AHL San Diego Gulls

Tucson Stops San Diego, 9-4

Published on December 17, 2022 under American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls fell 9-4 to the Tucson Roadrunners tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego, bringing their record to 6-21-0-0 overall and 2-13-0-0 at home.

Justin Kirkland registered his third multi-point game of the season (1-1=2), earning 2-2=4 points in his last three games. Kirkland scored the Gulls' first penalty shot goal of 2022-23 at 13:20 of the second period (last: Bryce Kindopp vs. Justus Annunen; goal; May 15, 2021 @ COL), bringing the Gulls all time penalty shot record to 5-for-13 (38.5%).

David Cotton also posted a two-point effort (1-1=2), recording his first multi-point game as a Gull (1-1=2) and 1-2=3 points in his last three games. Cotton scored the Gulls' first goal tonight, triggering the fan-favorite tradition of the Teddy Bear Toss at 5:34 of the first period. The tally marks Cotton's second power-play goal in three games (2-0=2), as well the first Teddy Bear Toss goal of his AHL career.

Nikolas Brouillard posted his seventh assist in four games (0-7=7), tying a career high for points earned over a four-game period (one additional time: 1-6=7 points from 11/13/21-11/24/21). The blueliner ranks third among AHL defensemen in with 5-17=22 points and leads all Gulls skaters in assists.

Danny O'Regan (1-0=1) and Hunter Drew (1-0=1) also scored in the effort, with both Gulls earning their third goals of the season.

Evan Weinger earned his first assist as a Gull for 1-1=2 points in his last three games, while Benoit-Olivier Groulx contributed his 12th helper of the season.

Garrett Metcalf made 14 saves on 20 shots in 55:58 of relief and took the loss, while Daniel Mannella stopped 3-of-6 shots in 3:59 minutes of play.

The Gulls will face the Roadrunners in the second of three straight games against the club at the Tucson Convention Center on Thursday, Dec. 22 (6:30 p.m. MST).

POSTGAME QUOTES

Head Coach Roy Sommer

On his overall impression of the game

Well, going down 6-1 going into the second, we kind of came in the room, we were looking at each other like, 'what the heck?' Then, I thought we came out in the second period. Actually, it could have been 6-6. I mean, the chances after the three periods were 28 for us, scoring chances, and they had 16 and their goalie was really good. We just had a hard time finding the puck tonight - our back end - and just one of those games. The big thing - guys didn't quit, they could have; they could have mailed it in. I mean, we kept coming back, made it 6-4. I, honestly, thought we were going to tie it up. It could have very easily been 6-6 after two periods and kind of see where it went from there, but then we made a couple of saves in the set in that third and I was going like, 'man.' Like I said, guys didn't mail it in. They very easily could have just said, 'enough is enough.' Actually, we did a lot of good things that I think we can carry into the series against them on the road.

On the team's offensive opportunities

We hit three posts, a disallowed one. The save he made on JP (Jacob Perreault). That line - JP and (Brayden) Tracy - has four 2-on-1s and a breakaway. Rocco Grimaldi - in on a breakaway and I don't know if he hit the post or his pad. He usually puts those away and guys that we wanted the puck on their stick just had a hard time finishing.

Center Justin Kirkland

On the game overall

It was a lot of resiliency shown from our group. Unfortunately, you spot a team a five-goal lead most nights in this league, that's pretty hard to come back from, but I was really proud of the guys. There's no quit in that group. So that was a positive sign that we took from it. We had our chances, put up 46 shots, whatever it was. It easily could have gone either way, but unfortunately that first period was what really hurt.

On Teddy Bear Toss

It's special. It's a game you look forward to every single time, like you said, you know that it's going for a good cause. It was amazing to see the turnout that we had tonight. You know, 10,000 fans from San Diego coming out. So, thank you to them for coming out. That was a fantastic boost of energy and motivation for us. We wish we could have got the win for them, but at the end of the day, you know, there's bigger things in hockey and it's those kids. So yeah, really, really happy that we're able to sort of help out with that. It's a special game for everyone.

On team morale

Obviously, it's tough. The guys are frustrated, but the one thing we saw tonight, there was no quit. There hasn't been quit in this group. Obviously, things have been going our way we've been dealing with a lot of different things with injuries, call-ups, stuff like that. Missing a lot of guys, but guys are coming in, doing what they can, stepping up. So yeah, obviously we're fighting for that win. It's frustrating. I know guys are a little bit down, but we show up to work every day and try to keep getting better.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 17, 2022


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