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AHL San Diego Gulls

Gulls Edge Colorado to Improve to 4-0

February 14, 2021 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls won their fourth consecutive game with a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Eagles tonight at FivePoint Arena. With the victory, the Gulls improved to 4-0-0-0, matching the best start in club history (also 2015-16). San Diego also co-leads the AHL in wins (4) and points (8).

The victory marked San Diego's 100th win on home ice in club history (100-54-9-5), becoming the first Pacific Division club to accomplish the feat since the division's inception in 2015. San Diego leads the division in all-time home wins (100), points (214) and point percentage (.637).

With the win, Gulls Head Coach Kevin Dineen became the 22nd head coach in AHL history to reach 300 career wins. In 542 career AHL games as a head coach, Dineen has a 300-176-33-35 record with San Diego (2019-present) and Portland (2005-11). Dineen leads Anaheim's primary affiliate head coaches in all-time wins (169), points (375) and point percentage (.623). Dineen has led San Diego to a 34-19-6-2 record in 61 games as head coach.

Sam Carrick scored a power-play goal at the 5:39 mark of the second period to become the Gulls all-time leading scorer (73-85=158), surpassing Corey Tropp.

Vinni Lettieri scored two goals (2-0=2), becoming the fourth player in club history to score twice in his San Diego debut and the first since Troy Terry, Oct. 18, 2019; 2-1=3.

Chase De Leo recorded a primary assist on the power-play for his fifth point (2-3=5) of the season. De Leo leads San Diego in all-time scoring (4-7=11) and assists against Colorado.

Jamie Drysdale collected two assists to record his second career multi-point game and first career multi-assist effort. Drysdale now ranks tied for second among rookie defensemen in points (1-3=4), goals and assists.

Trevor Zegras recorded an assist to give him 2-4=6 points in his first four career AHL games. Zegras currently co-leads the AHL in points and assists.

Andrew Agozzino registered a primary assist in his Gulls debut.

Hunter Drew earned his first assist and point of the season.

Anthony Stolarz made 31 saves on 33 shots in his season debut to improve to a 4-1-0-0 all-time record against the Eagles.

San Diego will continue its season-opening six-game homestand tomorrow with the second game of the back-to-back weekend set against the Colorado Eagles Sunday, Feb. 14 (4 p.m.) at FivePoint Arena in Irvine, Calif.

POSTGAME QUOTES

SAN DIEGO GULLS

Vinni Lettieri

On playing with Gulls

It's a real good group. I've been keeping up with the box scores over the last few games. A lot of good talent down here and I played with a great line tonight. Stolie played unbelievable He's bene working his butt off every day and every practice, so it was showing off there on a couple of big saves. I obviously played with a good line and it was a good win

On playing with his linemates

It's obviously different going to a new team and trying to get the chemistry down. I didn't have a lot of time but I just know he's a hard working guy. When that happens you just trust your linemates and go off instincts

On adjustments for tomorrow

Something we could do better is just support each other. I think a few times we were too far away and we had to make cross-ice passes that were tough asks to make for anyone. So I just think supporting each other better pretty much solves all the other problems as far as just getting it deep or making plays off the rush. A lot of good blocks shots out there, I thought we battled back which is always great to see and you can't argue with a win. But yeah, there is always things to work on. From what I saw and what the coaching staff saw as well is just supporting each other.

Anthony Stolarz

On playing in his first game of the season

It was a long time coming. Just to get back on the ice, especially with a lot of the guys from last year and seeing guys from over the summer, getting to go out there and battle with them was a lot of fun. Tonight I was trying to get my feet underneath me and do anything I can to help the team get the two points.

On playing with new teammates

The defensemen did a good job of communicating with me on rims. I try to be as loud as possible, just trying to help them out, direct them and see if there are any plays, they can make that maybe they don't see. Communication was great and the forwards were coming back for us. We're sorting out anything in the defensive zone when we get a scramble.

Head Coach Kevin Dineen

On the power play

I think we had some good distribution. I think, when it's not working, we try to make plays before we find our structure. You have to have full possession before you're looking to make plays. I think tonight, we did that. Our first time through was a little rough, but we found our stride and once we get settled, we have the ability to make some good, crisp passes, some one touch passes. We wear that penalty kill down, find those open lanes and pucks at the net. It was a big win for our power play tonight.

On integrating new players into the lineup

The good part for us, the guys that we did integrate were Stolarz who we know well from last year in net, and Vinni Lettieri and Aggs (Andrew Agozzino). They're veteran players, they've got high hockey IQ. We've made a couple adjustments from the Ducks system, a couple little tweaks that we feel fit better for our team. You give them a quick little run down and you know what's great - not only do you give them a little rundown on that, but then you hear them talking about it with our guys. When you hear those internal conversations within the players, it makes it a little more seamless when you bring those guys in.

On his 300th career AHL win

Thanks for the scoop, I had no clue on that. That's a nice feather to have in your cap. It was funny I did a [Sirius NHL Radio interview] yesterday and Shane O'Brien was on the other end. I had him when he was a rotten little rookie and it was just so fun to catch up. Now he's got a little experience under his belt and has seen a lot of different things. You look back at the players that you have, the relationships that you've built and the texts that I still get from different players I've had over the years, including the [Canadian Women's Olympic] team, the women I keep in touch with as much as anybody. It's a great fraternity. I've worked with a lot of fabulous people and this year is no different. It's a pleasure to be around these guys every day. We work hard, but boy we have fun. Nice to hear that I reached a bit of a milestone there.

On Sam Carrick

There's no surprise he wears our 'C', and that's not because of tenure or stats. It's because of his character. When you have eight rookies in your lineup, you want to surround them with great quality people. You can't do much better than Sam. I'm really happy he and his brother get a chance to play together, that's a pretty special thing that not a heck of a lot of guys in professional hockey get to do, but between Sam and Trevor, they operate in a way that is a good lead to follow.

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