PREVIEW: Gulls, Sharks Meet In San Diego For Final Regular-Season Battle | San Diego Gulls

Apr 5, 2023

By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com

The San Diego Gulls open their remaining homestand of the common season tonight, internet hosting their Northern California rival, the San Jose Barracuda, at Pechanga Enviornment San Diego (7 p.m. PT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Community).

San Diego returns to residence ice on a excessive word. The staff snapped its seven-game shedding skid on Sunday, taking down the Iowa Wild 4-2 in a matinee matchup at Wells Fargo Enviornment. Benoit-Olivier Groulx (2-0=2), Glenn Gawdin (1-1=2) and Michael Del Zotto (0-2=2) collected multi-point performances to guide the offense. Chase De Leo additionally added a shorthanded aim, the sixth of his American Hockey League profession.

“We stayed out of the field, for essentially the most half,” Del Zotto mentioned following the win. “Our energy play took benefit. Our energy play has type of been buzzing recently. It definitely was no oil portray tonight, however we knew that final sport, it was going to be a boring one. I feel we simply stayed affected person. We had been all engaged – each line, all six d(efensemen). (Gulls goaltender Calle Clang) Clanger clearly performed properly, too. Thought we had been bodily. We did all of the little issues for the entire night time. You have a look at the pictures, you have a look at the sport. If we’re being sincere, it was ugly, however got here out with the 2 factors. Generally it is not all the time the way in which you script it as much as win, it is not all the time the prettiest, however you get the 2 factors and that is all that issues.”

Rookie netminder Calle Clang impressed in his first AHL begin, stopping 20 pictures to document his first win.

“The American (Hockey) League, normally, is all about progress and growth and any likelihood you will get in and get minutes, it is vital,” Gulls goaltending coach Jeff Glass mentioned following the sport. “Coming off a airplane with the time change – and he had quite a bit occurring – I do assume it was nice for him to get in and see a pair minutes (throughout Saturday’s loss in Iowa). [He] did not get many pictures, however to see a pair minutes and completely different sight traces, smaller rink, the entire thing after which at this time, it was just a bit extra comfy for him. He went out and performed very well for us tonight.”

The staff’s energy play additionally continued its sizzling stretch. The Gulls went 1-for-4 on the person benefit within the win, recording eight power-play objectives over their final eight video games, working at a 24.2% success fee (8-for-33) over the span. Gawdin scored the man-advantage tally and has accounted for 37.5% (3-for-8) of the staff’s man-advantage objectives over their final eight video games. 

The Gulls will lean on their particular groups of their fourth and remaining common season assembly with the Barracuda. San Diego is 1-2-0-0 towards San Jose this season, grabbing a 5-2 victory on Jan. 11 at Pechanga Enviornment. The Barracuda received the opposite two matchups – each in San Jose – by a mixed 11-0 rating. Pavol Regenda leads all lively Gulls with 1-1=2 factors towards the Barracuda this season, whereas Drew Helleson, Del Zotto, Brayden Tracey, Groulx, Luka Profaka, Nikolas Brouillard and David Cotton all have a degree within the season collection.

The Barracuda enter tonight in tight race for the seventh and remaining playoff spot within the Pacific Division. They sit 5 factors again of the Tucson Roadrunners with 5 video games remaining. They’ve dropped three of their final 5 video games, together with a 4-3 shootout loss on Monday night time towards the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

Former Gull Andrew Agozzino leads San Jose with 25-29=54 factors however remembers and up to date accidents impacted the staff’s offensive depth. Rookie Thomas Bordeleau is presently with the Nationwide Hockey League’s San Jose Sharks, whereas William Eklund underwent shoulder surgical procedure 4 days in the past and can miss the rest of the season.