SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Gulls (6-5-1-0) won their fourth consecutive game as they defeated the San Joe Barracuda (5-4-0-2) 4-0 in front of 7,931 fans at Valley View Casino Center. The Gulls concluded a four-game homestand (4-0-0), and is now 6-2-0 on home ice.
The night belonged to San Diego goaltender Matt Hackett, as the London, Ontario native made 37 saves in San Diego’s first shutout of the season. The victory marked Hackett’s fifth career AHL shutout.
“It was great night for me personally, but the team played well tonight too,” said Hackett. “Give them credit, the fans got us going early and we fed off that.”
The Gulls got off to a fast start, and at the 7:30 mark of the first period, Zac Larraza gave San Diego an early 1-0 lead as he banked in a rebound off the boards past San Jose goaltender Troy Grosenick.
“It was obviously great to score, but it’s a team effort,” said Larraza. “Everyone is contributing right now, our goalies have been solid and it’s a great turnaround to win four in a row.”
The Gulls would strike again at 17:12 as Corey Tropp tapped home a rebound off an Andy Welinski shot for his fifth goal of the season and team-leading 15 point of the season (5-10=15).
Even though San Diego held the 2-0 advantage after 20 minutes, San Jose peppered Hackett with multiple grade-A chances throughout the first period. Hackett’s best save of the period came when he stoned Nikita Jevpalovs on a one-timer from the slot. San Jose’s 17 first period shots were the most the Gulls have given up in an opening frame this season.
“That was the best performance I’ve ever seen from him,” said Head Coach Dallas Eakins referring to Hackett’s stellar performance. “He kept us in the game with some timely saves. Without him we aren’t on the winning end tonight.”
San Diego controlled the first 10 minutes of the second period and tacked on to its lead at the 11:12 mark. Winger Austen Brassard slipped away from Barracuda defenseman Patrick McNally and shoveled in his first goal as a Gull.
Hackett continued his fine play in the second stanza as he stoned Daniel O’Regan with a miraculous glove save to deny a point-blank opportunity from the slot. Hackett made several other key stops late in the period to backstop the Gulls as they took a 3-0 lead after two periods of play.
Early in the third period the Gulls would extend their lead to 4-0 on a power-play goal as Kale Kossila chipped in a loose puck in the crease for his second goal of the campaign. San Diego played a clean defensive third period to ensure Hackett’s shutout remained intact.
Eakins added: “We needed a homestand like this. We dug ourselves a hole early in the season. We challenged our guys, they responded and played very well.”
San Diego hits the road for a four-game trip to Tucson (two games), Bakersfield and Ontario before returning home on Nov. 30 for a tilt with the Tucson Roadrunners at 7 p.m. Fans can purchase tickets by visiting AXS.com/Gulls or by phone at (619) 359-4730.
NOTES: Zac Larraza registered his first multi-point game of the campaign (1-1=2)…Shea Theodore (0-1=1) now has four assists in his last five games and has registered eight assists in eight games with San Diego this season…Andy Welinski’s six assists ranks third among Gulls’ defensemen…Stefan Noesen, Stu Bickel, Jeff Schultz, Nick Tarnasky all tallied assists…Gulls defenseman Keaton Thompson made his San Diego and AHL debut tonight, going scoreless with a +1 rating…Barracuda goaltender Troy Grosenick (3-4-1-0) stopped 21 of 25 shots in the loss…San Diego improved to 2-3-0 in the second half of back-to-back contests
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