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AHL San Diego Gulls

Gulls Continue Torrid Stretch, Defeat Tucson 4-1

March 4, 2017 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


SAN DIEGO - The San Diego Gulls (32-14-2-2, 66 pts.) won their fourth consecutive game with a 4-1 victory over the Tucson Roadrunners (22-22-6-0; 50 pts.) in front of 8,755 fans at Valley View Casino Center on Friday night. Twelve different San Diego skaters recorded a point and rookie goaltender Kevin Boyle (7-3-3) made 35 saves and improved to 7-1-2 his last 10 starts with a 2.21 goals-against average (GAA), .925 save percentage (SV%) and one shutout.

"I thought our goaltender played an excellent game," said Gulls head coach Dallas Eakins. "We scored some very timely goals as well that really slowed any momentum Tucson tried to generate tonight."

With the victory, San Diego ranks third among Western Conference leaders with a .680 win percentage and fourth overall in the AHL. San Diego earned its seventh victory in nine contests against the Roadrunners (7-1-0-1) and has outscored Tucson 38-20 in the process.

The Gulls have now won 14 of their last 16 contests (14-2-0), 21 of the last 24 (21-3-0-1) and earned standings points in 20 of the last 22 games overall (19-2-0-1). San Diego has also earned a 9-1-0 record the last 10 home games at Valley View Casino Center.

The Gulls opened the scoring at 7:08 of the opening frame on the power play when Keaton Thompson picked the right top right corner of the net for his third goal of the season. Recently acquired forward Sam Carrick picked up an assist on the play and extended his point streak to four game, the second four-game point streak (1-34) of his campaign (Last: Feb. 2-10).

Later in the stanza Nick Sorensen doubled San Diego's lead at 15:29 as he deflected Tyler Morley's pass through Tucson goaltender Marek Langhamer. Boyle played a huge role in the first stanza as his 11 saves in the period made sure the Gulls took their 2-0 lead into the dressing room after one period of play.

"They were firing shots from every angle early on tonight," said Boyle. "That's the kind of thing you hope for as a goalie. I got into a rhythm and settled in from there."

Brian Cooper extended San Diego's advantage to 3-0 at 3:23 of the middle frame when his wrist shot found a way past a screened Langhamer. The goal was Cooper's first since Jan. 25 against Tucson and Kevin Roy earned an assist on the tally to give him 1-910 points in his last 11 games. After the goal, Langhamer (4-7-1) was replaced by Adin Hill after surrendering three goals on 11 shots. Hill finished the rest of the game with 16 saves on 17 shots in 23:37 of action.

With Scott Sabourin serving a double-minor for high-sticking at 5:57 of the middle frame, Tucson got on the board when Dysin Mayo's slapshot beat a sliding Boyle for his first AHL goal at 7:36 of the second period. The teams traded chances throughout the rest of the period, but big saves from Boyle and Langhamer kept the score 3-1 heading into the final 20 minutes.

Only 3:39 into the third frame, Corey Tropp pushed San Diego's lead to 4-1 as he took a feed from Kalle Kossila, skated past a Tucson defenseman and beat Hill with a snapshot over the right shoulder. The goal extends Tropp's point streak to four-games (3-36) and gives him 7-1017 points over the last 14 games. The Finnish rookie Kossila (0-11) is tied for second among all AHL rookies with 28 assists and now has 5-1318 points in his last 20 games.

San Diego hits the road this weekend to kick off a home-and-home series against the San Jose Barracuda at SAP Center on Sunday, Mar. 5 (5 p.m.). The Gulls return home to conclude the two-game set on Wednesday, Mar. 8 at Valley View Casino Center (7 p.m.). Fans can purchase tickets by visiting AXS.com/Gulls or by phone at (619) 359-4730.

NOTES : Andy Welinski tallied his 18th assist of the season and has 0-44 assists in the last three games...Kyle MacKinnon (0-11) registered his first assist of the season...Tyler Morley, Jordan Samuels-Thomas and Antoine Laganiere also recorded assists for the Gulls...San Diego improved to 14-0-0-0 when allowing one goal or less this season and has allowed the second-fewest goals (127) in the AHL behind only San Jose.

Three Stars :

1. Kevin Boyle (SD)

2. Keaton Thompson (SD)

3. Jordan Samuels-Thomas (SD)

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