San Diego Gulls Bi-Weekly Report: Kerdiles Called Up

By Thomas Harrington

The San Diego Gulls’ recent hot streak has continued, as they went 5-2 over the last two weeks. The Gulls are being led by a balanced attack, a sturdy defense, and strong play between the pipes.

San Diego’s first game had them travel to Bakersfield where the Gulls skated off with a 4-2 victory. Antoine Laganiere and Kalle Kossila gave San Diego a two goal lead in the first, and the team never looked back from there. Laganiere scored his second goal of the game early in the second, and that proved to be the game-winner. Ryan Garbutt finished things off with an empty-net goal. It was Laganiere’s second consecutive multi-goal game after he had picked up both goals in the previous win over Ontario. San Diego next traveled to San Jose, where their six-game winning streak came to an end at the hands of the Barracuda. San Jose took a 2-0 lead going into the third. Chris Wagner scored a shorthanded goal in the final frame, but that was the Gulls’ only goal as they lost 2-1.
San Diego returned to Ontario for another game against their rival, and the game was close through the first 40 minutes as Kyle MacKinnon scored his first goal of the season and San Diego led 1-0 as the third began. Jaycob Megna doubled that lead in the third before the Reign cut it back down to one. Jordan Samuels-Thomas restored the two goal lead with a couple minutes left in regulation, and Garbutt scored another empty net goal to seal up the win for the Gulls.

The Gulls returned home for a brief two-game homestand that saw Bakersfield and Iowa visit southern California. The Gulls blasted the Condors 4-0. Nick Sorensen, Laganiere, Samuels-Thomas, and Wagner had the goals and Dustin Tokarski made 22 saves for the shutout. It was Tokarski’s first start since late December and his first shutout of the season. Two days later, the Wild were in town and San Diego won 5-1. Jhonas Enroth was back in net and Samuels-Thomas, Andy Welinski, Megna, Scott Sabourin, and Tyler Morley scored the goals. Other than Samuels-Thomas, the other four goal scorers have five goals or less on the season, so it was a good night for San Diego’s depth scoring to come through.

San Diego was back on the road next, going back up to Bakersfield. It was a close contest that San Diego won 3-2. Shea Theodore opened the scoring after being assigned to San Diego earlier in the day. The game was tied at one in the third, but Wagner and Nic Kerdiles scored two unanswered goals to give the Gulls a two goal lead. Bakersfield would score one more time to bring them back to within one, but the Gulls held on for the win. San Diego then returned home and dropped a 5-2 decision to Tucson. Kerdiles scored two in the second, but the Gulls gave up five unanswered goals to the Roadrunners.

Over the next two weeks, the Gulls will play five games, starting out with two home games against Texas and Rockford. After that, San Diego will have a home and home series with Tucson, before wrapping things up with another trip to San Jose.

The Gulls are now second in the Pacific Division and are just behind San Jose. The game between them in a couple weeks could have huge implications in terms of who will ultimately come out on top when the season is over.

The Anaheim Ducks called up Nic Kerdiles today and it looks like he will finally get to make his debut in Anaheim. He skated this morning with Rickard Rakell and Corey Perry. Kerdiles suffered a concussion back in September during training camp and was out until last month. He has played 10 games in San Diego registering nine total points(4 G + 5A). He has a +2 on-ice rating.

Related Article: Could Kerdiles Be The Spark Anaheim Needs?

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February 22nd, 2017

Filed under: Ducks News Tagged: Bi-weekly report, ducksnpucks, san diego gulls