printz

On today's game:

I think I was just working hard. Been working hard for the last couple games. And just, pucks started to bounce our way a little bit. But it's a good team effort, a lot of props to the guys I was playing with. Playing with a bunch of different guys tonight. We had a good night.

On working hard and getting rewarded:

Yeah, it feels great. We didn't get many bounces as a team, that kind happens when you're on a losing streak. But we got one under our belts, so the bounces started come our way and I think we a can get a little bit of run here.

On the message between the first and second periods:

We just came out a little bit flat in the first period, so that is kind of his (Joel Bouchard) message. He's like, 'It's a one-nothing game. We don't want a six-game losing streak going on. We need to start to start turning this around now, so there's no time to waste. We can't lose seven in a row.' So that was pretty much the message. We can't have the same period like the first. We gotta come out with some energy and try to get some goals on the board and then, a big fight by Hunts (Hunter Drew) in the middle of the period. I think that got us going and we scored five after that, so just a huge momentum swing.

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