Gulls Stumble against Ontario
April 14, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release
The San Diego Gulls dropped a 5-1 decision to the Ontario Reign Wednesday night at Pechanga Arena San Diego. Despite the setback, the Gulls have earned standings points in 10 of their last 14 games (8-4-1-1) and sit two points from clinching the final playoff position in the Pacific Division.
Benoit-Oliver Groulx scored his 11th goal of the season at 8:07 of the second period to establish a new single-season career high.
Trevor Carrick and Greg Printz each tallied assists on Groulx's goal. Carrick has earned assists in four of his last six games (0-7=7).
Lukas Dostal made 23 saves in the setback.
The Gulls continue their three-game set against the Ontario Reign with a weekend home-and-home series starting Friday, Apr. 15 at Toyota Arena (7 p.m.).
POSTGAME QUOTES
San Diego Gulls
Head Coach Joel Bouchard
On special teams being the difference tonight:
I've got to give credit to two big shots from one of the better players in the American League. I don't think it's a 5-1 game. I think we were right there on a few plays. I think we didn't open up, we did what we had to do in some ways, but we need to be better in some other areas. At the end of the day, I think it's good learning. The last couple games- I don't think they've been terrible. We've been moving guys in and out of the lineup and changing guys' positions and I feel our structure is still there. We're going to take a day off tomorrow and go back at it on Friday. We're at that time of the year where I don't mind us going through this right now.
On Blake McLaughlin's AHL debut:
Well, he came out buzzing. You like to see a young guy coming in and all our young guys that we got from the NCAA program have been getting in the game pretty comfortable. I like that he hunts pucks, he works hard. It's tough, right? I mean they get in and they've got to feel it out, but it was all positive like it's been for all the young guys that have been joining us.
On the third period:
I think we made a couple of mistakes and they capitalized on it. I don't think they were dominating us whatsoever. They're a good team and it was the same thing in the last weekend in Abbotsford. I don't think the third was terrible, but then you make mistakes and like I said, we're paying cash for our mistakes right now, which is not a bad thing. It's part of that growing that we talk about. We're right there. Want to take it for what it is. I think the guys need the day off tomorrow. We need to refresh and relax. We've been going hard at it for a little bit there to get a little adversity. Things are not always going to go our way, that's part of hockey, right? You want it to happen now, this is the time (for it) to happen.
Greg Pateryn
On his first game back from injury:
Yeah, it was great to be back out there with everyone. It's been a long time and, you know, when you're injured you kind of get a little isolated, so it was good to be back in the mix the last week or two. Definitely really excited to be back out there with the guys.
On the playoff intensity on the ice:
The pace has definitely picked up in the last couple months. So, you know the guys have been doing a good job of keeping up with that pace and doing some good things while I was gone. So definitely a little bit of an increase in the pace, but I'm glad with the way that we've responded.
On improving on the penalty kill:
You know we got to take away that shooter. We've got to be more aware of where he is on the ice. We know what they like to do and we just got to be better about executing our defensive structure. I think that can be a big area that we clean up coming into Friday.
On how close this game really was:
Yeah, I don't think it was a 5-1 game. I think they had some opportunities and they scored, and we didn't on ours. That was the difference maker in the game. You know, that's just how it goes. It's a game of one, two, three mistakes and they pile up and the score becomes 5-1 like that. So, I don't think it was that far off, but I think we can find some areas to improve for this weekend.
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