AHL San Diego Gulls

San Diego Wins Over San Jose, 5-2

Published on January 12, 2023 under American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls beat the San Jose Barracuda 5-2 tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego, improving their record to 11-24-0-0 overall and 4-13-0-0 at home.

Rocco Grimaldi recorded a trio of points (2-1=3), scoring two shorthanded goals in a game for the first time in his American Hockey League career and matching the Gulls team record for most shorthanded goals earned in a game (three additional times; last: Jan. 31, 2020 vs SJ) and a single period (two additional times; last: Nov. 13, 2019 vs SJ) at home. Grimaldi's 14-21=35 points rank him first among San Diego skaters in goals and scoring, while ranking him second on the team in assists.

Pavol Regenda contributed two points (1-1=2), earning his fourth multi-point effort and 5-4=9 points in his last seven games.

Hunter Drew scored the game-winning goal at 15:57 of the final frame, while Benoit-Olivier Groulx scored on the power-play for 2-1=3 points in his last four games.

Nikolas Brouillard assisted on the power-play goal, tallying 6-22( points to rank third among AHL defensemen in points and tied for third in assists (as of the conclusion of the game). The St. Hilaire, QC native also remains tied for first among active defensemen with four power-play goals, while leading all Gulls blueliners with 4-11=15 points on the man advantage.

The Gulls have also scored a power-play goal in three consecutive games, converting on 3-of-10 power-play chances for a 30.0 % success rate.

Michael Del Zotto registered an assist, pushing his point streak to a fourth game (1-3=4) and maintaining a point-per-game average with 2-4=6 points over his last six games. Brayden Tracey also recorded an assist for 3-5=8 points in his last eight contests, while Drew Helleson notched a helper for 0-5=5 assists in his last seven games.

David Cotton and Luka Profaca each added an assist in the effort as well.

The Gulls were perfect on the penalty kill tonight, stopping 6-of-6 of the Barracuda's chances on the power play and allowing only one power-play goal in their last four games (19-for-20). In addition, San Diego owns an impressive 91.67% kill rate over their last five games, stopping 22-of-24 man-advantage opportunities.

Lukas Dostal made 29 saves on 31 shots in the victory for three wins in his last four starts.

The Gulls return to Pechanga Arena San Diego on Friday, Jan. 13 to face the Ontario Reign (7 p.m. PST).

POSTGAME QUOTES

SAN DIEGO GULLS

Head Coach Roy Sommer

On what was said during the shift from the first to the second period

Well, I can't repeat it. I can't repeat it what was said. They're going to give me the big one. That's all I'm going to tell you like Fred Sanford. Hopefully, most people came in the game in the building when the second period started because then we started playing some hockey.

On what he liked about team's play in second and third...

The big thing is from the start of the first shift. We had Drew (right wing Hunter Drew) was out there with Kindopp (right wing Bryce Kindopp) and Howe (right wing Travis Howe) and they had a couple of big hits. They had a little bit of zone time; they had a good chance and it kind of got us going. Then Gawdin (center Glenn Gawdin) stepped in and had a big hit, got in a fight. Kind of the momentum should start changing toward us. We were row heavy, low in the third and in the first like, we were nowhere around the puck. I couldn't even tell you what that was that period was. Holy man, I'm not watching that tomorrow, that's for sure. When that guide, hit and fight occurred.

On what shifted momentum in the game

I'm not going to say Reggie's (right wing Pavol Regenda) goal was the nicest goal I've ever seen, but you know, it was the leaker and that kind of got us going. We got that one made it to one and then all of a sudden that kind of jump started everybody.

On what to improve on against Ontario...

Our starts at home and they've been poor, to make things for a kind of answer. Our starts we got to start on time. I mean, you look at the game in Milwaukee - we kind of weathered it but then we got the first goal and just kind of started playing, but I think our starts are going to be really important, especially against Ontario. They've got so much offensive, they get rolling, you can't stop them. I liked Drew's (Hunter Drew) performance tonight that he was excellent, got a big goal for us. You know, got us going. Great play by Rocco (Grimaldi) taking the puck almost end-to-end goes around the net, he hits Drew in the middle. That was a big goal. Then we had some big blocks on the PK (penalty kill), kind of to keep us in it when we needed it at the end there. So, a lot of good stuff, but just kind of like forget about that first because it wasn't good.

Right Wing Rocco Grimaldi

On the first period

It's not acceptable. It's basically all that was said. It was ugly and it could have been a lot worse than 2-0 tonight. That could've been six out there to be honest. Dos (goaltender Lukas Dostal) made some awesome saves like he always does. So, held us in the game and it's good to get two points here.

On physical tone of the game

Yeah, I think just the first period where we were playing too slow, and we returned the puck so we're constantly at the blue line. Second period, we did a better job getting pucks behind them. Get in on the forecheck. The first guy separates the guy from the puck, second guy and quick and we established better offense. Third period, we kind of went back a little bit to the first period -a lot of penalties - which thankfully, they didn't kill us but it could have. I thought our penalty kill did a great job and so did Dos (Dostal). So, fortunate to come out and win this one.

On the team's power play

I thought it was terrible. We scored today, but I thought it was terrible. We need to get better at that. It's nice to score, but to not get in the zone like seven times tonight, it's just unacceptable. We've got to work on that.

On how the team can improve on the power play

We've just got to be sharper; we've got to be on the same page. Just feels like maybe three guys are on one page, two are on the other, four are on one. It's just like all five guys need to be on the same page. I'm going to be confident in what we're doing. All our breakouts need to be on the same page and we're coming off the ice (to) set up. Guys are kind of too far in front of each other and you know guys are taking off too late and we're kind of just scrambling right now. So, we just got to take a deep breath and just go back to what's working at the beginning of the season and go from there.

On what the team needs to do in their upcoming games against the Ontario Reign

Similar to tonight's second period - just not for the turnovers - putting pucks behind them. Hunting pucks, using our speed to drive these guys wide. We do have a chance. Obviously, they're an extremely good team, great power play. So, I don't know how many penalties we took today - six or seven or something. We are going to need to limit that to three or four max. Their power play is too good, too deadly. So, (try) not have to rely on Dos (Dostal) to make 100 sales in the first period.

Check out the San Diego Gulls Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Hockey League Stories from January 12, 2023


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central