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Gulls Trounce Falcons, 5-1

March 29, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


FRESNO, Calif. – The Gulls locked up the Western Conference Monday night, stomping the last-place Fresno Falcons, 5-1. San Diego got goals from some familiar names like Mark Pederson and Clayton Read and also from some lesser-known skaters as Eric Skaug and Evgueni Nourislamov each netted their first career goal in the win.

The Gulls (46-13-10) clinched first place in the Pacific Division after Las Vegas fell to Bakersfield on Saturday. With the win tonight, the Blue and Orange secured home ice through the conference finals by locking up the Western Conference in just their first season in the ECHL. They still trail the Wheeling Nailers by two points in the race for the best record in the league. Fresno (21-42-6), last year's Taylor Cup runners-up, remain in last place in the Pacific Division.

The Falcons jumped out to the early lead on Kris Porter's 20th tally of the season. Brian Passmore launched a slapshot from the right-wing boards that sailed wide of the goal but caromed back to Porter, who slapped the puck off the leg of Gulls' netminder Colin Zulianello and into the net, 2:37 into the first period.

After mustering just five shots-on-goal in the first period, the Gulls' bug-a-boo against the Falcons finally came to an end, 4:20 into the second, when Pederson snapped a four-game goal-scoring slump, by netting his league-leading 44th marker of the season. Off the faceoff, Sylvain Deschatelets slid the puck over to Pederson, who was waiting near the left post for the easy goal. The assist was Deschatelets' 55th of the season and extended his point-scoring streak to an ECHL season-high 23 games.

San Diego took the lead just 1:06 later, when Scott Kirton found the back of the net for the 21st time this season, third with the Gulls. Read fed David Neale near the right-wing boards and Neale sent a cross-ice pass to a streaking Kirton, who launched the slapshot from the left circle to light the lamp.

With just 16 seconds remaining in the frame, Skaug gave the Gulls a two-goal cushion, netting his first professional goal. After waiting the entire season to light the lamp, he finally got his chance, launching a wrister from the left circle that beat Mike Brusseau high on his glove side to put the Gulls up, 3-1.

The Gulls continued to pour it on, 14:32 into the third period, this time on a Clayton Read tally. Neale garnered another assist, finding Read in the right-wing circle to set up the goal.

Nourislamov joined Skaug, his fellow blue-liner, by adding his first professional goal to cap the evenings scoring. The wrister from the top of the slot gave the Gulls a 5-1 lead at the 17:39 mark and the Blue and Orange put it in cruise control from there, locking up the top spot in the Western Conference in the process.

Notes: With the win, San Diego tied the 1991-92 Toledo Storm for the ECHL record for wins by an expansion team... The Gulls are unbeaten in 15 of their last 16 games (11-1-4) and 45 of their last 51 games (37-6-8)... San Diego is 42-10-5 against Pacific Division teams... Deschatelets has 37 points during his point streak (13g, 24a). The 23-game streak is tops in the ECHL this season... Read has seven points (5g, 2a) in his last four games... Chris Gobert was added to the seven-day injured list, retroactive to Wednesday, with an upper-leg injury... Martinson returned to the bench Saturday night after serving a five-game suspension... Sandro Sbrocca also returned to the lineup after finishing a three-game suspension... Billy Tibbetts was loaned to the AHL's Houston Aeros last Saturday... Nick Lent remains with the AHL's Springfield Falcons, while Josh Gratton is still with the AHL's Cincinnati Mighty Ducks... Dennis Purdie remains on the injured list...

The Gulls return home to play the Las Vegas Wranglers on Wednesday, March 31 before hitting the road once again to take on the Condors in Bakersfield. San Diego then closes out the regular season on Saturday against the Alaska Aces. The game will also serve as a preview of the first round of the playoffs, in which the same Aces will take on the Gulls beginning on Tuesday, April 6. All games can be heard live on KPOP 1360AM and www.sandiegogulls.com with Chris Ello calling the play-by-play. The next edition of the Gulls Internet Radio show, hosted by Tera Black and Jeremy Zager on wsRadio.com, will air live Monday, April 5 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. To view pictures from this season, visit www.sdgullsphotos.com and www.zerodogentertainment.com.

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