Gulls Triumph Against Reign, 4-1 | San Diego Gulls

Nov 13, 2022

By Brett Pickler/SanDiegoGulls.com

The San Diego Gulls defeated rival Ontario Reign, 4-1 at Toyota Area.

Gulls goaltender Lukas Dostal continued his scorching stretch with one other spectacular efficiency tonight. His abilities had been on full show as he stopped 28 out of 29 photographs, neutralizing some of the highly effective offenses within the American Hockey League. 

From the opening puck drop, there was a way of urgency from the Gulls. They pressured the Reign exhausting, not permitting any simple breakouts or zone entries. This aggressive strategy appeared to stun Ontario and resulted in them not registering a shot till the 14:08 mark of the primary interval.

San Diego created a number of probabilities from their unrelenting forecheck and shook the boldness of Ontario’s defensemen. On the 5:03 mark of the primary, the Gulls thought they’d the early lead. After regaining the puck within the offensive zone, ahead Danny O’Regan utilized his power and skating capacity to defend the puck and despatched a go to ahead Brayden Tracey who hammered the puck into the online. The purpose was waved off attributable to goaltender interference, however this didn’t gradual the Gulls down.

“They stated it was goaltender interference,” assistant coach Jason Clarke stated. “After taking a look at it, I do not suppose they’d the correct name, however additionally they did not have video accessible to them within the first interval. It was down. Simply a kind of issues.”

The second interval belonged to the Gulls. The scoring began simply 22 seconds into the interval. Following a picture-perfect forecheck from Justin Kirkland, ahead Rocco Grimaldi rifled a one-timer from the slot.. The Gulls didn’t let off the fuel, each offensively and bodily, after this purpose. 

Ahead Hunter Drew discovered himself in a heavyweight tilt towards former Anaheim Duck, Nate Thompson. After the mud settled, the groups skated four-on-four. The open ice allowed for San Diego’s ability to shine, and ahead Jacob Perreault took benefit of the additional area. He acquired the puck close to the blueline and drew in a Reign defender. With the strain rising, he spun off the defender and darted towards the online on a partial breakaway. His preliminary shot was stopped however he bought management of the rebound and put it house to present San Diego a two-goal lead. 

Fourteen seconds later, defenseman Luka Profaca discovered himself on their lonesome with the goalie after leaving the penalty field. He walked in on goaltender Pheonix Copley and confirmed off his silky mitts, pulling the puck to his backhand and going over the blocker for his first profession skilled purpose. Up 3-0, the Gulls shifted their focus to defending their lead. 

“I believe backhand is sort of my transfer,” Profaca stated about his milestone purpose. “Since I have been doing it since I used to be six-years-old (laughs). These are professional goalies, they’re the most effective at what they do. I do not know; all of it occurred so quick.”

Ontario started to mount strain within the offensive zone, however the Gulls wouldn’t break. They didn’t permit the Reign any area and constantly shut down the assault. When the puck did attain Dostal, there have been restricted rebounds and a full flock of Gulls able to assault if anybody bought too near their netminder.

The Reign would get one purpose again late within the third, however defenseman Nikolas Brouillard iced the sport with an empty web purpose with lower than a minute left to play. He joined Grimaldi in registering two factors within the contest; ahead Benoit-Olivier Groulx completed the night time with three assists.

“The higher we get on tops of pucks in our finish and have these little dink performs to get out, we appear to have plenty of success within the different finish,” Clarke stated. “It appears to be a standard theme for us. We simply have to proceed to ensure to concentrate to particulars on that a part of our recreation.”