Gulls Bi-Weekly Report 12

Photo: San Diego Gulls

By Thomas Harrington

The Gulls played six games over the last two weeks, going 2-2-2. San Diego finds itself in a tight battle for the playoffs in the Pacific Division, where every single team has a record better than .525. Every other division in the league has at least one team well below the .500 mark, so the Pacific is one of the strongest and most well-balanced divisions in the AHL this season.

The Gulls started things out by hosting the Cleveland Monsters. The opening period was scoreless, and Giovanni Fiore put the Gulls up early in the second. Cleveland tied the game up in the third period with a shorthanded goal. Regulation ended with the game knotted at one apiece. It took just 18 seconds into overtime for the Monsters to score the game-winner. Following that loss, the Gulls traveled to Ontario to face their rivals, the Reign. San Diego played one of their worst periods of the season, as Ontario scored three times in the first to take a 3-0 lead. The Gulls only mustered three shots of their own in that period, and Reto Berra was pulled after allowing three goals on six shots. Neither team scored in the second or third, though San Diego did play better. Kevin Boyle stopped all 31 shots he faced in relief, and the Gulls lost 3-0.

The Gulls then traveled to Bakersfield to take on the Condors. Bakersfield was the only team to score in the first, but Nicolas Kerdiles tied the game up in the second. The Condors retook the lead in the third before Corey Tropp tied the game up late in regulation. The game went to overtime, where Bakersfield scored to claim the 3-2 win. The Gulls returned home to host San Antonio and were finally able to stop the bleeding. Fiore opened the scoring just minutes into the contest, and Kerdiles scored in the final seconds of the first to make it 2-0. It was Fiore’s 17th goal of the season, setting a new San Diego rookie record. He had been tied with Nick Ritchie and Kevin Roy. Of San Diego’s rookie forwards this season, Fiore has far and away been the best one. The Rampage cut the deficit to 2-1 in the second, but neither team scored after that, and the Gulls skated away victorious.

Next up, the Gulls hosted the Milwaukee Admirals. Neither team scored in the first, and Mike Liambas scored to make it 1-0 less than a minute into the second. Both goalies played well, and no one else scored until Kalle Kossila scored an empty net goal late in the third to give San Diego the 2-0 win. Berra stopped all 37 shots that he faced. The Gulls finished things off by hosting Bakersfield. San Diego had a great start to this game as Jaycob Megna scored 17 seconds into the game and Kossila made it 2-0 26 seconds into the game. Those were the two fastest goals to start a game in franchise history. Unfortunately, things went downhill from there. Bakersfield scored two goals in the second to tie the game and made it 3-2 about halfway through the third. The Condors then scored two empty net goals to take the 5-2 win.

The Gulls will play five games over the next two weeks. They’ll start out by traveling to Cleveland for a pair of weekend games. After those two games, the Gulls will return home to host Bakersfield and will be looking for revenge. The Gulls will then host Cleveland, before traveling up to Bakersfield to finish things off.

With Kevin Bieksa out for the next several weeks, Korbinian Holzer has been recalled to be Anaheim’s seventh defenseman. Andy Welinski has also just been recalled, as Josh Manson was injured in the win against New Jersey. Marcus Pettersson is still with Anaheim as well, meaning that San Diego’s defensive depth will be tested in their upcoming games. Anaheim’s forward ranks continue to look pretty set, but if a player is recalled from Anaheim, I think that Fiore, Kerdiles, or Kossila make the most sense. All three have been playing well recently and throughout the season.

The Gulls are in the thick of the playoff race. They now trail Pacific-leading Tucson by five points, but are only two points behind second place Ontario and have a game in hand, so second in the Pacific is still very much a possibility. The Gulls are in a bit of a rut and will need to right the ship if they want to climb past Ontario and hold off Texas, Stockton, and the rest of the Pacific Division.

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March 23rd, 2018