LIVE: Gulls Fall To Eagles On Home Ice
Jan 26, 2022By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls fell to the Colorado Eagles 5-3 in tonight's game at Pechanga Arena San Diego.
Kiefer Sherwood (2-1=3) and Jordan Gross (0-3=3) led the Eagles to a league-leading eighth straight win. Dylan Sikura (1-1=2) and Rob Hamilton (0-2=2) also recorded multi-point efforts as Colorado also earned a point in their 10th straight game.
Goaltender Justus Annunen stopped 15-of-18 shots to stretch his win streak to eight games.
Alex Limoges, Nikolas Brouillard and Trevor Carrick scored for the Gulls, who suffered a third straight loss. Goaltender Olle Eriksson Ek, reassigned by the Anaheim Ducks before tonight's game, stopped 35 shots in his first start in over a month.
Third Period Recap
Sikura scored the Eagles third power-play goal of the game at 8:20 of the period, deflecting a pass from Sherwood past Eriksson Ek for his team-leading 14th goal of the season.
Colorado's top three scorers continue to torment San Diego. Sherwood (2-1=3) and Gross (0-3=3) lead all skaters while Sikura (1-1=2) recorded a second consecutive multi-point performance.
Brouillard brought the Gulls back within two, scoring his fifth goal of the season at 9:43 of the period.
Brent Gates Jr. went to work behind the goal line, digging a puck out from the boards and sending it to Lucas Elvenes low in the zone. The center found a streaking Brouillard, who curled toward the middle and fired a shot to beat Justus Annunen to the glove side.
Elvenes continues his impressive run with San Diego, picking up his ninth point (2-7=9) in his seventh game with the team.
Second Period Recap
Colorado's power play helped swing the momentum in their favor, netting two goals early in the period.
Martin Kaut gave the Eagles the lead with a power-play goal just 1:19 into the middle frame.
Colorado worked a set play down low, with Gross connecting with Sikura down low. Colorado's leading scorer fed a quick pass to Kaut in the middle, and his one-timed bid managed to squeak through Eriksson Ek and over the goal line for his eighth goal of the season.
Sherwood collected his second goal of the game, one-timing a Hamilton pass by a sliding Eriksson Ek for a power-play goal at 5:17 of the period.
Gross picked up his second assist of the period to record a multi-point game (0-2=2). He leads American Hockey League defensemen in points (7-21=28) and is second in assists.
Despite allowing two goals in the period, Eriksson Ek looked sharp, denying several quality-scoring chances in the latter half of the frame. The Gulls netminder stopped 11-of-13 shots in the second and has 28 saves through 40 minutes.
First Period Recap
The teams traded goals with under three minutes remaining in the period.
Limoges opened the scoring, converting on San Diego's first power-play chance of the game with 2:47 remaining in the opening frame.
Kodie Curran started the play, scooping the puck from the blue line and into the corner of Colorado's zone. It took a hometown bounce off the wall, skipping away from a surprised Annunen and into the middle of the slot. An Eagles defenseman took a wild swinging attempt to clear the puck, whiffing and falling to the ice. Limoges cleaned up, snapping the puck into the net before Annunen could recover for his eighth goal of the season.
Limoges continued his recent goal-scoring binge, collecting his fourth goal in the last six games. Curran extended his point streak to three games (1-2=3) while Carrick earned his fourth point (2-2=4) in his last four games.
Sherwood tied the game just 32 seconds later, converting on a 3-on-2 rush for his 12th goal of the season.
Eriksson Ek, making his first start in over a month, stopped 7-of-8 shots in the period. The goaltender entered tonight with a 4-6-1 record with a 2.92 goals-against average (GAA) and .899 save percentage (SV%).
Annunen made three saves in the opening stanza. The rookie entered tonight second in the American Hockey League with 13 wins. He’s riding a personal seven-game win streak, posting a .929 save percentage (SV%) over that span.