PREVIEW: Gulls, Roadrunners Conclude Regular Season Tonight In Tucson
Apr 29, 2022By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls are on the hunt to end their regular season on a high as they close out a back-to-back set against the Tucson Roadrunners tonight at the Tucson Convention Center Arena (7 p.m. PT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
The Gulls are on a two-game slide after losing 6-2 to Tucson last night, but the team is optimistic they can leave the desert with a win. The key is finding a balance between tonight’s challenge of fighting off the Roadrunners while keeping themselves healthy and ready for next week’s matchup against the Ontario Reign in the First Round of the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs.
"It’s one of those things," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "Guys don’t want to get injured, guys are thinking about next week. Obviously, they’re in games that don’t mean anything for us, but you’ve still got to keep your level of competition a little higher. Then, maybe sometimes you’re challenged too by the importance of the game or something like that so I’m looking more for a bit of a jam tomorrow. It’s always that fine line - guys don’t want to get hurt, you want to make sure you’re coming in fresh for the playoffs. They’re up the corner, but on the flip side, you’ve got to make sure that you keep that jam that got us success."
The peanut butter to that jam will be a 60-minute effort from San Diego after the team’s play fizzled out after the first period of last night’s game.
"Well, I like that we were on assignment about a couple of things we’ve been talking about playing against Ontario and I thought we did well there," Bouchard said. "I don’t think we created a lot of offense. I thought we should’ve been, could’ve been more dynamic. That being said, we didn’t give much and we were up 1-0 so I felt that in the second, we could take maybe one more gear."
The Gulls lone goal in the first 20 minutes came courtesy of Alex Limoges, who notched his 23rd goal to become the sixth rookie in Gulls American Hockey League history to reach the 40-point mark (23-17=40) in a season (last: Troy Terry (41) and Sam Steel (41), 2018-19). The left wing now holds the scoring lead on the Gulls an continues to lead AHL rookie scorers in power-play goals (12).
The Gulls will once again look to Limoges to bolster their offense as his six goals (6-0=6) against the Roadrunners this season are the most on the team.
"It turned bad after the first period," Bouchard said. "I thought we were decent in the first. Obviously, we’re getting ready for the playoffs, and then we came out flat in the second, which is not what you would like as a coach and probably as a player."
The Roadrunners proceeded to collect four goals in the second period, matching San Diego’s season high for goals scored by an by opponent in the middle frame.
These goals were answered by Greg Printz at the end of the period, and San Diego will need Printz to extend his recent string of offense into tonight. Printz has 3-1=4 points in his last six games and three of his 11 goals this season have come against Tucson.
Another key for generating offense will be establishing net-front presence and getting their shots through to the net. San Diego’s 18 shots last night mark only the fifth time this season the team put up 18 or fewer shots in a game.
The Gulls will also need to control Tucson’s Colin Thiesen, who registered a career-high 1-2=3 points in last night’s contest. The undrafted rookie has two of his five goals against the Gulls this season.
Stephen Harper (1-1=2) and Cameron Hebig (1-1=2) also recorded multi-point efforts, while Matais Maccelli (0-2=2) put up his 42nd and 43rd assists to reclaim the assist lead among rookies.
The Gulls will have goaltender Lukas Dostal in net tonight to help them keep the Roadrunner’s offense at bay. The netminder is 3-0-0 against Tucson this season with a 1.48 goals-against average and .941 save percentage. He backstopped the Gulls to their 3-1 victory over Tucson on Apr. 23 and sits only win one shy of tying Kevin Boyle (19) for most wins in a season by a Gulls rookie goaltender.
"We’re kind of fighting through this last little stretch here," Bouchard said. "We’ll put Lukas Dostal back in net tomorrow, have him one last game. A lot of the stuff we do is working on our game to get ready for the playoffs."