Gulls Edge Steelheads, 3-1

Published on March 27, 2004 under ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


BOISE, Idaho – The Gulls continued to roll over their ECHL competition, closing out their season series against the Idaho Steelheads with a 3-1 victory. The Blue and Orange are now unbeaten in 14 of their last 15 games and are just one point away from locking up first place in the Pacific Division.

It was another hard-fought game between two bitter rivals, but the Gulls got goals from Samy Nasreddine and David Neale and Trevor Koenig shut the door on the Steelhead offense to hand San Diego the two points.

The Gulls (45-13-10) have now reached the 100-point plateau for the sixth time in nine years under Head Coach Steve Martinson, and are now just one point away from clinching the Pacific Division. A loss by the Las Vegas Wranglers, who were in action against the Bakersfield Condors Saturday night, would also lock up the division for the Blue and Orange. San Diego leads the Western Conference by four points over the Louisiana IceGators and remains two points behind the Wheeling Nailers for the top spot in the ECHL.

Idaho (38-22-8) has now dropped five of its last six games and remains in third place in the Pacific Division.

The Steelheads grabbed the early lead on Derek Padget's 11th goal of the season. Off the face-off, the puck was pushed back behind the Gulls net. After a scum ensued the puck found its way out into the slot where Padget raced in and tipped it home to grab the early lead, 7:01 into the first.

San Diego evened things up, 11:00 into the first, on a Samy Nasreddine tally. Greg Barber brought the puck down the ice before sliding a cross-ice pass to Nasreddine, who knocked a wrister past Idaho netminder Scott Kabotoff for his 10th goal of the season. Sylvain Deschatelets also garnered an assist on the play, extending his scoring streak to an ECHL season-high 22 games.

The Gulls' high-flying offense continued 13:45 into the first, when David Neale continued his recent strong play, netting his eighth tally of the season to give San Diego the lead. Neale picked up a loose puck behind the Idaho net and launched a wrap-around shot that beat Kabotoff for the Gulls' second marker of the evening. The two teams settled into a defensive struggle in the middle frame, playing mostly neutral-zone hockey for the majority of the period. Other than a handful of scuffles, there was little on-ice action as the two teams combined for just 17 shots on goal - only five by the Gulls - during the frame.

The defensive struggle continued into the third period as both teams continued to play it safe, careful to stay out of the penalty box in a one-goal game. With 1:33 left in the game, Idaho pulled Kabotoff in favor of the extra skater. Nasreddine and fellow blue liner, Eric Skaug, tightened up the defense, however, and Koenig turned away several last-second shots to keep the Steelheads off the scoreboard. To put a capper on the evening, Deschatelets knocked home an empty-netter with just three seconds remaining for the second straight night, handing the Gulls the 3-1 victory.

Notes: San Diego needs just one more victory to tie the 1991-92 Toledo Storm for the ECHL record for wins by an expansion team... The Gulls are unbeaten in 14 of their last 15 games (10-1-4) and 44 of their last 40 games (36-6-8)... San Diego is 41-10-5 against Pacific Division teams... Deschatelets has 35 points during his point streak (13g, 22a). The 22-game streak is tops in the ECHL this season... Koenig is unbeaten in 24 of his last 26 games (18-2-6)... Clayton Read has five points (4g, 1a) in his last three games... Nasreddine's first-period goal was his tenth of the season, a new career high... Trent Clark was scratched for Saturday's game... Chris Gobert was added to the seven-day injured list, retroactive to Wednesday, with an upper-leg injury... Martinson returned to the bench Saturday night after serving a five-game suspension... Sandro Sbrocca also returned to the lineup after finishing a three-game suspension... Billy Tibbetts was loaned to the AHL's Houston Aeros last Saturday... Nick Lent remains with the AHL's Springfield Falcons, while Josh Gratton is still with the AHL's Cincinnati Mighty Ducks... Dennis Purdie remains on the injured list...

The Gulls head to Fresno on Monday to take on the Falcons with the puck dropping at 7 p.m. before returning home to play the Las Vegas Wranglers on Wednesday, March 31. All games can be heard live on KPOP 1360AM and www.sandiegogulls.com with Chris Ello calling the play-by-play. The next edition of the Gulls Internet Radio show, hosted by Tera Black and Jeremy Zager on wsRadio.com, will air live Monday, April 5 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. To view pictures from this season, visit www.sdgullsphotos.com and www.zerodogentertainment.com.

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