Gulls Win Fifth Straight Over Vegas, 4-2

Published on January 20, 2005 under ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


SAN DIEGO – Mark Pederson scored once and added two assists, leading the red-hot San Diego Gulls to a 4-2 victory over the Las Vegas Wranglers Wednesday night at the Sports Arena. It was the Gulls' fifth straight win and moves them into a third place tie in the West Division.

Pederson notched assists on San Diego's first two goals and then sealed the game with a breakaway goal in the third period. Sylvain Deschatelets, who notched a goal and an assist, and Mike Garrow, who chipped in with two helpers, had multipoint games for the Gulls as well.

Their five-game winning streak is a new season high for the Gulls (20-11-4), who are tied with the Fresno Falcons for third in the West. Both San Diego and Fresno are nine points back of the first-place Bakersfield Condors and seven points behind of the second-place Long Beach Ice Dogs. Las Vegas (17-16-4) has now dropped four of its last five games and remains seventh in the division.

Deschatelets gave the Gulls a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal 16:54 into the first period, redirecting Garrow's point shot past Sebastien Centomo. Pederson started the play when he skated the puck around the right wing corner and whipped a cross-ice pass to Garrow, stationed at the blue line. The San Diego captain then flung a wrist shot toward the net that Deschatelets tipped between his legs and behind the sliding Las Vegas goaltender.

The Wranglers got on the board 3:22 into the second on Dustin Johner's short-handed goal – his team-leading 16th tally of the season. Jason McBain forced a turnover inside the Gulls' zone and rushed down the ice two-on-one with Johner, who eventually took McBain's feed and beat San Diego netminder Mathieu Chouinard glove-side with a rising wrist shot.

Brian Gornick quickly answered at 5:58 with his club-leading 14th goal, 10 of which have come in the last 15 games. Pederson made it happen again, this time taking the puck along the left wing side and centering a pass to Gornick, standing between the hash marks. The 6-foot-5-inch winger shook off a check, got the puck on his forehand and snapped it past Centomo.

Vegas' Ryan Gaucher, who was returned from the American Hockey League's Manitoba Moose Saturday, made it a 2-2 game at 13:11 of the second. After taking a pass from Derek Engalland, Gaucher scooted into the San Diego zone and beat Chouinard top-shelf with a wrister from the right wing circle.

Gulls all-star Andrew Canzanello gave San Diego its third one-goal lead of the night, which also proved to be the game-winner, 5:16 into the third period. The rookie defenseman crept in from the right point all the way behind the net before finally wrapping around the left side and slipping in a backhander.

Pederson notched his third point of the night and extended the Gulls' lead to 4-2 at the 7:38 mark, beating Centomo five-hole on a breakaway. It all started when defenseman Ian Forbes grabbed the puck behind his own net and found Deschatelets just outside the blue line. Deschatelets then did what he does best and found a wide-open Pederson, who was off to races.

Notes: The Gulls have outscored their opponents 20-12 during their five-game winning streak... They are 13-3-2 at home this season... Curtis Brown's seven-game point streak was snapped. He had 11 points in that span (3g, 8a)... Deschatelets is in the midst of a six-game point streak (3g, 7a)... Gornick has 14 points in his last 15 games (10g, 4a)... The Gulls now have seven regulars out of the lineup: Sean Murphy (broken thumb), Jonathon Shockey (separated shoulder), Sean O'Connor (charley horse), Guillaume Fournier (concussion-like symptoms), Trevor Koenig (elbow tendonitis), Max Birbraer (shoulder injury) and Darren Clark (sprained ankle)... Evgueni Nourislamov returned the lineup after missing the last nine games with a knee sprain... Wes Rypien and Pierre Dufour were signed before Wednesday's game...

The Gulls close out the first half of the season with home games Friday and Saturday night. Friday, they square off with the Wranglers again and Saturday they'll host the Pensacola Ice Pilots. Friday is the beginning of "Old-Time Hockey Weekend," presented by the San Diego Hall of Champions, and will feature a special pre-game ceremony with Gulls alumni. The first 6,000 fans in attendance to Saturday's contest will receive special "Old-Time-Hockey" Gulls T-shirts, also courtesy of the San Diego Hall of Champions. Both games start at 7:05 p.m.

All games can be heard live on KLSD 1360AM and www.sandiegogulls.com with Chris Ello calling the play-by-play. All home games and many road games can be viewed on the Gulls' web site, courtesy of B2 Networks. Click the B2 Networks link on the home page for a list of the upcoming telecasted games. To view pictures from this season, visit www.sdgullsphotos.com and www.zerodogentertainment.com.

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