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AHL San Diego Gulls

Gulls' Comeback Earns a Point

October 27, 2018 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The Gulls fell 5-4 to the Stockton Heat in a 14-round shootout, but erased the largest deficit in club history with four unanswered goals to earn a point. San Diego extended its point streak to four games (3-0-0-1, seven points).

The Gulls trailed 4-0 at 15:15 of the second period but scored four consecutive goals to tie the game and force overtime, overcoming the largest deficit in Gulls history while earning a point. The Gulls had previously overcome a deficit of three goals on three occasions, winning each (last: Jan. 17, 2018 at Tucson, trailed 3-0 at 9:35 of the second period; won 5-3).

The 14-round shootout marked the longest shootout in Gulls history.

Jared Coreau stopped all 23 shots faced in 45 minutes of relief of Kevin Boyle, including 11 shootout attempts (11-of-14). Coreau stopped a penalty shot attempt by Spencer Foo at 4:47 of the second period, the fifth penalty shot attempt against in Gulls history (4-for-5, .800%). The attempt marked the first since Reto Berra stopped Sam Herr on Mar. 2, 2018 vs. Ontario.

Luke Gazdic scored his first two goals of the season in the second period, his first goals for San Diego. The two goals tied his AHL career high and marked his first multi-goal game since Mar. 4, 2012 with Texas at Abbottsford (2-0=2). He also tied a career high with two points set on 10 previous occasions (last: Feb. 25, 2017 with Albany at St. John's). Gazdic now has three points in two games with San Diego (2-1=3).

Giovanni Fiore scored his third goal of the season to cut the deficit to 4-3, and Kalle Kossila netted his first goal of the campaign in his season debut to tie the game at 4-4. Kossila led San Diego in scoring last season, earning career highs in points (31-33=54) and goals.

Sam Carrick earned an assist to extend his season-opening point streak to six games (5-4=9). Carrick is the first Gull to score a point in each of San Diego's first six games to open a season. The point streak also matched Carrick's six-game point streak from Feb. 14-Mar. 2, 2018 (4-6=10). Carrick also netted one of san Diego's shootout attempts (also Chase De Leo).

Troy Terry earned an assist to extend his point streak to three straight games (3-3=6). Terry has earned points in each of his first three career AHL games with San Diego.

Corey Tropp tallied an assist and is now riding a four-game point streak (1-4=5). Max Jones earned an assist for the second consecutive game and third his past two games (0-3=3). Jones has earned three points in his first three career AHL games. Deven Sideroff earned his first career multi-point game with two assists. Sideroff has earned assists in back-to-back games (0-3=3). Simon Benoit and Jacob Larsson each earned assists.

Tonight's attendance was 6,768.

POSTGAME QUOTES

San Diego Gulls

Luke Gazdic

On scoring against his former team

It felt good. We put ourselves in a hole early and as a fourth-line guy I just wanted to help the team in any way I could. I got some great plays by Deven [Sideroff] and [Alex Dostie] there on my line, getting me the puck. I'm thankful they went in and it was against my former team. We showed some resiliency coming back. It was just tough we couldn't get the result at the end.

On the team's response to giving up four goals in the first period

It wasn't too negative to be honest. I thought we came out of the gates hot. Dallas [Eakins] wasn't super negative with us. He told us to keep trucking along here. One big thing was staying out of the penalty box. You can't win a game when you're killing the whole time. We cleaned that up and started chipping away and eventually made that come back. It sucks to fall short though.

On Jared Coreau's penalty shot save

He was great for us coming in. He's a big body in there and for a big guy he is very athletic. You can see it on that breakaway there. Not only that, but in the shootout, he made a handful, 10, 12 beautiful saves. He was there for us and I thought he did a great job tonight

On the comeback

We have a great locker room. We have a good mix of some young players and some veterans in there that can take the bull by the horns. When something needs to get done, we can really lead the way. It was nice to see we didn't roll over. We fought tooth and nail to climb back into it and we'll try to build on that tomorrow night.

Head Coach Dallas Eakins

On the comeback

That first period was a crazy one. We're down 4-0 and I thought we had played alright, a couple of unfortunate bounces. The only negative was our penalty kill letting a seam pass come through. It wasn't a time to yell or scream. The guys kept up on the bench. I thought our room was solid in between periods and we began just to chip away for it.

On the message to his team after giving up four first period goals

I went through what we worked on in practice this week. All the things we worked on in practice, we were excellent at it in the first period. The first goal was kind of like a knuckleball that dipped on our goalie. The second was a broken play. They did score a nice goal on the power play, but overall, 5-on-5, I thought we were playing well so I reiterated that to them. This isn't a big fire drill right now. Let's just come back out, stick with our vision and our values, and continue to play 5-on-5 like we had. We needed a goal or two out of our power play and it's always interesting where you get your goals. Dostie, Gazdic and Sideroff come out and they're able to chip in two right away. That's what you need. You need everybody contributing.

On Coreau's penalty shot save

That's what you need in every game. It's those moments when this game can swing one way or the other. Obviously, he was good there and he was excellent in the shootout and that's encouraging to see.

On playing from behind

You're never out of a game. When we went through exhibition and the first game of the season, you can't hold a lead. It is hard to hold any kind of lead now. You are never, ever out of the game. That's why it's always important to not quit or not mail it in when its 4-0. All you need is one or two to get going and you're never sure where it's going to go.

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American Hockey League Stories from October 27, 2018


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