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AHL San Diego Gulls

Stolarz Continues Gulls' Run in 4-1 Win

February 22, 2020 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The Gulls defeated the Bakersfield Condors 4-1 tonight at Mechanics Bank Arena to pick up a point for the fourth straight game (3-0-1-0). The Gulls have also earned points in 11 of their last 12 games (8-1-3-0), 16 of their last 18 contests (13-2-3-0) and 20 of their last 25 overall (15-5-4-1). The Gulls also improved to 6-1-2-0 their last nine road contests.

San Diego killed all three penalties tonight and have negated 16 straight penalties dating to Feb. 9 (span of six games), the second-longest streak this season (20: Jan. 10-24; span of seven games). The Gulls have also killed 70 of their last 79 penalties (88.6%). San Diego scored their 15th shorthand goal, now tied for second among AHL clubs. The Gulls penalty kill leads the AHL with a goal differential of -13 (28 power-play goals against, 15 shorthanded goals).

Anthony Stolarz stopped 21-of-22 shots to pick up his 20th win of the season, one shy of his career high set in 2015-16 with Lehigh Valley. Stolarz is 10-1-2 his last 13 starts with a 2.21 goals-against average and .937 save percentage, stopping 30-or-more shots in 11 of the 13 games.

Alex Broadhurst extended his point streak to four games (2-3=5) with his eighth goal at 4:23 of the opening period and added his 11th assist. With his second multi-point effort this season, Broadhurst has posted 2-4=6 points his last six games.

Max Comtois scored for the fourth straight game to extend his career long goal streak (4-1=5) and push his point total to 5-9=13 his last 16 games.

Chris Wideman collected his fifth multi-point game with two assists (0-2=2), his team -leading 19th and 20th helpers. Wideman has collected five assists the last four games (0-5=5).

Antoine Morand scored his first career shorthanded goal 1:03 into the second period, his fifth goal of 2019-20. Isac Lundestrom recorded the lone assist on the shorthanded tally, his 17th point (4-13=17).

Blake Pietila netted his 11th goal to push his point total to 4-6=10 the 11 games. Sam Carrick picked up an assist for the second straight game, his team-leading 36th point (19-17=36). He now has 11-11=22 points his last 21 games and 19-16=35 points his last 34 contests.

Simon Benoit earned his 13th assist to set a new single-season high with his 17th point (4-13=17), surpassing the 2-14=16 points he earned in 2018-19 as a rookie. Benoit has also earned 2-5=7 points his last eight games.

Chase De Leo picked up his 21st point with an assist on the Broadhurst goal.

San Diego will conclude the weekend set tomorrow vs. the San Jose Barracuda at Pechanga Arena San Diego (7:30 p.m. PT).

POSTGAME QUOTES

San Diego Gulls

Antoine Morand

On team defense

It's just stick to the system. Good defense leads to good offense, so we have to make sure we're strong on the defensive side. We were playing a really good game, our line and defensively, it's great. We have to keep going.

On his shorthanded goal

We were just trying to clear the puck first, but I had a little more time than I thought so I tried to kill some time. I saw [Isac Lundestrom] at the blueline so I said might as well try it and gave him the puck and tried to get open. It was a great play by [Lundestrom] finding me in the middle and I just shot it.

On the recent stretch of games

It's tough, we are playing a lot of games. The standings are so tight right now that we need every point. Every night, our mentality is to just get the two points. We've been doing a pretty good job and we have to keep going. Getting that win is huge for us.

On facing San Jose tomorrow

It's always fun to play at home. There's not many left at home so we have to enjoy every game we can and give the fans a big win tomorrow.

Head Coach Kevin Dineen

On limiting shots against

We had that as a priority. We felt we had a good meeting today where the players had a voice on how we have to play and how we have to manage the game. That's areas that you can talk about all you want, but when it comes from your teammates, I think it resonated very large with our group. I think it carried over into the game. We're getting contributions from all levels. I think there's a real emphasis on our defensive responsibility. We know we can score goals. From our goaltender on out I thought it was a very solid defensive game.

On the defense corps growing together

I think that's part of player development. You take Jani Hakanpaa coming over from Europe, Josh Mahura stepping in the second year here. Just the way our guys are progressing as players. I throw those two out very easily. I think the whole crew of them, even Keegan Kanzig, who gets called up here and has played a nice stretch of hockey for us. That's part of the natural progression and it's a great reflection on the job (assistant coach) Sylvain Lefebvre has done with our D.

On setting the tone early

It's been that way for a couple weeks. We loved the way we stated the game. I think we roll four lines, we're methodical in the way we're playing and I think we're very predictable in the way we're playing. When we play that way, I think the players enjoy it too. There's a real buy in that doing things properly and the end result is always a good motivator as well.

On Anthony Stolarz

Stolarz just continues to make a statement that he can play at any level and play the way he did tonight. It's been a real positive for us.

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