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AHL San Diego Gulls

Gulls Downed by Reign

January 14, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls fell 3-1 to the Ontario Reign tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego, bringing their record to 11-25-0-0 overall and 4-14-0-0 at home.

Michael Del Zotto scored the Gulls' third shorthanded goal in their last two games and the fifth shorthanded tally over their last six contests, setting the record for the most shorthanded goals scored by San Diego over a six-game span in team history. Del Zotto also extended his point streak to five games on the goal (2-3=5), which marks the first shorthanded goal of his American Hockey League career and his second shorthanded point in two games (1-1=2).

Rocco Grimaldi recorded an assist on the play for 2-1=3 shorthanded points in his last two games, setting a career-high for shorthanded points in a season and posting 2-2=4 total points in his last two contests. Grimaldi's 14-22=36 points rank him first among San Diego skaters in goals and scoring, while ranking him tied for first on the team in assists.

Drew Helleson earned the secondary assist on the play for 0-6=6 assists in his last eight games

The Gulls went 2-for-3 on the penalty kill tonight, stopping 8-of-9 of their opponent's chances on the power play over their last two games. In addition, San Diego owns a 91.3% kill rate over their last five games (21-for-23) and an overall kill rate of 82.0% this season, ranking fourth in the AHL's Pacific Division and seventh in the Western Conference.

Lukas Dostal made 35 saves on 37 shots in the loss, recording a 1.79 goals-against average and .954 save percentage over his last five games.

The Gulls continue their home-and-home series against the Reign tomorrow in Ontario at Toyota Arena (6 p.m. PST).

POSTGAME QUOTES

SAN DIEGO GULLS

Head Coach Roy Sommer

On the team's slow start

Yeah, I mean, it was almost a duplicate of San Jose except we weren't down 2-0, but the shots are lopsided, and I think the offensive possession for them was, you know, pretty clear. You know, when you get anywhere out shot 18-1 or whatever, 18-3. Then again, we came out in the second and I think the first six, seven shots were ours, and you know, we started getting some momentum and then we take the too many men penalty, and that kind of set us back a little bit because I thought we were going pretty good then. But I'm gonna give it to them. I mean, they, you know, outskated us for the most part. Won the 50-50 battles, you know, especially early on. You know, they're good hockey club. You know, that's a good hockey club.

On the team's recent ability to score shorthanded

Yeah, I mean, you know, what an effort by (Gulls defenseman Michael) Del Zotto, you know, goes end-to-end on a wraparound and you don't see that much. That's an NHL move right there. But no, he was really good. You know, (Gulls defenseman Drew) Helleson was good. But, you know, to beat a team like that we have to more guys bring their 'A' game. We just can't be average against them. They're too good and they skate too well. You know, you got to be able to skate, and we weren't willing to do that in the first.

On how the team can improve its slow starts

I don't know. I mean, we've tried everything. It's got to come within. I mean, when the puck's dropped, I thought we had a great crowd tonight. They were into it, you know, we got to fight right off the start. Kind of got momentum going and then just didn't respond to it. You know, it's sad because we're, you know, you play in front of a crowd like that you think there'd be, you know, chomping at the bit to get out there and start the game. We just kind of (need to) start starting on time. You know, we do that up there tomorrow, and we're probably going to be in trouble.

On where the team can improve in tomorrow's rematch against Ontario

You know, I think through the neutral zone, we got to clean that up. I thought they did a really good job. We turned too many pucks over and when we did get behind him, we were going to their goalie, and they were coming right out. I thought that we got to be a lot tighter in the in the d(efensive) zone and we do too many long east-to-west passes. When we're coming out of our own end, and you know, we're making 10-15-foot passes and we're slashing through, we're pretty effective, and didn't have enough of that tonight.

Center Benoit-Olivier Groulx

On the team's slow starts in the last two games

I'm really sick and tired of our starts and that has to change from the next game and we're literally killing ourselves with our starts, especially against a team like Ontario. If we have a bad start, you know, it's probably not gonna go our way. So, we're gonna look at some film tonight. I'm gonna look at some film tonight for sure and we'll be ready, be ready tomorrow.

On the team's recent ability to score shorthanded goals

I think we're just on the same page. We're playing it really, really easy. We don't have some crazy system or whatever. We're just all on the same page and we got really good penalty killers on this team. So when Dels (Gulls defenseman Michael Del Zotto) takes the puck and just slides like that, it makes it really easy for me and Rocco just to see maybe get some points or score some goals or bring some offense on the PK (penalty kill). So, I think we just got to stick to that.

On generating more shots tomorrow against Ontario

I think we're working at three high really well, but I think sometimes, we're getting a little bit too cute. We're trying to beat guys one-on-one at the blueline and sometimes we're creating a turnover instead of just finding the shooting lane (and) put it out the net. More often than not, we always have someone at the net, and I don't think this goalie is really good at controlling his rebounding and even seeing through traffic, so I think if we do that tomorrow, we're going to score some more for sure.

On if tomorrow's travel to Ontario will help the team's start

I don't think so. I think we just gotta go back to the basics, to be honest. Right now, we're turning the puck over way too much at the red line and the blue line and that's killing us and against a team like Ontario who has a lot of skills, a lot of speed. It's really hard to play against these guys when we're playing that way. I think if we just get back to the basics; I know it's gonna sound like a cliché but putting the puck low, hit some bodies, get some shots at the net. Against a team with skill like that, we're gonna beat them for sure with our with our forecheck and or heaviness down low. So I think that's a key.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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