PREVIEW: Gulls, Roadrunners Meet In Penultimate Regular-Season Game
Apr 27, 2022By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls will conclude their regular season with back-to-back games against the Tucson Roadrunners beginning tonight at the Tucson Convention Center Arena (6:30 p.m. PT; TV: FOX 5 San Diego; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
The Gulls took their most recent matchup with the Roadrunners, rallying for three goals in the final five minutes of regulation for a 3-1 come-from-behind win on Saturday, Apr. 23. San Diego is 4-2-0-0 against Tucson this season, which includes two straight victories. They’ve scored 25 goals in the six meetings and hope to create positive momentum heading into the First Round of the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs.
This success should give the Gulls a boost of confidence following a 4-1 loss to the Stockton Heat in their final regular-season home game on Tuesday.
"Well, I think we really just got to work on playing our game and really use those games as kind of a way to get everything set going into Wednesday next week," Gulls defenseman Greg Pateryn said. "I think that’s the focus going into the road trip."
A primary objective for the Gulls is keeping their power play going strong against the Roadrunners, who held them scoreless on the man advantage for the first time this season in their last matchup. Prior to that, San Diego had an impressive 36.8% success rate on the power play against Tucson this season.
The team already took that plan into action against Stockton as Brent Gates Jr. scored the team’s lone goal on the power play. That pushed the Gulls to 4-for-15 (26.7%) in its last four games.
"I thought our special teams, power play did really well." Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said following their loss to Stockton. "I asked the guys to play forward, I asked the guys to work on some of the things in our game in preparation for playoffs. We did it."
Gates Jr. enters tonight with goals in back-to-back games while Alex Limoges has a three-game point streak (1-2=3).
"With our team, obviously, we’re really keen on everything being lined up as good as it can be." Bouchard said.
The Gulls will also have ample room to fine tune their game because of the security in net with Lukas Dostal and Olle Eriksson Ek.
Dostal is 3-0-0 against Tucson this season with a 1.48 goals-against average and .941 save percentage. He backstopped the Gulls to their 3-1 victory over Tucson, stopping 22-of-23 shots for his 18th win of the season. Additionally, the netminder sits only win one shy of tying Kevin Boyle (19) for most wins in a season by a Gulls rookie goaltender.
"I’m happy with the direction that things are going even though it might not be lining up in the win column." Pateryn said.
Eriksson Ek put up a very solid performance in his last game against the Roadrunners on Mar. 23, making 30 saves on 33 shots.
The Roadrunners haven’t played since they last saw the Gulls and enter tonight on a three-game losing streak.
Matais Maccelli continues to lead AHL rookies with 41 assists and his 14-41=55 points are the most on the Roadrunners.
Both teams are without some of their key players as Hunter Drew, Buddy Robinson and Trevor Carrick were called up by the Ducks on Apr. 25 and remain with the club, while Tucson’s leading goal scorer, Michael Carcone, has been with the Arizona Coyotes since Mar. 21.