Gulls Drop Barracuda In Overtime
Mar 6, 2021Andrew Agozzino scored in overtime to cap off a Gulls 3-2 victory over the San Jose Barracuda tonight at FivePoint Arena. With an 8-1-0-0 record on home ice, the Gulls pace the AHL in home wins and points (16).
Maxim Golod (0-2=2) and Benoit-Olivier Groulx posted their first career multi-point games to power San Diego offensively. Andrew Poturalski also recorded his league-leading 10th assist on the game-winning goal.
"It’s definitely a huge win for us," Golod said. "Last night was definitely a rough one. It kind of stung in the room there after. Going into the room now, momentum is high. Everyone is happy. It’s definitely a happy group in there tonight."
Gulls netminder Olle Eriksson Ek stopped 39-of-41 shots to earn his first career win in his AHL debut. The Swedish rookie became the second-youngest goaltender to win a game for San Diego (21 years, 8 months, 12 days), behind only Lukas Dostal (20 years, 7 months, 18 days). Eriksson Ek is also the second Gulls goaltender to record a win in his first career AHL start.
"I was really happy for him," head coach Kevin Dineen said. "He’s come here and there are no guarantees. We have good depth at goalie and there was no guarantee he was going to get a game. Boy, he worked hard in practice and we’ve seen improvement here in the start. He earned the win. Looks good on him."
Hunter Drew opened the scoring with the third goal of his AHL career. Drew found his way to a loose puck in the slot and slipped a backhand shot through the legs of Barracude goalie Alexei Melnichuk, putting San Diego ahead 7:19 into the first period.
Golod earned his first career AHL point with an assist on the tally.
Robbie Russo, a defensemen playing forward for San Jose, connected with Maxim Letunov, who snapped a quick wrist shot past Eriksson Ek to tie the game at the 8:46 mark of the opening frame.
The Gulls restored their one-goal lead early in the second period. Golod circled behind the Barracuda net looking for a passing lane before spotting Groulx alone on the backdoor. He hit Groulx with a perfect pass, setting up the San Diego center for the go-ahead goal just 1:52 into the middle frame. The goal marked Groulx’s fourth tally of the season and his fifth point in his last six games (3-2=5).
"They kept it simple and obviously were very effective," Dineen said when explaining the line's effective play. "You move Hunter Drew from the point up front and it’s great to have that depth. You can’t keep going to those same resources all the time. Good for those guys to go out and contribute the way they did."
San Jose tied the game on a power-play goal at the 5:40 mark of the second period as Zachary Gallant beat Eriksson Ek with a point shot through a screen. The goal marked Gallant’s first career AHL tally.
The game remained deadlocked at two into the overtime period when Agozzino earned the Gulls the extra point. Agozzino skated into a loose puck at center ice and raced in on goal, beating Melnichuk through the five hole. The goal extended Agozzino’s goal and scoring streak to four games (4-0=4).
The Gulls and Barracuda play the rubber match of this three-game set on Tuesday, Mar. 9 at SAP Center (6 p.m.).