AHL San Diego Gulls

Shutout Loss Extends Gulls' Skid

April 16, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls fell 3-0 to the Ontario Reign Friday night at Toyota Arena. Despite the setback, the Gulls have earned standings points in 10 of their last 15 games (8-5-1-1) and remain two points from clinching the final playoff position in the Pacific Division.

Lukas Dostal made 26 saves in the setback. Despite the loss, Dostal leads AHL rookie goalies in shutouts (2), ranks third in goals-against average (2.62) and save percentage (.916), and is fifth in wins (17).

The Gulls conclude their 12-game season series with the Ontario Reign tomorrow, Apr. 16 at Pechanga Arena San Diego (7 p.m.).

POSTGAME QUOTES

San Diego Gulls

Head Coach Joel Bouchard

On what he wants the team to learn from this loss:

Well, you know what? We've lost four in a row, and I don't think we've played terrible and it's fine. We've had a lot of good games lately and there's some games that I've got here after games and I said, 'well, we won, but it wasn't perfect," and you know, we'll never have a perfect game. I don't think we're getting dominated. They're a good team and they take advantage of their opportunities. I don't think with a bunch of young guys, and we have to move the lineup because of injury. I think we're holding our own, we're growing, we're learning. We're at school right now, that's where we are- we're at school. They're a great team, don't get me wrong. They have the top leading scorer in the league, they've got really good players, they've done a good job, but I think our guys are doing fine. We're working hard, we're there. Keep learning and growing.

On if lessons learned at this point in the season are more impactful:

I don't even think like sometimes you could say after a game, 'oh, we have to learn a lot.' Tonight, it you know it wasn't, 'we have to learn everything,'. We know and they know by now in the season. I think the young guys that are coming in- Lopina, McLaughlin, Helleson- they're in the fight with us. They're giving us what we have so I don't coach score. If I start coaching score too much, it'll be tough. I've got to coach what I'm seeing and the intention. I think guys are trying their best. It's not clicking, we're not picking the right guys sometimes offensively, we're not having as many clean plays as we want, but it's for us to keep going and keep pushing.

On Lukas Dostal's performance tonight:

Yeah, and I think he's been a little bit unlucky lately too. I think it's finding a way and when we give some chances, they're decent ones and he made some saves and sometimes they go in. You look at the first goal- it actually goes through Brouillard's legs and then deflected down and it goes in. They don't go in all the time, those ones, (sometimes) go in. It's fine, everybody's holding their own. There's not one guy you know (that isn't), we're changing our line combination every game. Dos (Lukas Dostal) or the defensemen or the forwards- I think everybody right now is just growing together.

On the team needing to have their strongest game against Ontario tomorrow night:

I think we've just got to keep getting better and better and like I said, they're a hell of a team. They're really good, they're really good on the power play and we played with them. Let's play, we've beat them a few times this year and I think...we held our own and I cannot coach the scoreboard, like I said. If I do that, it's not fair to the players. Could we have been better? Oh yeah. Are we going to work (from here)? Oh yeah, for sure, but let's see how we go.

Danny O'Regan

On the difficulty of winning games at the end of the season:

Yeah, it's hard. We're going to learn from the loss and move on quick. No reason to waste energy over the loss. I mean, we're learning some valuable things that will help us in the playoff run. You know, it's just a bunch of little things. I don't think we're too worried and just tighten up a couple things and we'll be okay.

On the details of the game during this time of year:

Yeah, I think so. Sometimes you get some bounces, sometimes you don't. Sometimes we make mistakes and we pay for them. And sometimes we don't capitalize on our scoring chances. It is what it is, but it's better to have it happening now than in a couple weeks from now. Things are looking good. It looks like we're heading to the playoffs, so we just gotta focus on that and take it game by game until then.

On finishing their scoring chances:

I think it's just bearing down. I think not overthinking it, trying to aim the puck, just hitting it hard and crashing the net. Try to get some second chances. There's definitely sometimes where we, me and some guys, (are) looking for that extra pass maybe instead of just pounding them on net. So let's get back to shooting some pucks and crashing the net and being a little gritty.

On staying disciplined in tomorrow's series finale with Ontario:

Yeah, I mean they have a really good power play. They have a lot of good players and they move the puck around well. So it's obviously easier if we take zero or a couple penalties rather than four or five. It's just part of the game. I think our penalty kill's up for it. We got Dos (Lukas Dostal) or Olle (Eriksson Ek) between the pipes. It's never something we're dreading or trying not to take penalties or anything. We know they have a great unit and (are) a great offensive team, but it's nothing to dread or anything like that.

Check out the San Diego Gulls Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from April 16, 2022


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