Gulls Fall In Bakersfield Again, 4-1

Published on March 3, 2005 under ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The San Diego Gulls' playoff push hit another roadblock Wednesday night as they fell again to the Bakersfield Condors 4-1 at Rabobank Arena. The Gulls are seven points out of a playoff spot now with only 17 games left in the regular season.

Allowing too many shots has been one of San Diego's biggest bug-a-boos of late. The trend continued again Wednesday, as the Condors out-shot the Gulls 45-25. San Diego was out-shot 49-16 in its last game Sunday against the Idaho Steelheads.

More importantly, the Gulls (28-21-6) lose another chance to gain ground in the West Division. They stay seven points behind the Fresno Falcons for the last playoff position in the division, which means two wins are crucial in their upcoming home-and-home series against the Falcons. The Condors (32-15-9) are now tied with the Long Beach Ice Dogs for second place in the West, only one point back of the first-place Alaska Aces.

Bakersfield opened up an early 2-0 lead thanks to goals by former Gull Ashlee Langdone and Condors newcomer Mathieu Brunelle. Meanwhile, San Diego's offense was getting shut down yet again. The Blue and Orange were out-shot 15-3 in the first, marking the third straight period that they've only registered three shots on goal (dating back to Sunday's game against Idaho).

Langdone got the Condors going 4:51 into the opening frame with his third goal of the season, two of which have come against the Gulls. It happened on a broken play, as Luis Tremblay partially fanned on his initial shot. Kevin St. Jacques, however, picked up the rolling puck and whipped a pass across the crease to Langdone, who punched it past goaltender Eddy Ferhi.

Brunelle, who was recently acquired from the Dayton Bombers, gave Bakersfield a two-goal cushion with a power-play marker at 12:23 of the first. After receiving a pass from Brett Lutes, Brunelle rocketed a shot into the upper left corner of the net for his 16th goal of the season, second with the Condors. St. Jacques earned his second assist of the game on the play.

Dennis Shiryaev made it a 3-0 game 2:55 into the second period with his 12th goal of the year. Vlad Serov got the original shot that Ferhi stopped, but Shiryaev quickly hopped on the rebound and jammed it home.

At the other end of the ice, Bakersfield netminder Yutaka Fukufuji remained perfect. He barely had to break a sweat in the first period, but was a bit busier in the second, as the Gulls threw more pucks on net. San Diego registered 15 shots in the middle period, but Fukufuji handled them all, retaining the Condors' three-goal lead. He finished the contest stopping 24 of 25 shots.

Ryan Gillis put the game away 11:58 into the third period, converting on Shiryaev's setup feed. While standing uncontested in the right circle, Gillis grabbed Shiryaev's pass and flung it past Ferhi, who finished the game with 41 saves.

Joel Stepp, who was assigned by the American Hockey League's Cincinnati Mighty Ducks earlier in the day, spoiled Fukufuji's shutout bid with just 5.6 seconds left on the clock. Sylvain Deschatelets and Grady Moore garnered assists.

Notes: The Gulls finished the season series against the Condors with a 3-4-2 record, but 0-4-0 in Bakersfield... They are 21-3-1 when scoring four-plus goals in a game, but just 7-18-5 when scoring three or less... San Diego has only out-shot its opponent three times since the all-star break (18 games)... The Gulls are 7-10-2 in their last 19 games... Deschatelets (1g, 8a) has nine points in the last six games... Andrew Canzanello was also assigned by Cincinnati... Moore was activated from the injured list after missing the last four games with a concussion... Curtis Brown, who missed his third straight game with a leg injury, is likely to return Friday in Fresno... Mike Garrow (concussion), Evgueni Nourislamov (thumb), Chris Lynch (knee) and Nick Ganga (knee) also remain out of the lineup...

San Diego now turns its attention to a big home-and-home series against the Falcons. The Gulls will play in Fresno Friday at 7 p.m. before hosting the Falcons Saturday at 7:05 p.m. Saturday's home game will be Disco Night and the first 6,000 fans in attendance will receive a special Gulls disco wig.

All games can be heard live on KLSD 1360AM and www.sandiegogulls.com with Chris Ello calling the play-by-play. All home games and most remaining road games can be viewed on the Gulls' web site, courtesy of B2 Networks. Click the B2 Networks link on the home page for a list of the upcoming telecasted games. To view pictures from this season, visit www.sdgullsphotos.com and www.zerodogentertainment.com.

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