LIVE: Gulls Drop Final Regular-Season Meeting With Colorado
Mar 5, 2022By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls fell to the Colorado Eagles 4-1 in tonight's game at Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, CO.
Dylan Sikura (1-1=2) and Gabriel Lafontaine (1-1=2) led the way for the Eagles, who took five of the six meetings against the Gulls. Dalton Smith (0-2=2) and Jordan Gross (0-2=2) also recorded multi-point performances to support Justus Annunen, who stopped 25 shots to record his 20th win.
Alex Limoges scored the lone goal for San Diego. Lukas Dostal stopped 30 shots in the loss.
Third Period Recap
Sikura capped off yet another multi-point performance against San Diego, scoring his 20th goal of the season at 4:31 of the final frame. The right wing has a two-point night (1-1=2) and scored eight goals in the six games against the Gulls, the most of any skater.
Limoges broke the shutout for Annunen, scoring a power-play goal with 8:01 remaining in regulation.
Nikolas Brouillard caught the Eagles slowly changing, sending a pass to Vinni Lettieri at their blue line. The Gulls center charged the puck into the offensive zone, finding a cutting Limoges with a pass through the penalty kill. His deflection soared past Annunen and into the back of the net for Limoges' team-leading 12th goal of the season.
San Diego's power play continues to produce, scoring in a the third straight game. The unit is 8-for-18 (44.4%) in the last five games.
Second Period Recap
Stefan Matteau pushed Colorado's advantage to three on a power-play goal with 7:26 remaining in the middle frame. The forward parked himself in front and tipped a Gross point shot past Dostal for his second goal of the season.
First Period Recap
Jacob McDonald opened the scoring, stickhandling into the faceoff circle and sliding a shot past Dostal just 2:17 into regulation. It marks the first time in this three-game series Colorado scored first.
Fontaine extended the lead to two with 1:29 left in the period, whacking home a rebound in front to collect his sixth goal of the season. The duo of Fontaine (1-1=2) and Smith (0-2=2) picked up multi-point performances on the tally.
Dostal stopped nine of 11 shots in the first period. He entered tonight at 12-8-0 with one shutout, a 2.63 goals-against average (GAA) and .914 save percentage (SV%). He's looking to recover from an unusually shaky start last night, where he allowed four goals on 13 shots before being replaced early in the second period.
Annunen is in net for the Eagles, stopping all 10 shots he faced in the opening frame. The Finnish goaltender entered tonight at 19-10-5 with two shutouts, a 2.65 GAA and .906 SV%. His 19 wins ranks him fourth among American Hockey League goalies in victories. He lost his last start, allowing four goals on 22 shots in a 5-2 loss to San Diego on Wednesday.