AHL San Diego Gulls

Gulls Wallop Bakerfield for Seventh Win in a Row

Published on February 15, 2018 under American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


San Diego extended their season-high win streak to seven games with a 6-0 shutout victory over the Bakersfield Condors at Valley View Casino Center. The seven consecutive wins mark the second longest win streak in franchise history, and are one game shy of matching the all-time club record of eight straight wins set from Nov. 11-Dec. 2, 2016. San Diego has also won three straight home games. San Diego is now a perfect 5-0-0-0 this month where the club has earned an all-time record of 23-4-0-1 (.839%) in February.

San Diego killed each of Bakersfield's four power plays and have now killed a season-high 25 straight penalties, the second-most consecutive penalties killed in club history, one shy of the 26-straight kills from Dec. 5-27 2015. In that span, San Diego has scored three shorthanded goals, including one tonight. The Gulls have also killed 35 of the last 36 (97.2%) opposition power plays the last 10 games. San Diego has also gone seven games without allowing a power-play goal, the longest such streak in Gulls history. San Diego's three first period goals in a span of 7:24 marked the fastest three goals to start a game this season. The six-goal shutout also marked the largest margin of victory on home ice, and the largest shutout victory in club history.

Kevin Boyle stopped all 37 shots to earn his second career shutout and first of the season. The victory marked his career-tying fifth consecutive win and 15th of the season, tied for the most among AHL rookie goaltenders. Boyle also won five straight games from Dec. 13-Jan. 6. Boyle has posted a 10-2-0 record with a 1.88 goals-against average (GAA) and .944 save percentage (SV%) in his last 12 games. He is also 9-2-0 with a 1.64 GAA and .951 SV% in his last 11 home starts.

Sam Carrick recorded his second three-point game of the season, including his 10th and 11th goals. Carrick's first goal marked his second shorthanded tally of the season and sixth of his career at 4:43 of the opening frame. Carrick has six points (3-4=7) in his last five games.

Eric Fehr scored his team-leading 16th goal of the season at 1:14 of the first period to extend his goal-scoring streak to a season-high three games (3-1=4). Fehr also collected an assist for his seventh multi-point game of the season and has 13 goals (13-8=21) in his last 24 games.

Andy Welinski tallied his sixth multi-point and multi-assist effort of the season. Welinski has earned six assists in his last six games (0-6=6). Welinski also had a career-high +4 rating to surpass his previous career high of three set on two previous occasions (last: Mar. 31, 2017 at Tucson).

Nic Kerdiles earned his seventh multi-point game of the season with a goal and assist (1-2=2). He now has 4-5=9 points in his last six games and 20 points (10-10=20) in his last 22 games.

Kevin Roy extended his point streak to four games (1-4=5) with two assists. Roy also has 16 points in his last 16 games (6-10=16). Roy also recorded a season-tying +3 rating.

Mitch Hults scored a power-play goal, his seventh of the season. Scott Sabourin scored his fourth goal of the season and first since Dec. 23 at Ontario. Giovanni Fiore and Jeff Schultz also added assists in the win.

POSTGAME QUOTES

San Diego Gulls

Sam Carrick

On the game

We are taking every game like it's a playoff game right now. We want to get the two points every night and it starts with having a good start, and I thought we had a great start tonight. Once we killed off that five-minute penalty I thought that we just kept on it and kept rolling, and had a lot of momentum.

On the success in February

I guess looking back, I think that our mindsets just been great so far, just looking at every game like it's a big game. We want to outwork their team every night. Even if we are not going to win the game, we want to at least show up and play our best and I thought we have done a good job of that. Obviously our power play has been connecting, and our penalty kill has been really good lately, and our goaltending has been awesome too, so that helps.

On what's clicking for the team

I think we are playing well as a team. Our lineup has changed a little bit and it doesn't matter who is in the lineup that night guys are stepping up huge. You look at two guys tonight that have sat out a few games, and that's Sabourin and Schultz, and you know they came in and both had great games and contributed to our win, so that's just a perfect example of the depth of our team. It doesn't matter who is in the lineup, guys are stepping up and helping us win.

On Kevin Boyle

Boyler (Boyle) was awesome tonight even though towards the end of the game he faced a lot of shots, and they easily could have gotten a couple if he didn't stood on his head. Definitely some stuff that we want to tighten up. We want to play with a lead a little better than we did but luckily for us we have the confidence to have a good goaltender on any given night out there.

Kevin Boyle

On his first shutout of the season

It was awesome. I think it was an even better team win for us to keep our momentum going forward. I think that we came out hard right from the get-go and I think they put up a good amount of shots, but a lot of them were outside or our defense were on them so it was a good win for us.

On an improved start

It's something that we always try and talk about. We try to come early and coach is always harping on us to be early for everything, whether it be practice or for the game, he harps on us to really be ready right from puck drop. I think some games we haven't done that but it feels good to come out right from the puck drop.

On the penalty kill

We are stopping them from even getting in the zone, first of all, which is great and if they do get a shot on net everyone is boxing out so they are making our penalty killers jobs easier. We are doing well right now we just have to keep it going.

On the upcoming home-and-home against Ontario

I think that we just keep doing what we are doing. Ontario is a great team and it's a huge rivalry so there are going to be a lot of physical battles. They are a big team but I think we need to really focus on ourselves and what we have been doing lately to give us success.

Head Coach Dallas Eakins

On the game

That's what you get when your special teams are great. Our penalty kill has been excellent lately. Our power play chips in with a couple and Kevin Boyle was excellent. The thing that I was really proud of our team was that we didn't let our foot off of the pedal tonight. We wanted to finish hard with a real, disciplined, disciplined game. No matter what the score is, whether it is 1-0 going into the third, 3-0, 8-0, it doesn't matter. We want to play a certain way and I was happy the group did that.

On the quick start

That was a stop-and-go period, there was a lot going on. A couple of penalties, a guy hurt, there were so many different things that were going on. It was important for our guys to stay in it and stay focused. I thought we certainly got some timely goals.

On the penalty kill

It was awesome. Our kill has been unbelievable here over the last 20 games. I think it is running up over 90 percent now over the last 20. Those guys are taking great pride in it. They don't want to be a 90 percent group, they want to be a 100 percent group. That five minute one, they went out there and they were relentless on it.

On the team

We have got really high character in that room. They are never, ever going to quit. I think that is what you are most proud of, not only in your players but in family, anybody that you are looking up to, it's that no-quit attitude. We have lots of men like that in that room.

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American Hockey League Stories from February 15, 2018


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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