Gulls Win Third Straight In Vegas, 2-1

March 13, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


LAS VEGAS – Guillaume Fournier's power-play goal with 4:35 left in regulation lifted the San Diego Gulls to their third straight win, a 2-1 decision over the Las Vegas Wranglers Saturday night at the Orleans Arena.

It was a tight battle all game long. Las Vegas opened up an early 1-0 lead, before the Gulls clawed their way to a tie late in the second period. The third period remained back and forth, but Fournier's tally stood up.

San Diego (31-22-6) couldn't gain any ground however, as both the Idaho Steelheads and Fresno Falcons won their games Saturday. So with 13 games left in the regular season, the Blue and Orange remain seven points back of Fresno for the fourth and final playoff spot in the West Division and stay one point behind the fifth-place Idaho Steelheads.

The Wranglers (24-27-7) are now winless in four of their last five games and fall 20 points out of the playoff picture in the West.

Shawn Limpright gave Vegas a 1-0 lead, knocking in his 10th goal 15:07 into the first period. Jason Bonsignore had the puck along the left wing boards and dropped it back to Limpright, who blasted a one-timer over the shoulder of San Diego goaltender Mathieu Chouinard.

The Gulls tied it at the 16:51 mark of the second period on Chris Lynch's ninth goal of the season. After rushing into the Wranglers' zone, Lynch snapped a wrist shot that deflected off Vegas defenseman Jason McBain's stick, then caromed off his knee and fluttered past Sebastian Centomo.

San Diego had a number of other chances throughout the first two periods to dent the scoreboard even more, but Centomo was equal to the task. The Wranglers' goaltender had 21 saves after the second stanza, many of which came at point-blank range.

Meanwhile, Chouinard was also sharp between the posts. And one of his posts certainly helped him out early in the middle frame, as Bonsignore had a breakaway attempt bang right off the pipe.

It stayed a 1-1 game until Fournier's power-play marker 15:25 into the third period. Max Birbraer made the nice setup, grabbing the puck from Curtis Brown and finding Fournier wide-open at the left post. After Fournier took the pass, he kicked it to his forehand and flung a shot into the top right corner of the net. It was his 15th goal of the season, 10 of which have come on the power play.

Chouinard held the fort for San Diego, stopping all 11 Wranglers third-period shots. He finished with a game total of 29 saves in the contest and upped his record to 11-9-3.

Notes: The Gulls are 22-3-1 this season when scoring four-plus goals in a game, but just 9-19-5 when scoring three or less... They have only out-shot their opponent three times since the all-star break (22 games)... San Diego is 10-11-2 in its last 23 games... Since the all-star break the Gulls are 5-1-1 at home and 5-9-1 on the road... Nicolas Corbeil, who was acquired Tuesday from the Mississippi Sea Wolves has yet to make his Gulls debut... Lynch was activated from the injured list... Nick Ganga (knee) and Evgueni Nourislamov (thumb) remain on the injured list...

San Diego now gets set for a five-game homestand, which starts Sunday at 5:05 p.m. against the Alaska Aces. It will be Education and Kids Night, featuring "Skate with the Gulls" immediately following the game. San Diego will then host Long Beach once and Las Vegas twice next weekend, before closing the homestand Friday, March 25 against the Ice Dogs.

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 most remaining 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.



ECHL Stories from March 13, 2005


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