Ontario Edges San Diego, 3-2
February 25, 2024 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release
The San Diego Gulls dropped a 3-2 game to the Ontario Reign Saturday night at Pechanga Arena San Diego. San Diego's overall record now stands at 18-21-8-0.
Chase De Leo scored his 65th goal of his Gulls career (PPG), giving him sole possession of second place on the San Diego's all-time AHL goal leaderboard passing Corey Tropp (64). He has points in six of his last seven games (5-7=12).
Olen Zellweger scored his 11th goal of the season. He now co-leads AHL rookie defensemen in goals and ranks tied for fifth among all AHL blueliners.
Andrew Agozzino picked up his team-leading 27th and 28th assists of the season, giving him back-to-back multi-point performances. He now has 13-28=41 points on the campaign, which leads all Gulls skaters.
Glenn Gawdin earned his 21st assist of the campaign, his 11th helper in as many games (3-11=14).
Calle Clang stopped X-of-X shots. He also stopped the first penalty shot of his career (A. Thomas) at 9:09 in the second period.
The San Diego Gulls head to Austin to face the Texas Stars next, beginning on Tuesday, Feb. 27 (5 p.m. PST; TV: AHLTV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
POSTGAME QUOTES
SAN DIEGO GULLS
Left wing Chase De Leo
On the team's four-game skid:
Obviously, these games are super important for us, and I think what we're going through right now was a little setback. In the third period, I thought we played desperate, you know, like we're hungry. I liked the way we pushed back but just tough losing these games, especially when I don't think we're playing too bad. Something's gotta give here. I think we got a day off tomorrow. We'll reset and then we hit the road here at Texas. So, a couple of big ones. We'd like to get this one tonight in front of the home crowd, obviously another great crowd. Super special night but the way she goes, and I liked the response in the third.
On how they can put together a complete 60-minute effort:
Seems to kind of be our issue, not being able to do that for a full 60. We're kind of waiting a little bit too long and putting ourselves behind the eight ball but we know that we have the talent in the room. We're capable of scoring goals and competing hard. It's just a matter of putting it all together.
On his record-setting goal:
It's exciting. Just anytime you get recognition and can get a little mark like that is obviously special. And more importantly I want to get back to playing playoff hockey. That's what my goal is as a leader on this team is leading and helping getting back to important hockey come April. Like I said, it's special. Definitely appreciate the honor wearing this jersey over and over and the C every game. Definitely don't take it for granted and don't want to lose it.
On getting back on track on the road:
For whatever reason, we've been road warriors this year. And that's what it's going to take. We got to find a way to win these games in Texas and just see what happens. Still some games left, still some points up for grabs, and we play the way we did in the third, I think that we're going to be great.
Defenseman Olen Zellweger
On his goal sparking the team:
I think, I kind of kept that puck in and I knew that the other team's wingers kind of left the zone. So, I chipped it low and drove to the middle there and got a nice pass back.
On the team finding their game:
That's what we need to work on. If we can maybe you get that intensity going a little earlier, not need to have to come from behind to play with that eagerness and intensity. We're going to look at the game that happened tonight and then try to fix a few things like that.
On going back on the road and resetting as a team:
I think the last few road trips have went pretty well. We're looking forward to this one. These are the really important games. Every game is super important, especially now. So, we're really excited and looking to have really good intensity and a really good two games there.
On what it will take to break the losing streak:
I think it's some adversity. Some people might panic or get anxious because of what happened earlier in the year, but I believe that we're not that same team anymore. We were able to break out of this and we're going to find a way to get it done really soon. It's going to come down to how bad we want to really compete and push for an opportunity at the playoffs and that's going to start on this road trip.
Head coach Matt McIlvane
On tonight's loss to Ontario:
Margins of the game are tight when you have trouble scoring, and so, it's about limiting the big opportunities for them. We know they've got a great power play and we need to try to stay out of the box as much as we can. Same thing applies to the next goal, we're given the big breaks, and we had a lot of good looks today. We had a lot of good chances. Puck didn't fall as easily. I'm proud of the guy's fight, fight to the end, and you know, felt like we were going to find a way to tie it up, it didn't happen.
On the team not getting bounces:
There's really no way around it. You just kind of accept it, in the terms of move on and get better. I think that you earn your bounces, I think we've got to find ways to get harder offense and be patient with our chances and not let scoring distract us from our game plan. There's going to be some times where they go and there's going to be some times where they don't, and I think that's the challenge for us is to be able to stay composed and limit our opposition's looks while we're waiting for the puck to fall, because we've seen this group can score, in bunches.
On the way Zellweger sparked the team:
A good play on the rush. We didn't really connect on the first look there, but then [Agozzino] made a nice play to [Zellweger] and it was a great finish. Felt like that goal gave us some life. It was a real shot of energy, get our fans involved in the game, give energy into the building. From there, it just felt like we had a pretty consistent push right up until the very end and hit some posts. Had great looks around the net, it just didn't go today.
On how the team can break the losing streak:
I think what the team needs is to just stay patient with our game. We're winning quite a bit in the series there, along those wins there's a lot in our game that we could clean up and keep getting better at. I think that maybe caught up to us a little bit right now and now what we need to do is be able to find that break that gives everybody just that little bit of shot of life. Maybe heading to Texas is exactly what we need.
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