Gulls Comeback Effort Falls Short In 5-4 Loss To Barracuda
Nov 21, 2023By Nick Aguilera/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls nearly erased a four-goal deficit but fell just short in a 5-4 loss to the San Jose Barracuda Tuesday night at Tech CU Arena.
"I think we had a decent first, you know, getting behind on the PK goal," head coach Matt McIlvane said. "Then we disappeared in the second period. It was really far from us and our standard. Got back to hunting a little bit more, simplifying our game a bit in the third period, we're able to mount a push. You know, it's good to see the puck go in the net for the guys. It's too little too late when we put ourselves that far behind the eight ball."
Three Gulls recorded multi-point games, including three-point efforts from Andrew Agozzino (1-2=3) and Trevor Carrick (1-2=3). Calle Clang stopped 16 shots in the contest.
"We've got a bunch of proud people that aren't happy with where we're at," McIlvane said. "And, you know, we're thankful for the push. Again, too little too late."
The Gulls came out of the gate firing and doubled up the Barracuda’s shots 12-6 in the first, but it was Thomas Bordeleau who opened the scoring for San Jose, netting his fourth goal of the campaign on the power play at 5:46.
The Barracuda then got two quick ones seven minutes into the second, as Jacob Peterson and Brandon Coe scored 27 seconds apart to make it 3-0.
Agozzino got the Gulls on the board with a power-play goal halfway into the second. Agozzino, who led the Barracuda in scoring last season, snapped an 11-game goal drought with his second of the season.
"Yeah, I think our power play was really good on our two full attempts," Agozzino said. "Even the one at first, I thought we generated a lot of momentum for our team even though we didn't score, which is great for the powerplay. But I think it was a good night for us. You know, overall, our play’s been fairly productive this year and I think tonight was another good step forward."
San Jose got the goal back a little over five minutes later, as Bordeleau scored his second of the night after a puck bounced off his skate and past Clang.
Ethan Cardwell stretched the lead to four with less than two minutes left in the second frame.
Pavol Regenda scored his team-leading ninth goal of the season to chip away at the San Jose lead. Carrick recorded the primary assist on the goal for his first point of the night.
The Gulls made it interesting with six minutes to play, as Nathan Gaucher poked home his second goal of the season to cut the lead to two. Carrick again earned an assist, giving him a team-leading 11 on the season.
Carrick continued to make magic happen in the third, as he scored his third goal of the season with 17 seconds left to bring the Gulls within one. He ended the night with his second three-point effort of the season (1-2=3).
San Diego couldn’t find the equalizer in the dying seconds though, as San Jose escaped with the win.
"I think we just got back to playing our style of hockey [in the third], which is simple," Agozzino said. "The frustrating part is we weren't able to do that for 60 minutes. And you know, just the way things are going, playing 40 minutes well unfortunately isn’t going to get us the win."
Olen Zellweger picked up two assists, giving him eight on the season. He leads Gulls rookies with 2-8=10 points. Glenn Gawdin and Jacob Perreault also earned assists on the night.
The Gulls return to Pechanga Arena San Diego for back-to-back games against the Chicago Wolves beginning Friday, Nov. 24 (7 p.m. PT; TV: AHLTV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).