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AHL San Diego Gulls

Gulls Tipped in Shootout

January 5, 2020 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The Gulls fell 2-1 in a five-round shootout tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego.

Sam Carrick opened the scoring at 10:42 of the first period, extending his AHL goal streak to three games (4-0=4, +4). Carrick has posted 13 points his last 12 games with the Gulls (11-2=13, +13).

Alex Dostie picked up his fourth point the last five games with the primary assist on the Carrick goal (2-2=4).

Anthony Stolarz stopped 26-of-27 shots in regulation and overtime, and also stopped three shootout attempts.

Stolarz also earned an assist on the Carrick goal, his third assist of the season, and second his last three starts. His three assists in 2019-20 set a new single-season Gulls record in addition to the Gulls all-time record for assists by a goaltender, surpassing the previous mark of two set by Kevin Boyle (2018-19) and Matt Hackett (2015-16).

San Diego's season-long five-game homestand continues Wednesday, Jan. 8 vs. the Iowa Wild (7 p.m.).

POSTGAME QUOTES

San Diego Gulls

Anthony Stolarz

On the first period

Our first period was one of the better ones in the year. We didn't give them too much, they didn't have many grade A opportunities. I thought we did a good job of getting pucks in deep and working the cycle and slowing them down.

On the defensive effort

We had a good effort all night. We were reloading and making sure that they're defenseman will jump up in the rush and make plays. The defensemen did a great job of staying up on their gaps and being aggressive and not letting Bakersfield get the odd-man rushes and getting the puck behind us.

On the penalty kill

They definitely blocked shots. We did a great job tonight of blocking shots, we didn't give Bouchard too many chances to wind up and take a big slapshot, so that's always key. Tonight we did a good job of clearing the puck when we had the puck in our defensive zone.

On what to build on from the game

This was one of our better games of the year. You look at the comparisons from the first period last night and the first period tonight, if we continue this trend and play this way and play the right way, we're going to win a lot of hockey games. Right now, the biggest thing is we have a lot of games coming up so we just have to maintain our consistency and take care of our bodies, and let things take care of themselves.

On three-on-three hockey

It's definitely fun. I'd rather a continuous with three-on-three than go to the shootout. The back-and-forth action gets fans out of their seats. It's kind of like a pick-up game, like you're playing with your buddies. As a goalie, you never know when you get the chance to fire one up and make a play.

Chase De Leo

On the first period

Obviously you're never happy after losses. Honestly, I thought if we play more games like that, we're going to get some wins here. A lot of positives you can take away from the game. It sucks losing in the shootout, but I liked a lot of the things we did out there. I thought we played together as a team tonight.

On Anthony Stolarz

Our goalies have been our backbones all year. We got off to a tough start this season. They've been huge for us since the get-go. Another great performance by [Stolarz]. A lot of positives to build off from tonight.

On the penalty kill

Unfortunately, I took one there and put us on a five-on-three and that didn't help anything. But we had a lot less penalties tonight than in past games.

On the power play

It's a must score on a five-on-three. We have to do a better job there. Plays were there, but the penalty kill on their side did a good job. Definitely would like to get one or two, if possible, and help the team out.

Head Coach Kevin Dineen

On the game

I liked our start, I liked our middle and I liked our finish. That was a very complete game by us. I liked our tempo, I liked our effort and I liked how everyone was engaged and involved. I'm very happy with our effort tonight, but I'm not happy with the results. Overall, it would have been nice to score one on the five-on-three, but other than that we played a very complete game.

On the power play

We had a couple different looks. We have a couple different set plays. We put Chris Mueller out there, who is new to our group, and he's a highly-skilled player. We know he's been in that position before by watching film, so we had a chat with him today about our five-on-three and sure enough it comes up. Sometimes when you run through those things in practice the execution gets a little crisper. I think we had some great opportunities. We had four quality scoring chances on that five-on-three. Big moment that we didn't capitalize on.

On the defensive performance

What we did really well was that we held onto the puck, we kept the puck in their zone and we kept our feet moving. It's pretty hard to get a shot on net when you're in your defensive zone. I'll give a lot of credit to their goalie, I thought he played an excellent game tonight. In saying that, when that's happening you can use a little more traffic in front.

On takeaways moving forward

I just got a little pep talk from my assistant coaches that we were basically in the same situation last year. Almost an identical record at this stretch of the season. We played a game very similar to tonight's game and ended up going on a run. I know our group is capable of it.

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