PREVIEW: San Diego Opens First Non-Division Series Tonight In Iowa
Jan 27, 2022By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls are back on the road, looking to snap a three-game losing streak as they open a weekend series against the Iowa Wild tonight at Wells Fargo Arena. (5 p.m. PT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
"You play a good team and you’ve gotta make sure you’re on task…it’s a big week for us," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "We’re on the road; its professional hockey. Going to have to learn and move on."
The games against Iowa are the first the Gulls will play against a non-Pacific Division opponent since the team bested the Wild in a 5-2 road win on Feb. 15, 2020, improving their overall record against the club to 7-2-1-0 and their road record to 3-1-1-0.
San Diego enters Iowa off a 5-3 loss to the Colorado Eagles on Wednesday. Despite finding themselves down by three goals in the third period, the Gulls made a valiant attempt at a comeback, climbing within one before the Eagles iced the game with an empty-net tally.
"We just felt we needed to set up for our next road trip for the games Friday and Saturday," Gulls defenseman Nikolas Brouillard said following the loss. "We wanted to feel good for that coming off that game. So, we just had nothing to lose and we (were) already down and we just said we just had to push one last time, so we do things right and leave this game on the right foot."
One area the Gulls saw continued improvement is the power play, which scored twice in Wednesday’s game. The unit has scored at least one goal in the last three games and is converting at a 26.7% rate (4/15) over that stretch.
"We’re getting our power play too and we’re getting our chances too," Bouchard said. "There’s been some progression since we came back from the break on a lot of things. Obviously, I’d like to be better on everything, but I think the guys would like it too."
Trevor Carrick enters tonight with five points (2-3=5) in his last five games. The defenseman collected a power-play goal and assist in Wednesday’s loss, his second multi-point effort in the last two games.
Alex Limoges scored San Diego’s other man-advantage tally, his fourth power-play goal this season, to tie Jacob Perreault for the team lead in that category. Defenseman Brogan Rafferty collected a power-play assist, picking up his seventh point on the man advantage (1-6=7) to tie team leaders Lucas Elvenes and Perreault.
With their power play kicked into high gear, the Gulls will be put to test by the Wild’s penalty kill, which is ranked third overall in the American Hockey League with 86.5% success rate.
The matchup will feature two of the league’s top first-year skaters facing off for the first time.
Wild rookie Marco Rossi scored in Iowa’s most recent game, a 2-1 overtime victory over the Rockford Icehogs, and is ranked fifth among first year-skaters with 10-18=28 points.
Brayden Tracey is right behind Rossi as his 9-16=25 points tie him for the eighth-most points among rookies.
Both teams feature two of the AHL’s highest-scoring defensemen. Brouillard scored in the Gulls’ last game and leads San Diego blueliners in goals (5), assists (12) and points (17).
Brouillard’s five goals tie him for seventh in goal scoring among AHL defensemen, while the Wild’s Joe Hickettt is tied for first among blueliners with seven goals and ranks 10th with 7-13=20 points.
"Yeah, I mean it is quick turnaround," Brouillard said following Wednesday’s game. "We have been out for a week now. We are going back on the road. We just need to eat to get enough food in and the sleep in very important."