PREVIEW: Gulls Look to Snap Losing Streak Against the Eagles
Oct 25, 2022By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls return to Pechanga Arena San Diego tonight, looking to fly past the Colorado Eagles and to their first home win of the season (7 p.m., TV: AHL TV, RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
The Gulls enter tonight with a 1-3-0-0 overall record after consecutive losses to the Ontario Reign last weekend. This game marks the team’s first Wednesday night matchup (San Diego is 37-30-4-1 all-time on that day of the week) and what the team sees as an opportunity for a quick turnaround.
"If you have an off night, you don’t really get time to dwell on that," Gulls right wing Bryce Kindopp said about the time between games. "You get right back to it like we can here on Wednesday. It’s going to be a grind, but when you’re doing it with these guys, it’s pretty easy and fun."
The Gulls plan to focus more on defensive details to solve a Colorado team that left them with a 1-5-0-0 season record (13-11-1-0 all-time) in 2021-22.
"Our defensive game has to be better, that’s for sure," Gulls assistant coach Kris Sparre said. "You saw that in the second game on Ontario, our details - we got away from it a little bit, but we had a really, really good last two days of practice where guys were dialed in and I think we’re really going to put an emphasis on that tomorrow."
Defenseman Nikolas Brouillard was certainly “dialed in” as of late, posting 2-4=6 points in four games this season and ranking tied for third among AHL leaders in assists and points production from Oct. 14-21. Currently, the blueliner is ranked tied for second in points and tied for third in assists among AHL defensemen (as of Oct. 25). Additionally, Brouillard tops the Gulls’ leaderboard in both assists and points while being tied for the lead in goals.
Brouillard also placed among Gulls team leaders in offensive production against the Eagles last season with 2-4=6 points in six contests.
"I don’t think they’re going to be much different than they have (been) since I’ve played them in my last couple years here," Kindopp said. "Always a fast, physical, really good team to play against so it’s going to be a good challenge for us. I know they’re going to be flying around so I expect the same."
Colorado’s speed and skating ability makes the proper execution of the Gulls defense and forecheck even more important.
"They play with a lot of pace, similar to what we saw with the Ontario team," Sparre said of the Eagles. "So, they’re a good skating team, physical. We’ll have to bring both of those elements - match them if not bring a little bit more on our end- and I think we ‘re going to be okay."
The Gulls will look to Brayden Tracey to be at the helm of the teams’ forechecking game, especially since the left wing utilized it to score an unassisted goal in Saturday’s 5-1 loss. Tracey is also averaging a point-per-game with 2-2=4 points in his last four contests, marking the highest point total in his first four games of the season in his AHL career.
San Diego also has the added insurance of the goalie tandem of Lukas Dostal and Olle Eriksson Ek. Dostal, who will likely get the start tomorrow, has quite the history with the Eagles.
In the Gulls 5-2 win over the Eagles on Mar. 2, 2022, Dostal became the first goaltender in the history of the Anaheim Ducks organization (NHL or AHL level) and 16th goaltender in AHL history to score a goal in a game (17th including playoffs). Dostal also made a career-high 51 saves on 52 shots in the win.
The Gulls goaltending will be integral in caging the Eagles, who come into the game with a 2-2-0-0 record after a 4-2 loss to the Calgary Wranglers on Oct. 22. San Diego will have to watch out for Colorado defensemen Keaton Middleton (1-0=1) and Andreas Englund (1-0=1), who accounted for both of Colorado’s goals in the loss.
Additionally, the Gulls will need to ground left wing Charles Hudon, who is on a four-game point streak (4-3=7) that began at the start of the season on Oct. 14.
"When you’ve got two teams that are playing hard and playing fast, that’s what this game is all about and I think we’re at our best when teams are challenging us in that department." Sparre said.