Gulls Come Up Short, Fall 4-3 in OT to Condors
Feb 20, 2024By Morgan Korovec/SanDiegoGulls.com
Tuesday night’s showdown was a gritty one for the San Diego Gulls who didn’t go down without a fight, but ultimately dropped a tightly contested 4-3 decision in overtime to the Bakersfield Condors at Mechanics Bank Arena.
Despite the loss, the Gulls have earned points in six straight road contests (4-0-2-0) and in 12 of their last 16 overall (9-4-3-0).
"Point is huge," head coach Matt McIlvane said. "Of course, you want the next one. For us, we feel like if we play the way that we can, points are going to follow, and we’ve proven that to ourselves over the course of the last couple months. We didn’t get the second one tonight, but it was a heck of an effort."
Tomas Suchanek was terrific in net, making 41 saves, his third start this season with 40-plus saves. He has helped the Gulls earn standings points in nine of his last 10 starts (7-1-2).
The Gulls got off on the right foot as Pavol Regenda struck on the power play, whipping a shot home to put San Diego in the lead at 3:02, with his 16th goal of the season.
The power play stayed hot for the Gulls as Andrew Agozzino cashed in around 30 seconds later with his 13th goal of the campaign, handing San Diego a two-goal lead before the five-minute mark of the opening frame.
"We've been really good on both special teams lately," Regenda said. "We're trying to keep it simple. We had a couple lucky bounces. My goal was a rebound. Aggy’s goal was a rebound. That's what we know works so we try to bring that... Power play's an easy game, so just bring it to the net and good things happen."
The Condors fired back at 9:12 as Lane Pederson capitalized on Bakersfield’s man advantage to put the team on the board.
At 16:37, the Condors’ Raphael Lavoie landed a power-play goal of his own, bringing the teams even.
With two seconds left in the first, Bakersfield managed to beat the clock as Pederson snapped another power-play goal, giving them their first lead of the evening.
The nets remained quiet until 17:48 into the middle frame when San Diego made magic happen again on the power play as Glenn Gawdin banged the puck in, evening the score with his 15th goal of the season to end the second.
The score remained knotted up following a scoreless third, sending the battle into overtime.
In OT, Bakersfield’s Carter Savoie powered the puck past Suchanek to give them the win.
"Unfortunately, one bad bounce and we lose in overtime," Regenda said. "We just have to stick with our plan, do what we do and we're going to be good."
Tuesday night was a multi-point game for several San Diego skaters. Along with netting a goal in the first frame, both Regenda and Agozzino also each recorded an assist. Chase De Leo and Olen Zellweger each picked up two assists on the night.
The Gulls will return to the rink at Pechanga Arena San Diego on Saturday, Feb. 24 for a matchup with the Ontario Reign (6 p.m. PST).