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AHL San Diego Gulls

Gulls Swamp Tucson, 6-2

December 1, 2019 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The Gulls defeated the Tucson Roadrunners 6-2 tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego. Tonight marked the seventh occasion San Diego has scored five goals or more, the fifth time on home ice. San Diego's 36 home goals mark the most through nine games in club history (35 in 2016-17). The Gulls have also scored 30 goals the last seven games dating to Nov. 13 (4.3 goals-per game).

The Gulls concluded their 12-game November schedule with an 8-3-1-0 record while they scored first in 11 of the 12 games. The eight November wins set a new club record, surpassing the 7-2-0-0 mark in November 2017.

San Diego did not allow a shot in the third period, the first time in franchise history an opponent did not record a shot on goal. Two shots were the previous low allowed in a single period (four times; last: Jan. 22 at Ontario).

Sam Carrick scored two goals to mark his second multi-goal game of the season (also Nov. 13 vs. SJ; 3-0=3). The game also marked his fourth multi-point effort of the season. Carrick now leads the Gulls in scoring (10-6=16) and goals while he has 9-2=11 points with a +11 rating his last 10 games.

Max Comtois tallied his third multi-assist game of the season (0-2=2) to now lead Gulls rookies in scoring (0-6=6) and assists. Comtois' six assists have come in his last seven games.

Daniel Sprong recorded two points (1-1=2) to mark his third multi-point effort of 2019-20. Sprong's goal at 18:28 of the first period marked his fifth of the campaign. He now has points in six of his last eight games (2-5=7).

Blake Pietila opened the scoring with an unassisted goal, his fourth of the season, at 3:41 of the first period. The goal marked the seventh straight contest San Diego has scored the game's first goal.

Alex Dostie scored for the third straight game at 2:55 of the second period, pushing his season total to seven goals. The three-game goal streak marks a career first for Dostie, who now has scored 6-2=8 points his last 10 games.

Chase De Leo capped off the scoring with his fourth goal of the season at 13:49 of the third period.

Simon Benoit, Jani Hakanpaa, Isac Lundestrom, Josh Mahura and Antoine Morand each added assists. Hakanpaa recorded a career and season-tying +4 rating (also Nov. 13 vs. San Jose).

Anthony Stolarz stopped 22 shots in his eighth win of the season. Stolarz completed the month of November with an 8-1-1 record and a 2.58 goals-against average and .919 save percentage.

The Gulls will open their 10-game December schedule against the Colorado Eagles on Saturday, Dec. 7 at Pechanga Arena San Diego (7 p.m.).

POSTGAME QUOTES

San Diego Gulls

Daniel Sprong

On the team's offensive production

I think we just played the right way and we had all four lines contributing tonight. I say we need to play as a team, and that's a good team on the other side. We played our game. We won another good bounce-back game after last night.

On his goal

I've scored like that in the NHL and in Juniors as well. Those spots need a lot of repetition, when you see the hole you know you can score against a lot of good goalies. It's nice to put them there.

On De Leo's goal

It was just a good bounce, but we'll take it. I think we got rewarded for that one. Chase (De Leo) was all over the puck tonight and deserved a goal. We got a 2-on-1 and I didn't have the lane to pass it. The puck bounced right to him and he earned that one.

On keys to continue winning

We just have to keep the quickness as a team, keep bonding and keep putting the work in. Things are going to go the right way.

Blake Pietila

On the team's offensive production

We have to stick with it. The goal is nice to have and a good confidence boost going forward.

On the game

We had everyone contributing, and they're a great team and we're a good team. We had a lot of fire power. We were able to keep them off the board for the most part.

On 8-3-1-0 November record

It's nice. After the start we had to the year, to be able to climb back and get back to .500, it's been a good month for us.

Sam Carrick

On the game

It was a great game from the goaltending on up. They are a good team and they have a lot of skill. We saw that for the most part, but I thought we did a good job of shutting them down and keeping them to the outside. We scored on our opportunities, so that always helps.

On the team's offensive production

I thought we had a really good game against Ontario, we just didn't get the results and that's going to happen sometimes. I think we wanted to continue to work on how we play and build off of that. We had a great start tonight and we played a full 60. They're going to get their chances every once in a while, but Stolarz stood up when he did have those chances.

On carrying momentum into December

I might have to keep the mustache. It was a good month. I think after the start we had in October, it's a good bounce back for us. We're still not where we want to be in the standings, so there's still a ton of work to do. It's a long season and now we are taking these last seven games going into Christmas, where we are looking to win those games. Every win is going to be big.

On having four lines contributing

We are looking to do that every night, not just some nights. We've seen it in spurts this season so you can pick and choose. It doesn't really matter what team we are playing. They're the first team in our division, and this is how we can play. This is a good confidence game for us. We know we can hang in there with any team in the league. This division is always so tight and the games are always so close, right down to the playoffs. I know it's far to be thinking about playoffs, but you have to be in this division because every team is so close.

Head Coach Kevin Dineen

On the game

They're a really good team. How quick they played, they kept coming to pucks hard and I just liked our response. They had a little (puck) management problem in the second period. We were given good opportunities. It's interesting, a guy gets sent down and usually there is a delayed reaction, but I love the way that Larsson and the whole defense played tonight. I think they were very solid. Obviously, up front, we found our oats. We have to get our power play going, but it's nice to create on the offensive side of things.

On the team's offensive production

Pucks on the net. You can keep saying that there's some kind of a system adjustment that we made, but when you put a focus on putting pucks on net, good things tend to follow. There were some really nice plays that were made tonight and that's one way of looking at it. We played really well. I was happy with the way we played in Ontario. I don't think we played a 60-minute game, but I really liked our response tonight. We came out and felt like we left some points on the table last night, but we were going to make sure that we took care of business against a very good team.

On defeating the Pacific Division and Conference leader

We want to be the Western Conference leader. We are a third of the way through the season and there's still a lot of hockey left. For us, we feel like that if we play our top game then we'll compete against anybody. Another long week for us, but it's nice sitting on a very solid win.

On Jacob Larsson

I had a really quick chat with him before the game. I don't know how long he is going to be here. No different than when anybody gets sent down. I told him that I was going to throw him right in the fire and he gave us a really solid game.

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