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AHL San Diego Gulls

Gulls Extend Point Streak to 15 with 2-1 Victory

January 17, 2019 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The Gulls extended their club record point streak to 15 games with a 2-1 victory over the Texas Stars at Pechanga Arena San Diego. San Diego's 15 consecutive games with a point (12-0-1-2) is the longest point streak in the AHL this season and one shy of tying the longest such streak in the AHL last season. San Diego also won its sixth straight home game.

San Diego's 45 points are the most recorded through the team's first 36 games in club history, while the 20 wins match the previous highs of 20 set through 36 games in both 2017-18 and 2016-17. The Gulls 12-5-1-1 record (26 points) on home ice this season marks the most wins and points in club history through 19 home games.

Kevin Boyle stopped 26-of-27 shots to win his sixth straight home starts. Boyle has won 11 of his last 12 games overall (11-0-1), posting a 2.16 goals-against average and .926 save percentage. With his 16th win of the season, Boyle now ranks tied for second among AHL goaltenders in wins.

Corey Tropp scored his ninth goal of the season at 15:34 of the first period.

Adam Cracknell scored his second shorthanded goal of the season at 17:32 of the first period, his eighth goal overall this season. He added an assist to mark his fifth multi-point game to push his goal and point streak to four games (4-4=8).

Trevor Murphy also earned an assist on the Tropp goal, his 19th point (7-12=19). Murphy has collected six points (2-4=6) in nine games since joining the Gulls on Dec. 28.

Sam Steel recorded the lone assist on Cracknell's shorthanded goal, his first career shorthanded point and 20th point of 2018-19. Steel has now picked up six points (2-4=6) his last six contests.

Forty-seven different players have dressed in a game for San Diego this season, including 44 skaters, both highest in the AHL this season. Patrick Eaves made his Gulls debut after being assigned by the Anaheim Ducks to San Diego on a long-term injury conditioning loan earlier today. Kiefer Sherwood made his season debut after scoring 5-5=10 points in 46 games with Anaheim this season.

Tonight's attendance was 7,207. The Gulls will conclude their January home schedule on Saturday, Jan. 19 vs. Bakersfield (7 p.m.).

POSTGAME QUOTES

San Diego Gulls

Patrick Eaves

On his first game

It was good. I played with two great players, [Ben] Street and Chase De Leo. They made it easy on me tonight. It was fun to be a part of.

On the third period penalty kill

It was a huge kill for us at that time of the game. Guys were blocking shots and we ended up gaining momentum off of it. It was hard sacrifice and hard plays by our guys and we killed it off. That was huge.

On joining the team in the midst of a long point streak

I can see why they've had success recently. They're all dialed in. Everyone is on the same page. It was fun to be a part of. I just tried to jump in and keep the snowball going. I had a lot of fun tonight. It was fun the way we played and I just enjoyed the whole night.

On Kevin Boyle

In the first period, he didn't have much action, but when he did it seemed like it was a two-on-one or something. He was mentally strong in the first and then just a calming effect the rest of the game. He was square, he knew where rebounds were going and that gave us a lot of confidence.

Adam Cracknell

On Corey Tropp's goal

We want to establish a lot of shots and movement on the power play. [Trevor] Murphy did a great job keeping that in and moving it quick to me. [Corey] Tropp found that area and if you move it quick, you're going to catch guys out of position. It was a great job and he got the finish. It was big, especially with Tropp coming back into the lineup.

On the six-game home winning streak

We want to establish that we have a good home presence here. We never want to get pushed around in our own rink. I think that's been our mentality throughout this stretch, even when we go to away barns we want to play just as hard, if not harder, just to take their crowd out of it. The guys just have this mentality at home and on the road that we want to establish that we want teams to play with us, not us playing with them.

On Kevin Boyle

He's huge for our confidence knowing that if he can see it, he's going to stop it. He made some unbelievable saves. We've tried to lower their quality of chances. If we keep them to the outside and pick up their sticks, he's going to do a good job with his rebound control. It's a great effort by everyone but you need your goaltender to go on streaks like this and he's been providing that for us right now.

Head Coach Dallas Eakins

On the six-game home win streak

Our fan support is amazing, they're always with us, even on our down times. They're always out there pushing us along. We're very comfortable here, we love playing at home. I think our record at home over the previous three years shows that.

On new players in the lineup

I'll tell you what, the resiliency of this group over this last little bit. Lots of guys in the lineup, out of the lineup, guys up, guys down. Having Patrick Eaves come in and play his first game in a long time was fun to watch. A guy like that who has been out of the lineup and played very few games. Just to see him enjoying playing is huge. Getting Jake Dotchin back. Him and Kiefer have both been through a tough time up top. They've been struggling to win and for them to come in and contribute like they did here today and us find success, I think really lifts them up as well.

On special teams

We're still trying to get better on the penalty kill. I thought overall we did a really good job. They did get one, but I thought our killers came up massive during that four-minute kill. I though our power play had some great looks and the guys that we have killing are dangerous if they get loose.

Check out the San Diego Gulls Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from January 17, 2019


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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