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AHL San Diego Gulls

San Diego Gets Past Coachella Valley in Overtime

February 11, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls earned an overtime victory - and their first franchise win - against the Coachella Valley Firebirds tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego, improving their overall record to 13-34-0-0 and 6-17-0-0 at home.

Rocco Grimaldi recorded his first game-winning goal as a Gull 34 seconds into overtime, registering his team-leading 19th tally of the season. Grimaldi also maintains the scoring lead for San Diego with 19-24=43 points.

Pavol Regenda started the scoring for the Gulls at 4:03 of the final frame, posting his 10th goal of the season.

Glenn Gawdin collected his second assist in three games on the play, while Luka Profaca earned his fourth assist of the season.

Lukas Dostal stopped 35-of-36 shots in the victory.

The Gulls stopped 5-of-6 of Coachella Valley's man-advantage chances tonight, killing 16-of-19 (84.2%) of the Firebirds' power-play opportunities over three consecutive games against the club from Feb. 3-10. San Diego's penalty kill is operating at 81.3 % success rate, ranking fourth in the AHL's Pacific Division, eighth in the Western Conference and 13th in the league.

The Gulls close out back-to-back weekend games tomorrow, Feb. 11, against the Bakersfield Condors at Mechanics Bank Arena (7 p.m. PST).

POSTGAME QUOTES

SAN DIEGO GULLS

Head Coach Roy Sommer

On the win over Coachella Valley

Well, I would say from a fan's perspective, probably saw the best third period of the year anyways. You know, 0-0 and we've been in that same situation against that team before in Coachella twice. You know, one time that we were up 2-1 and then the other one was a 1-1 game and, you know, found a way. They scored first and, you know, next shift (Pavol) Regenda comes down, makes a great play, stays with it, gets a couple whacks at it. Finally get a 5-on-5 goal and then, you know, your hardest worker finishes it off in overtime.

On holding Coachella off the scoreboard late in regulation

Hey, honestly, it's called a (Lukas) Dostal. No, he was outstanding. I mean, they had some point blankers again. The game could have gone either way. But I mean, you know, he was just on top of it again. I mean, they had some great quality chances. And, and you see why he was the MVP of the (AHL) All-Star Game. Like, he saved our bacon tonight. And you know, got the guys feeling pretty good heading to Bakersfield.

On where the team improving its discipline

Yeah, I mean, we've been talking about it. I think the first game we took five and Coachella and then next game, we took eight and I think it was six tonight. And you know, sooner or later a good team is going to score. Sure enough, that's what happened. You can take a good penalty like if it's, you know, charging or roughing or something like that but you know, all these stick violations we've been getting in the trippings and the hookings and you know, they got to stop, because what it's doing is wearing out our you know, (Rocco) Grimaldis and (Benoit-Olivier) Groulxs that have to play a lot of minutes.

On winning the first game after the break

You know, I think it was big. You know, we've been looking forward. It's been a while and, and we beat a pretty good team. That's the big thing. It was a team that was you know, pushing. I mean, that's a really good hockey club, well coached and you know, positionally, they're good, and they keep coming at you. They're hard to play against and we outlasted them.

On tomorrow's game against Bakersfield

Well, I think the big thing, you know, with Bakersfield, the two games we played against them, we played heavy. And you know, that's the kind of lineup we have right now. There's kind of a heavy guy on every line. And, you know, that's kind of how we have to play offensively and in our own end, kill plays and get pucks up to our forwards.

Right Wing Rocco Grimaldi

On his celebration following his overtime, game-winning goal

Well, honestly, I was going to let's get off the ice. We gotta get to Bakersfield. So, we already had an extra couple of minutes, so I thought I might as well hurry up and get the equipment guys out of here.

On his hard-working mindset entering tonight's game

Yeah, well, I mean, I guess we had some really good looks, especially in the first period, that I was pretty upset about. Couple 2-on-1s just didn't connect. Goalie made some good saves. So, me and Bo (Groulx) were both frustrated by those. Thought we should have at least given us a lead. Once again Dos (Lukas Dostal) does his thing, keeps us in the game; we get outshot by double. Get to overtime and maybe it's just keep going overtime. Think we're 2-0 in extra times; just gonna keep doing that.

On how the team kept Coachella off the scoreboard late in regulation

Well, last game, we let up three in the first 10 minutes or something that kind of kills, basically kills your whole game. But I thought today, compared to (the) last game, we didn't turn the puck over as much. We're doing better things through the neutral zone. And Dos (Lukas Dostal) was standing on his head, let's be honest. He made some really good saves in every period to keep us in it. Our PK (penalty kill) did a really good job, they scored their only goal on the power (play) but only six or seven penalties, so good power play like that (is) going to cash in at some point. But I thought, you know, every line was working hard, doing their roles well and you're rewarded finally.

On tomorrow's game against Bakersfield

Got to have a good start. I feel that, when we get off to a good start, we can hang around in games and right there. When we have a bad start it's almost like it's a totally different team and you see the tale of two teams. The first time we played Coachella, had a good start. Late in the game, they scored with like a minute left. I mean, that sucked, but we were in the game the whole time, was a hard-fought game back and forth (that) didn't go our way. Next game didn't come out ready to play, they go up three-to-zip 10 minutes in or whatever. And that's kind of in the tale of our year, really. When we have good starts right in the game. It's like it's a battle to the end whether we come out on top or not. And then other games, sometimes we just come out flat and it's almost like we shoot ourselves in the foot and we can't recover. So, we have to have a good start.

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