Alex Limoges Scores Power-Play Tally As Gulls Drop Regular-Season Finale In Colorado
Mar 5, 2022By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
A late surge of energy wasn’t enough for the San Diego Gulls to take flight as the team lost its second consecutive game, falling 4-1 to the Colorado Eagles at Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, CO.
Dylan Sikura (1-1=2) and Gabriel Lafontaine (1-1=2) led the way for the Eagles, who took five of the six meetings against the Gulls. Dalton Smith (0-2=2) and Jordan Gross (0-2=2) also recorded multi-point performances to support Justus Annunen, who stopped 25 shots to record his 20th win.
"They’re a good team, they’re a good team," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "They’re fast, they’re fast. They’re a good team. Sometimes you gotta tip your hat a little bit. We still got some growing to do. We’re going to go back at it. I don’t think everything is a full failing. I think the guys tried hard. I think at times we just crack in some area of the game. I don’t feel we got dominated in every single way, but I feel we lack in a few areas. They’re a good team, you gotta give them credit."
Alex Limoges scored the lone goal for San Diego, breaking Annunen’s shutout streak in the third period. Lukas Dostal stopped 30 shots in the loss.
The Eagles struck first as defenseman Jacob MacDonald carried the puck along the faceoff circle and slid a shot past Dostal 2:17 into the first frame, earning his second goal in his last two games against the Gulls.
"I think tonight was a big game," Limoges said. "We knew we needed this one and we had a good game plan coming in. We started out well and you know, we outshot them in the first period- the first time we’ve done that all weekend and it’s tough, they’re a really good team. It’s tough to play competitive and good hockey for 60 minutes when they’re doing their best out there too so I think it went a little back and forth and at a point, it was just tough to keep up. So, looking forward to the future we need to learn how to manage that and play down and desperate."
Dostal snuffed nine of 11 shots in the first period, with an impressive save on Kiefer Sherwood after the former Gull collected a rebound from Annunen and raced up the length of the ice for a chance on the breakaway.
San Diego’s best scoring opportunity also came off a breakaway as Vinni Lettieri caught the Eagles off the rush during their power play, forcing a neutral zone turnover and taking the puck to the net only for Annunen to stop his chance.
"I think this group competes," Bouchard said. "I think it’s not an issue of them not caring. They’re trying to do the best they can. At times even trying to do stuff we ask them that’s difficult. If it was about that we probably would have a different discussion or feel different about the game. It’s disappointing in some way, but Colorado was the only team we didn’t beat all year. We beat them on Wednesday at home for them. You’re right, I cannot go after the guy over a lack of effort. I just think we weren’t as good as we need to be to beat a good team like that."
Gabriel Fontaine doubled the Eagles lead, flicking a rebound past Dostal to cap the first period. The tally secured multi-point efforts for Fontaine (1-1=2), as well as Dalton Smith (0-2=2), who assisted on both Eagles’ first period goals.
The power play slumbered well into the second period for both teams until Stefan Matteau scored on the man-advantage and widened Colorado’s lead to 3-0 at 12:34.
Jordan Gross earned an assist on the play and leads all American Hockey League defensemen with 8-38=46 points and ranks third among blueliners in power-play assists and power play points (2-17=19).
"Yeah, I think it’s just moment in the game where you’re looking for performance that almost needs to be flawless in some area," Bouchard said. "And when somebody make a mistake, somebody else needs to recover for it. So, you’re right. I think we’ve adjusted in some ways. We had moments in the game today, but they were the better team on the ice. They’re extremely fast. We need to play a certain style of hockey to make sure that and we can do it. I’m not saying it’s impossible. I just don’t think we had our best performance to beat a good team like that."
The Eagles controlled the rest of period and posted themselves in the Gulls zone for its majority. However, Dostal locked down the score with several stellar saves, including back-to-back quality chances produced by Andreas Wingerli.
The third period commenced with a goal from Sikura, who put the Eagles ahead 4-0 with his 20th goal of the season. He ended the night leading Colorado with 20-29=49 points. In the six-game season series, Sikura led all skaters with eight goals and 8-3=11 points.
Limoges broke the shutout bid with 8:01 remaining in regulation, scoring his team-leading 12th goal of the season on a deflection in the slot. The tally tied him with Danny O’Regan for the team lead in power-play goals (7).
"Our goal is to get two shots a power play and you know, if we don’t score, we want to create momentum for ourselves," Limoges said. "I think tonight was a little sloppy. I made a couple of bad turnovers and didn’t win some battles, but at the end, it was a good heads up play and we saw they were changing and tried to play fast. I just snuck behind and got a goal. Yeah, like Vinni (Lettieri) said the other night, just sticking with it and I think good things will come. We’ve been doing pretty well lately, so it’s fun."
Additionally, Lettieri pushed his point streak to three games (1-3=4) with the primary assist on the play, while Nikolas Brouillard established a career-high four-game assist streak (0-5=5) and continues to lead the Gulls in assists and scoring with 8-20=28 points.
"Everybody in there knows that we’re improving, we’re taking strides and obviously in the standings, we’re not where we want to be, but we have a really good group in there and we’re gearing up for playoffs and perfecting our game," Limoges said. "So, it’s been a lot of fun the past couple of weeks and I know we’ve got a lot more to give."
The Gulls will continue their franchise-record eight-game road trip next Wednesday, Mar. 9 against the Stockton Heat at the Stockton Arena at 6:30 p.m. PT.