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AHL San Diego Gulls

Gulls Top Reign 4-3 In Overtime

December 29, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls took down the Ontario Reign 4-3 in overtime Thursday night at Pechanga Arena San Diego. The win marks San Diego's third win in four tries over Ontario this season (3-1-0-0). San Diego's record now stands at 9-14-5-0.

Glenn Gawdin scored the overtime winner, his first career OT goal, and earned his ninth assist of the season (1-1=2). He has tallied 2-3=5 points in his last five games.

In his 100th career AHL game, Josh Lopina netted two goals and earned an assist to give him a career-high 2-1=3 points and his first career multi-goal game.

Olen Zellweger scored his sixth goal of the season at 1:13 in the first. He co-leads San Diego skaters with 6-15=21 points.

Trevor Carrick picked up two assists (0-2=2) for his fourth multi-assist effort of the season. He now leads Gulls skaters in assists with 16.

Nathan Gaucher tallied his seventh assist of the season, his sixth in his last eight games (1-6=7).

Tyson Hinds also recorded an assist, his second of the season.

Calle Clang stopped 26-of-29 shots en route to his fourth win of the season.

The San Diego Gulls will head to Tucson Convention Center Arena for a matchup with the Tucson Roadrunners on Saturday night (6 p.m. PST; TV: AHLTV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).

POSTGAME QUOTES

SAN DIEGO GULLS

Center Josh Lopina

On being mic'd up for his three-point performance:

It was a really fun game tonight. Nice to have individual success, but I think we play amazing as a team. Guys were blocking shots. If we have to mic me up every game to get the boys to play like that, I think we should.

On rebounding from last night's loss:

Last two games, the game before break and the game against Coachella, wasn't us. So, the message was bring good energy, get back to our game and just have fun with it. I think we had fun tonight. We worked hard. It's nice to get a result at home in front of the best fans in the league.

On the message to the team after the first intermission:

I think we had a really good start. They just happened to get two goals on us. We didn't bury our chances. The message was stay on it. Keep playing our game. We'll eventually get rewarded, and we did. Feels good to win.

On how to continue the success on Saturday:

Same mindset. We know what our divisional opponents are about. We'll watch some video and correct what we did last game against them. But I think it's just the same mindset as tonight. Come in here hard. Come have fun. Do it for each other. I think we'll get a similar result on Saturday.

Center Glenn Gawdin

On Josh Lopina's set up and the game-winning goal:

He made a good play in the neutral zone to grab middle ice and made a nice drop pass to me and you know, kind of sucked two guys in and a clear line to the net, and yeah it went in.

On the team's compete and energy levels:

Yeah, definitely, I think it showed. When we play our game, we find ways to win and we're consistent through sixty minutes and that's our identity and I think we showed that tonight, that it's on us to do that every night.

On the first period:

Yeah, we knew we had some good looks in the first. Just talking that we can stick with it. We have faith in the group in there that we can win games, we score in bunches, and if we continue to play the right way and play better in the second, we were going to get more chances and eventually they were going to go in. We just had faith and didn't give up.

On dealing with injuries and illness:

Yeah, it's huge. You got guys playing in positions they're not comfortable in or used to and you know, we're definitely missing some key guys that everyone's going to have to step up and fill their shoes and I thought that the guys did a good job of that tonight. You know, whatever happens, we're confident in the group that we put on the ice, that we can beat anybody.

On facing Tucson on Saturday:

I mean, the division games are huge. We know that every game, for us, means a lot. We're trying to climb through the standings, so it's going to be another good test on Saturday.

Head coach Matt McIlvane

On the team's compete and energy levels:

Yeah, we saw it and it was consistent. We didn't get the result in the first period, but we stayed patient with the game. We were a lot cleaner with our puck play, better with our support, and more competitive as a team.

On what was said to turn things around after the first period:

The only thing said in the first intermission was we're playing well, just didn't get rewarded. We did a lot of good in the first period, we just needed to sustain it and I thought we did a good job of that.

On Josh Lopina's performance:

Yep, he's been extremely valuable for us, penalty killing the whole year. He's found himself a great spot, on the power play bumper. He's played center, played wing, played right, played left. It's good for a coach to have a player that can do all of those things.

On Glenn Gawdin's performance:

Good for Glenn. He's been trying to get on the scoresheet as much as he can. I thought he had a very competitive game today and it's great to see a guy like him get rewarded in overtime.

On if this win can build into the team's next game:

We'll just let this one sink in. Different opponent coming up, so we'll prepare for them.

Check out the San Diego Gulls Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from December 29, 2023


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