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AHL San Diego Gulls

Tucson Edges San Diego, 6-5, in Overtime

March 30, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls fell 6-5 in overtime to the Tucson Roadrunners tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego, bringing their overall record to 19-43-2-1 and 9-21-2-1 at home. The Gulls registered points in five consecutive games against Tucson, earning nine of a possible 10 standings points against their Pacific Division rivals.

Glenn Gawdin recorded a three-point effort (1-2=3), tying his season high in points (two additional times; last: 3-0=3 points on Nov. 19 vs GR).

Chase Priskie registered a goal and an assist for 5-4=9 points in his first nine games in a Gulls sweater, earning the most goals and points among San Diego skaters since his debut with the team on Mar. 4.

Jacob Perreault posted a pair of assists (0-2=2) in his third multi-point performance of the season.

Benoit-Olivier Groulx scored on the power play 3:17 into the first period, earning his 14th goal of the season for 2-1=3 points over his last two games.

Pavol Regenda earned his 13th goal of the season tonight just 14 seconds into the opening frame, scoring the second-fastest goal from the start of a game in the team's America Hockey League history.

Chase De Leo posted an assist for 1-2=3 points in his last two contests. The Gulls captain is averaging 1.13 points point per game with 6-12=18 points in 16 games since returning to the lineup on Feb. 18.

Dylan Sikura scored 10:09 into the of the final frame for 1-1=2 points in his last two games.

Nikolas Brouillard recorded an assist (0-1=1) for 6-33=39 points this season, ranking eighth in assists and tied for ninth in points among active AHL defensemen at of the conclusion of the game.

Brent Gates Jr. also eared a helper in the effort.

The Gulls went 2-for-4 on the man advantage tonight, registering six power-play goals over their last six games and operating at a 22.2% success rate (6-for-27) over the span.

Gage Alexander made 40 saves on 46 shots in the loss.

The Gulls travel to Iowa for back-to-back weekend games against the Wild at Wells Fargo Arena beginning this Saturday, Apr. 1 (4 p.m. PDT).

POSTGAME QUOTES

SAN DIEGO GULLS

Right Wing Dylan Sikura

On what made the difference in the game

The sprints were pretty good, but we gave up way too much. I think probably 10 to 15 Grade-As, maybe six or seven breakaways there. That's kind of unacceptable on our part there. Gager (goaltender Gage Alexander) kind of held us in there all game and eventually, stuff is going to happen. Goals are going to go in when they get that many good looks. I liked our game for a little bit but like I said, we just gave up way too much.

On where he felt the team excelled despite the loss

I thought when we were moving our feet, working it down low. They did a good job of kind of closing us off in the o-zone up high, but we kind of worked it well in playing behind the net there and then was looking east west for plays. We had some success, but I think we got to kind of go back to that more and get away from playing up high by the blueline - risky plays there.

On the confidence of the power-play unit

A lot of confidence. Since we kind of got put together, we've been pretty good. Getting looks every game, maybe not scoring every game, but getting grade-A's and gaining momentum for the team. That's kind of all you can ask. Sometimes they're going to go in, sometimes they're not. It was obviously a beautiful play there - almost everyone touched the puck there. That was nice to see, but it's important that we keep that rolling and it gets us at least one a night.

On the play of Gage Alexander

Maybe too much. Kind of, we ran into that problem tonight, but he's been awesome. Obviously, I'm new here but since I've seen him, he's been our best player by far. Making crazy saves - he made four or five great saves tonight bailing us out. Like I said, we've got to help him out on the other aspect. We can't give up that my chances for him.

Defenseman Chase Priskie

On the overtime loss to Tucson

Yeah, I think we kind of got away from our style a little bit. We got into that run and gun, and that's just not how we play. So, it's nice to come out with one point but at the end of the day, we just need a little more discipline from our team for 60 minutes and you probably come out with a better outcome.

On the back-and-forth scoring

I think for us is just saying above our guys and Tucson did a good job of playing their game, which is, you know, pushing out looking for breakaways, looking for those odd man rushes and they get behind our guys. Whether it's puck watching or making a more aggressive read and, you know, the puck just didn't bounce our way a couple times. And Gauger (Gulls goaltender Gage Alexander) made a handful of incredible saves in net - and he kept it tight - but at the end of the day, that just comes down to our group kind of buying into the identity that we want to play, and it's something that we're trying to become better at and more consistent at.

On the confidence Gage Alexander provides the team

A ton. I mean, we see it every day in practice, so it's no surprise for us, but very confident with him in net knowing that he's kind of calming for our group. So, he just needs to continue to play the same way he is.

On his power-play goal

Yeah, I mean, you couldn't ask for a better play than that. Luckily for me, I'm on the receiving end of the of the goal. I just kind of sat there and we've got a lot of creative guys, a lot of high-skill guys on our power-play unit, and they were able to just kind of go tic-tac-toe and find me on the back post, which makes my life easy.

On his offensive production since joining San Diego

I think a lot of it is just the coaches put me in positions to succeed and allow me to play my game and be aggressive and kind of do what I do out there. And it's a great group; like, we really do have a great group and we continuously get better. I know we're out of the playoffs now, but we continuously get better, and we play hard games against really elite opponents, and I think this is what carries into the group coming back better and having a better season next year.

Head Coach Roy Sommer

On the overtime loss to the Tucson Roadrunners

I mean, I thought it was entertaining for the fans, I would think. A lot of goes back and forth. Entertaining for the fans, not so entertaining for the coaches standing behind both benches. But you know, I mean, hey, we battled back. We got down a goal and no one threw the towel in. And, you know, we had our opportunities in overtime. We had two breakaways we didn't convert on and that was the game. I thought our goaltending was outstanding. He made some, you know, kept us in there and made some big stops.

On the play of the goaltenders despite the high goal totals

You got to eliminate the mistakes, the turnovers. You know, we made some bad reads from the offensive blue line in on some pitches that they converted into some 2-on-1s but, you know, we ended up making saves on them. You know, kind of went both ways tonight. You know, they were kind of the same way.

On the recent success of the power play

Oh, they've been working on it. You know, Sparresy (Gulls assistant coach Kris Sparre), he's done a great job as far as you know, keeping it together, keeping everything positive and, you know, the guys are attentive in the meetings and, you know, it's a great group of guys out there. I mean, I think the biggest thing was when we got (Dylan) Sikura, it kind of opened up everything. You know, he's a guy, a puck possession guy that sees the ice real well, makes that second play which you need on a PP.

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