Glass Backstops San Diego to 2-1 Win Over Colorado
Feb 12, 2019Jeff Glass made 29 saves to backstop the Gulls to a 2-1 win over the Colorado Eagles at Budweiser Events Center. The win marked Glass’ fourth in his last six games as the Gulls have now picked up points in 13 of their last 15 road games.
“It was definitely a special teams battle there,” said Chase De Leo following the game. “Kind of a boring game back-and-forth. I thought both goalies did a good job. It was one of those games where you find a way to get the two points and that’s all that matters.”
The Gulls got on the board out of the gate early in the first period. Ben Thomson dumped the puck into Colorado territory as Kiefer Sherwood took control and slid the puck back across the grain to the top of the crease. With a wide-open net, Chase De Leo backhanded in his 14th goal of the season just 2:36 into the opening frame. The goal tied a career high with points in six straight games (5-3=8) to match his prior six-game point streak set earlier this season from Dec. 19-30 (2-5=7). Kiefer Sherwood’s assist marks his third point (1G/2A) in his last four games with the Gulls while Ben Thomson picked up his first point (assist) in 19 games on the score.
Midway through the second period, Colorado’s Nicolas Meloche took a two-minute interference minor as the Gulls were on the penalty kill. Just as San Diego’s own penalty was expiring, rookie Troy Terry made an incredible individual effort, finding his way through three Eagles defensemen. Terry was tripped up on the play and drew a second penalty, giving San Diego a minute and a half of a two-man advantage.
“Our power play here each year has been a real strength of ours,” said head coach Dallas Eakins regarding the power play prior to the game. “Right now, it’s struggling. Again, it’s back to basics. We’re going to put in a couple of values here tonight and we’ll start there. It should certainly result in more attempts at their net and then we can start looking for our plays again.”
The changes to the man-advantage seemed to work well for the Gulls as they had complete control on the power play, keeping Pavel Francouz and the penalty killers busy with several good chances. Kalle Kossila threw it across the goal crease and right to Corey Tropp for a backdoor goal on the power play at the 12:03 mark of the first period. The power-play tally pushed Tropp’s goal and point streak to three games (4-1=5). The goal streak marks the longest since he recorded a career high five-game goal streak from Feb. 28-Mar. 10, 2017 (5-3=8).
With the primary assist, Kossila has picked up five helpers in five games against Colorado and now has 3-8=11 points in his previous 10 games. Murphy added the other assist, his ninth point (2G/7A) in 19 games since joining San Diego on Dec. 29.
“We were able to enter with control which is what we want to do and we execute the five-on-three which is good. We had some other chances as well so definitely a step in the right direction.”
With just about five minutes left in the middle period, David Warsofsky stole the puck off of a faceoff and beat two Gulls defenders to giving himself a clear breakaway. Storming down the ice, Warsofsky attempted a five-hole shot, but Glass shut him down with a right pad save.
Shortly after the big save, Colorado’s Andrew Agozzino found defenseman Mason Geertsen on a pass as the Eagles were entering the San Diego zone. Although Glass was sliding across the crease to get in front of the shot, Geertsen put it past his blocker with 3:02 remaining in the second frame to bring the score within a single goal.
Just how the two team’s previous four matchups went, the third period came down to the wire. A slew of penalties went both ways as the game was approaching its end, including Sam Steel sitting in the box on a minor for interference. Colorado pulled their goalie and had over a minute of a two-man advantage, but couldn’t tie the game.
The Gulls will conclude the back-to-back matchup against the Eagles tomorrow night, Feb. 13 at Budweiser Events Center (6:05 p.m. PT, Radio: Mighty 1090).