AHL San Diego Gulls

Gulls Stay Hot at Home as Newcomer McParland Chips in

Published on December 28, 2018 under American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The Gulls won their fourth straight home game and extended their standings point streak to a season-high six games with a 4-3 win over the Bakersfield Condors at Pechanga Arena San Diego. The four consecutive wins at home sets a new season high and marks the longest home win streak since a six-game win streak from Feb. 3-Mar. 2, 2018. San Diego's six straight games with a point (4-0-0-2, 10 points) marks the longest standings point streak since the club won eight straight games from Jan. 26-Feb. 17, 2018; 8-0-0-0.

The Gulls 10-5-1-1 (22 points) record on home ice this season sets a new club record for points through 17 games at the halfway mark of the home schedule and matches the most wins through the first 17 games (also 2017-18, 10-7-0-0).

Kevin Boyle made 27 saves to win his fourth straight game and ninth overall this season. The four-game win streak is Boyle's longest since a career best six-game win streak from Jan. 27-Feb. 17, 2018.

Steve McParland scored his first goal as a Gull in his San Diego debut at 18:51 of the second period. McParland signed a professional tryout earlier today after scoring 10-13=23 points in 28 games with the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL.

Scott Moldenhauer recorded his first AHL point (assist) with the primary assist on the McParland goal. Jake Marchment earned the other assist, his second in four games this season.

Jaycob Megna netted his second goal of the season to tie the game at two goals apiece at 4:55 of the third period. Megna has recorded a point in four of his last five games (1-3=4). Tonight marked Megna's 200th game with San Diego to become the first Gull to hit the milestone.

Andy Welinski set a new career high with his a goal for the third straight game, his fifth goal of the season and fourth on the power play. Welinski has scored 3-1=4 points during the three-game goal and point streak.

Troy Terry earned an assist on the Welinski power-play goal, pushing his point streak to seven games (2-6=8). Terry continues to lead the club in assists (17) and co-leads San Diego in scoring 10-17=27).

Sam Carrick tied a single-season career best with his team-leading 16th goal to match his 16 goals in 2015-16 with Toronto. His team-leading fifth power-play goal, also the game-winning goal at 13:43 of the third period, extended his career high goal scoring streak to five straight games (6-2=8). He also extended his point streak to a season high seven games (7-4=11). Carrick continues to pace the Gulls in goals and co-leads the club in scoring (16-11=27).

Kalle Kossila earned two assists (0-2=2), his fifth multi-point game, to push his point streak to three games (2-5=7). Kossila has recorded six points his last two games (2-4=6) and has 7-11=18 points in 16 games.

Chase De Leo earned an assist and point for the fourth straight game (1-4=5), one game shy of his personal best five-game point streak set from Mar. 31-Apr. 15, 2018 (1-5=6) while with Manitoba.

Luke Schenn collected his sixth assist and eighth point of the campaign, and has 1-2=3 points his last four games.

Ben Thomson appeared in his 300th career AHL game.

Tonight's attendance was 8,514.

The Gulls will open a three-game road trip vs. Bakersfield on Saturday, Dec. 29 at Rabobank Arena (7 p.m.). San Diego will also visit San Jose on Dec. 30 at SAP Center (5 p.m.) and return to Bakersfield on Jan. 2, 2019 (6:30 p.m.).

POSTGAME QUOTES

San Diego Gulls

Andy Welinski

On the power play

We work so hard to get shots from the middle of the ice. Having [Kalle] Kossila and [Troy] Terry on either side of me is good there because they can make plays. We've got [Max Jones] in front of the net and he's getting in the goalies eyes. It makes my job easy when the goalie can't see it coming in.

On the win

I think we're finding a little bit of an identity. We found out really quick tonight, if we get away from the simple things and the keys to our success, we'll struggle a little bit like we did in the first period. I thought we did a good job of responding and getting back to the things that we were doing so well before the break. I think that was the big difference in the second period there. That was the difference in the game and we started to turn the table a little bit.

Steve McParland

On joining the Gulls

It was fun. It was a good experience. I had quite a travel day yesterday so it was nice to get into the rink and get a skate in. The guys were very welcoming.

On his goal

I just tried to keep my feet moving and finish my hits. When I got the puck, keep it going forward, keep it going north. Our line had some success with that. We got caught in the defensive zone but I think we started out pretty well. When we had the chance to go, we did.

On the crowd

The crowd was so loud. They bring a lot of energy for us.

Head Coach Dallas Eakins

On the win

I thought we were quite sloppy in the first period. We had a little chat about it in between periods and we just wanted to get back to our good habits and good competitiveness that we had going into the break. Good on the group. They regrouped and were able to come back and do what was necessary to get the win.

On Steve McParland's goal

We needed a gritty goal. It was a really simple play and it was great for those guys to go out and get us started.

On Kevin Boyle

He's been excellent. Tonight, he made saves when we needed them. That is something that is critical for any team that is winning hockey games, their goaltender is better than the other one. Kevin certainly showed that tonight.

On the five-minute power play

Going into the game we knew we weren't going to get many power plays. They don't take many penalties. We wanted to be excellent early. I was a little worried because they were doing a great job killing the penalty. They were very aggressive, but the great thing about power play is we only need to get loose once and it can be in the back of the net. Thankfully, we were able to get loose twice.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 28, 2018


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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