San Diego's Home Winning Streak Reaches Five; Moves Within Six Points Of Bakersfield

March 27, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


SAN DIEGO -- The long-awaited return of Alex Kim proved to be worth the wait as the star center picked up seven points (4g, 3a), leading the Gulls to two wins in three chances last week. The Gulls received great goaltending from Michael Mole and Kris Mayotte, who stopped 31 shots while picking up a victory against Phoenix in his pro debut. With four of the last seven games of the regular season at home, San Diego looks ready for a late push down the final stretch.

WEEK IN REVIEW:

March 24 vs Long Beach: The Gulls notched three goals in a two-minute span early in the third period to break a tie and cruise to a 4-2 win, before a crowd of 5,870 at the ipayOne Center. Long Beach jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, as Sean McAslan scored only 61 seconds into the game. Kim, who missed the previous 31 games with a broken collar bone, tied the game just 23 seconds into the middle frame. The score remained 1-1 entering the final frame, but the Gulls were not done. Kim got things going at the 6:06 mark with his second goal of the contest. R.J. Enga then tucked in an unassisted tally at 7:54 after stealing the puck in the neutral zone. Some 12 seconds later, Nikita Korovkin scored the Gulls' third goal in two minutes. Mole gave up only one more goal as the Gulls held on for the victory.

March 25 vs Phoenix: It's safe to say that Mayotte had a pretty successful pro debut between the pipes for the Gulls. The rookie netminder made 31 saves and even earned an assist, leading the Gulls to a 3-1 victory over the Phoenix Roadrunners Saturday night, before 8,096 at the ipayOne Center. The Roadrunners finally drew first blood at the 10:30 mark of the second when former Gull Patrick Levesque scored his ninth goal of the season. Mayotte, meanwhile, had a two-period total of 23 saves and finally got rewarded when Steve Hildenbrand buried a short-handed marker at 16:19 of the second. San Diego took the lead, this time on the power play, 44 seconds into the third period when Rob Flynn flipped in the rebound off of Grady Moore's shot. Kim put the game away at the 11:43 mark with his third tally in the last two games.

March 26 @ Long Beach: Penalties were the story Sunday evening between the Gulls and Ice Dogs. San Diego scored three power-play goals and Long Beach netted two, but the Ice Dogs' two even strength tallies proved to be the difference maker, as they skated away 4-3 winners at the Long Beach Arena. Referee Mike Peerson called a total of 37 penalties in the game. The Gulls finished 3-for-12 on the power play, while the Ice Dogs were 2-for-14. Pierre-Luc Sleigher, Hildenbrand, and Kim all scored on the power play but it was not enough as Long Beach beat Mole twice in each of the first two periods to seal San Diego's fate.

Individual Notes: Kim, who missed 31 games with a broken collar bone, is in the midst of a career high 15-game point streak. He has 27 points during that time and has 34 points (16g, 18a) in 21 games overall this season... Mole is 2-2-1 since being acquired from Phoenix... Hildenbrand had four points in three games this weekend (2g, 2a)...

Team Notes: San Diego is unbeaten in 12 of its last 17 games (11-5-1)... The Gulls have won a season-high five straight home games... They have allowed only six power-play goals in their last 11 games, but are also only six for their last 52 on the power play... San Diego has seven regular season games left, four of which are against teams over .500

San Diego's three game road trip continues Wednesday in Stockton, with game-time set for 7 p.m. The Gulls will play in Las Vegas Friday before opening their final homestand of the regular season Saturday vs. Idaho. All games can be heard on KLSD 1360AM and www.sandiegogulls.com with Chris Ello calling the play-by-play. All remaining games can also be viewed on the Gulls' web site, courtesy of B2 Networks. Click the B2 Networks (Watch the Game Live) link on the home page for a list of the upcoming viewable games. To view pictures from this season, visit www.zerodogentertainment.com.



ECHL Stories from March 27, 2006


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