The San Diego Gulls earned an impressive 2-1 overtime win over their rival Ontario Reign at Toyota Arena.
Rocco Grimaldi tallied two points – including the game-winner – as San Diego snapped a four-game winless streak. Drew Helleson also found the back of the net for San Diego, who helped Olle Eriksson Ek grab a win after a 21-save performance.
Samuel Fagemo scored for the Reign, who suffered just their second loss in their last six games.
Helleson opened the scoring, snapping his fifth goal of the year past Cal Petersen at 3:43 of the first.
Grimaldi held the puck along the blue line, firing a pass down to Chase De Leo. The Gulls’ captain curled with the puck toward the boards, skating toward the point before finding Helleson. The defenseman drifted to the center of the point and sent a low wrist shot through traffic, tucking his shot into the bottom of the net to give San Diego the lead.
They brought the lead into the locker room following a disallowed Reign goal with just over a minute left in the opening period. A hand pass helped Ontario get a prime scoring chance, with the officials blowing the play dead as the puck went into the back of the net.
The Gulls almost doubled their lead early in the middle frame, but an incredible save from Petersen kept them at one. The Reign goaltender found himself down and out following a scrum in front. Grimaldi found Michael Del Zotto streaking in from the point, and the defenseman wired a wrist shot at the open net. Petersen lunged across the crease to snag the shot, earning a tap on the pads from Del Zotto and a stunned expression on Grimaldi.
Fagemo tied the game at one early in the final frame, one-timing a shot from the faceoff dot for a power-play goal.
The teams stayed even through regulation, forcing a second straight overtime contest. After falling in the extra session last week, Grimaldi ensured the Gulls ended the season series with a win, beating Petersen for the game-winning overtime tally just 1:09 into overtime.
With the goal, the Rossmoor, CA. native became just the second player to score 10 goals in a single month in San Diego’s AHL history, tying former captain Sam Carrick (10, Nov. 2019). He’s also the first Gull since Carrick in Mar. 2021 to post 13 points in a single month. He ends the night leading the AHL in goals (27) and leads San Diego in goals, assists (27) and points (27-27=54).
By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.