SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Gulls (11-7-1-0; 23 pts.) fell 3-0 to the San Jose Barracuda (9-6-0-3; 21 pts.) in front of 4,152 fans at SAP Center on Saturday afternoon. San Jose goaltender Troy Grosenick (4-4-1-2) made 15 saves to earn his third shutout of the season.
San Jose received goals from Tim Heed, Barclay Goodrow (penalty shot) and John McCarthy while AHL rookie scoring leader Daniel O’Regan tallied two assists (0-2=2) to lead the Barracuda.
San Diego goaltender Dustin Tokarski made 10 saves in the first period after the Gulls were outshot 10-2, keeping his team in the game despite giving up the majority of the scoring chances in the first 20 minutes of play.
Tokarski continued his fine play into the second frame, making multiple saves off of point-blank chances by Rourke Chartier and Marcus Sorensen in the slot. San Diego began to create more chances with consistent offensive zone time and the Gulls’ best chance of the stanza came from a Scott Sabourin wrist shot that hit the far post and bounced right back into Grosenick.
At 16:12 of the second period, the Barracuda finally broke the deadlock when Tim Heed’s one-timer off a faceoff beat Tokarski glove side. Heed has tallied four goals in his last five games and his six goals rank tied for fourth among all AHL defensemen.
The Gulls spent a majority of the third period in their own end until they earned a power play at 11:46 when Goodrow went to the box for tripping. Corey Tropp appeared to tie the game after deflecting Brandon Montour’s point shot, but referee Mike Campbell waved off the goal and ruled Tropp had deflected the puck from above the height of the cross bar.
A few moments later, Goodrow earned a penalty shot when a clearing attempt sprung him on a breakaway after coming out of the penalty box. Montour dove to deny a scoring attempt but tripped Goodrow in the process, resulting in a penalty shot. The 23-year-old Goodrow scored on his attempt, beating Tokarski five-hole to give San Jose a 2-0 advantage.
Goodrow’s successful penalty shot was the first surrendered in Gulls history, with the only other attempt coming when Andrew Miller of the Bakersfield Condors was stopped by John Gibson on Oct. 16, 2015.
With San Diego on a late power play, McCarthy (1-0=1) found some space on a quick counter to put the game away with a shorthanded tally at 14:58 of the final frame.
You must be logged in to post a comment.