PREVIEW: Retooled Gulls, Roadrunners Open Weekend Set In Tucson
Mar 3, 2023By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com
The new-look San Diego Gulls and Tucson Roadrunners open a back-to-back weekend series tonight at Tucson Convention Center (6 p.m. PT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
The matchup features plenty of new faces on both sides of the ice. Yesterday, the Anaheim Ducks acquired right wing Dylan Sikura from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Maxim Golod and assigned him to San Diego. The 5-11, 170-pound forward has scored 14-18=32 points and 13 penalty minutes (PIM) in 52 American Hockey League games with the Rockford IceHogs this season, Chicago’s primary development affiliate. He has tallied 89-106=195 points with a +35 rating and 70 PIM in 233 career AHL games with Rockford (2022-23 & 2018-20), Colorado (2021-22) and Henderson (2020-21). In addition, the Gulls made an additional move, trading right wing Rocco Grimaldi and forward Logan Nijhoff to the Rockford IceHogs for future considerations.
San Diego will see a familiar face on the Tucson blueline. The Edmonton Oilers and Arizona Coyotes made a trade yesterday, with the Coyotes sending Nick Bjugstad and Cam Dineen to the Oilers for a 2023 third-round draft selection and defenseman Michael Kesselring. The blueliner, assigned by Arizona to Tucson, earned 3-3=6 points in eight games against San Diego this season.
The Gulls hope the new-look lineup helps them find the win column for the second time in their last three games. They enter the desert off a 6-5 loss to the Henderson Silver Knights on Wednesday night at Pechanga Arena San Diego. The matchup featured a back-and-forth battle between the two Pacific Division teams, with Chase De Leo posting a season-high 2-1=3 points. Brayden Tracey and Josiah Slavin each tallied a goal and assist while Nikolas Brouillard tallied two assists.
"You know, there wasn’t a lot of quit," Gulls head coach Roy Sommer said. "I thought we did a lot of good things actually. We moved the puck out of our own end pretty good. We were above pucks in their end and allowed our d(efense) to come down the walls and keep plays alive and that part of it was good. It was defensively, I thought we had some breakdowns. We didn't do a very good job defending the middle of the ice and that hurt us a little bit. But you know, like that we finally got some secondary scoring. We didn't leave it up to one line to do at all, which was a good thing to see."
The Gulls will lean on De Leo to continue his hot streak. Their captain extended his point streak to a seventh game with his three-point performance. He’s now eclipsed 50 goals with the Gulls and sits sixth among all-time team AHL leaders in appearances.
Tucson looks to strengthen its tenuous hold on the seventh – and final – playoff position in the division. They sit five points ahead of the San Jose Barracuda but played two more games. They’ve grabbed wins in three of their last four games after dropping a 2-1 decision to the Chicago Wolves on Sunday, Feb. 26. Michael Carcone – a perpetual thorn in San Diego’s side – leads the league with 25-40=65 points. He’s found success against San Diego in the past and leads all skaters with 3-5=8 points in the season series.
San Diego continues its eight-game regular-season series with the Roadrunners tonight, holding a 2-3-0-0 record against the club this season. The Gulls beat the Roadrunners in their most recent matchup on Feb. 14, besting Tucson 5-1 in a contest that saw three Gulls record multi-point performances and 10 different San Diego skaters appear on the scoresheet. One of these Gulls was Brouillard who, after posting an assist on Feb. 14, owns six points (1-5=6) against the Roadrunners in 2022-23 to lead the team in point production against Tucson. The Gulls scored five power-play goals in their last four games against the Roadrunners, operating at a 27.8% success rate on the man advantage (5-for-18).