Carrick's Three Points Leads San Diego To Wild Win In Regular-Season Finale With Iowa
Apr 2, 2022By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls battled the Iowa Wild and bested their Central Division rivals 5-3 for the first time this season in a gritty, physically charged battle that was ultimately decided by special teams tonight at Pechanga Arena.
"I think special teams came out big tonight, they made the difference," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "They’re a tough team over there. They never quit; they’re intimidating. They have some guys that can play hard, so I thought we did really well in a lot of situations, but you’re right, special teams were good. I think our pk (penalty kill) came out with some big plays, some big faceoff and then Dos (Lukas Dostal) was there. He was comfortable with what we gave him, the shots we gave. It made the difference at the end for sure."
The Gulls killed all six of Iowa’s power-play opportunities and this was in major part due to the play of Lukas Dostal, who stopped 32-of-35 shots for his 17th win of the season. The Gulls earned standings points in each of his last six starts (5-0-1).
"We have a lot of confidence in our penalty kill right now, especially the goaltending," Gulls defenseman Brogan Rafferty said. "Goaltending is the most important penalty killer, but no I think you’re seeing, over time, like guys have been playing together on the penalty kill more and that chemistry is there, they’re making reads off each other and that desperation is high too on the penalty kill, which is great."
On the other side of the Gulls’ special teams was Trevor Carrick, who recorded his first three-point night of the season with 0-3=3 assists, two of which were recorded on San Diego power-play goals.
Rafferty also collected his pair of assists on the man advantage for his fourth multi-assist effort of the season.
"We always say if we don’t get a goal on the power play, we want to get some momentum off of it and I think that’s what we’ve been doing lately," Rafferty said. "Again, I think you’re seeing…the units have been similar lately and so that chemistry is starting to get there and we’re doing a good job preparing ahead of time on what they’re penalty kill does and what they’re special teams’ tendencies are and we’re trying to capitalize on that. It’s a big momentum shift when the power play can get a goal or at least a couple shots on net and get the crowd into it. That’s what you’re seeing.The game quickly became physical as the animosity from last night’s Iowa win spilled over, setting the tone for a contest defined by fights and heated action from seemingly every player on both teams."
Iowa struck first as Mitchell Chaffee picked up loose puck in front of the net and stuffed it through the Lukas Dostal’s pads at 12:37 of the first frame to give the Wild a 1-0 lead. Kevin Czuczman and Jon Lizotte picked up assists on the play.
Dostal and the Gulls would continue to face an unrelenting Iowa attack throughout the remainder of the first period, killing off a short 5-on-3 chance to keep the deficit at one. Dostal kept his composure, stopping 16-of-17 shots in the opening frame. The total ties a season high for shots allowed by the Gulls in the game's first stanza.
An early second period power play reset the Gulls and opened the offensive floodgates, who scored three times to grab their first lead of the game.
"We’re not the same team we were in the beginning of the year in a way that the guys have grown, have learned, have found their ways," Bouchard said. "Like I talked about before the game, structure and habits and now they’re more and more natural. The guys are more and more comfortable. The wins are there. We know its going to have to come from everybody and there’s no passenger and you saw, we came out, I thought the first period was so, so for me and we challenged the guys and they some out like that in the second and as a coach, it’s fun."
Bryce Kindopp started the offensive onslaught, scoring his 11th goal to establish a new career high goals in a season, with just one second remaining on San Diego's first power play to tie the game at one.
Rafferty tamed a pass from Carrick and placed a pass right on the stick of Kindopp as the right wing flew into the slot, deflecting the puck past Wild backstop Zane McIntyre.
That was just the beginning, as Buddy Robinson soon found the scoresheet with his fourth tally of the season.
Alex Limoges picked up a puck sent into the boards by Benoit Olivier-Groulx, curving it around the back of net and dishing it over to Robinson as he crashed the crease and slammed the puck through an open left side.
Lucas Elvenes cashed in on the momentum less than a minute later, collecting his 10th tally of the year and putting the Gulls ahead 3-1.
"It’s not easy because you know they’re down 3-1 and that’s their play and they’re hard, they want to get you off your game and I thought that we managed it so we stick together," Bouchard said. "We did it as a team and I’m very proud of the guys, but it didn’t go overhand where it became out of control."
Elvenes worked tirelessly in the Gulls zone to keep possession of the puck, fending off the Wild’s forecheck until he was able to find Carrick. The defenseman, slid the puck to Brayden Tracey as he made a clean exit out of the neutral zone and fed the puck to Elvenes, sniping the puck through McIntrye’s legs.
The Swedish center has 3-4=7 points in his last six games.
The Gulls stayed disciplined in the third period and made the Wild pay when they weren’t able to stay out of the box.
Brent Gates Jr. collected San Diego's second power-play goal of the night, sniping a wrist shot past McIntyre to give the Gulls a three-goal lead at 7:26 of the final frame.
The goal marks the first time the forward reached 10 in his American Hockey League career. Additionally, Gates Jr. is the 10th Gull to score 10 or more goals this season, marking the most double-digit goal scorers in one season in Gulls AHL history.
"I think as a player, you feel good that you’ve risen to the occasion and so you’re right, everybody stepped in and even a guy like Gatesy (Brent Gates Jr.) that didn’t play yesterday came in big," Bouchard said.
This goal would be the difference maker for the Gulls as the Wild rallied with two goals later in the period.
Czuczman cut the Gulls lead to 4-2 for his second point of the game (1-1=2) and Chaffee followed suit less than a minute later with his second goal of the outing (2-0=2). Vladislav Firstov also recorded a multi-point game with assists (0-2=2) on each goal.
"I thought we played a good third period and then a couple of plays and then a couple of goals and then we end up being 4-3," Bouchard said. "That being said, I thought we managed that situation very well and like I told the players, as a coach, I’m happy that we had to live that so if it happens in the playoffs, then we know that we can close that game and just like kind of reset and came with big plays."
Danny O’Regan slammed the door on any hopes of a comeback effort, hitting the center of an empty Iowa net with 22 seconds left in regulation. The win put the Gulls two points ahead of the Henderson Silver Knights for sixth in the Pacific Division standings.