AHL San Diego Gulls

San Diego Earns Win Over Tucson

Published on December 24, 2022 under American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls won 6-2 against Tucson Roadrunners tonight at Tucson Convention Center Arena, improving their record to 7-22-0-0 overall and 5-9-0-0 on the road.

Pavol Regenda recorded the first multi-goal and multi-point game of his American Hockey League career (2-1=3), including the first power-play goal and game-winning tally of his AHL career at 11:19 of the second period.

The Gulls have scored four power-play goals in their last three games, capitalizing on 4-of-14 opportunities for an impressive 28.6% success rate.

Brayden Tracey posted a duo of assists for 1-3=4 points in his last two games, while Jacob Perreault (0-2=2) and Hunter Drew (0-2=2) both earned their first multi-assist games of the season.

Rocco Grimaldi registered a goal and an assist, earning his second consecutive multi-point effort and 1-3=4 points over his last two contests. The right wing continues to lead San Diego with 12 goals and 28 points this season.

Nikolas Brouillard extended his assist and point streak to a career-high six games (previous: 5 games, two times; last: 3/11/22-3/19-22), earning 1-9=10 points over the span. The blueliner's 6-19=25 points ranked him third among AHL defensemen in points and in tied for fourth in assists as of the conclusion of the game. In addition, Brouillard leads all San Diego skaters in assists and ranks second only to Grimaldi in points.

Frank Hora scored the first goal of his AHL career (1-0=1), while Colton White scored his first goal in a Gulls sweater (1-0=1) in the victory.

Garrett Metcalf made 27 saves on 29 shots, earning his first win as a member of San Diego's roster.

David Cotton notched his third goal of the season (1-0=1), while Benoit Olivier-Groulx, Evan Weinger and Drew Helleson each recorded an assist in the victory.

The Gulls return home to face the Henderson Silver Knights next Wednesday, Dec. 28 at Pechanga Arena San Diego (7 p.m. PST).

POSTGAME QUOTES

Head Coach Roy Sommer

On the relief of getting a victory

Yeah, I mean, what a way to go into the break. I thought the guys beared down and played hard and fought to the end. They deserve what they got. That was a long month or whatever it was without a win, but I'll tell you what, I don't want to go through that again. Maybe we're heading in the right direction. The d (defensive) core that had Whitey (White) and Del Zotto and Hora and those guys, they did a great job for us back there and we weren't in our end long. That was kind of the key and the guys kind of stuck with it tonight.

On if winning the third period was the key to winning the game

I mean, when's the last time we had a lead going into the third? It's been a while and they hung onto it; they didn't sit back. We scored early, which made things good, made it 4-2. Then, we got that next one and kind of took it from there, but got to give the guys credit. I mean, it's hard to get out of these things. It's kind of easy to get into them - these ruts - and it's hard to get out. Thank God we came out of it when we did. Now, that everyone is going to go into the break and have a better attitude when we come back on Tuesday.

On the message during the intermissions to help the team maintain its lead

Well, after the first, the big thing was we talked about (how) we had a pretty good first last night. Then, we just kind of sat back. Then, go into the second tonight - I mean, it was a little better. I mean, with the score, it was 1-1 after that. Both teams scored and then the key was put the hammer down and get it done in the third and we did.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 24, 2022


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