SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Gulls (3-5-1-0) defeated the Manitoba Moose (6-4-0-1) by the score of 3-2 in the first game of Military Weekend in front of 10,044 fans at Valley View Casino Center. The Gulls are now 3-2-0-0 on home ice this season.
A fast paced first period saw each goaltender make several key saves early. The best stop coming from Manitoba goaltender Eric Comrie off a shorthanded bid from Gulls’ newcomer Jordan Samuels-Thomas.
Samuels-Thomas would strike later in the period, scoring his first goal in a Gulls’ uniform by burying a centering pass from Ondrej Kase to gives the Gulls a 1-0 advantage heading into the dressing room.
“It felt good,” said said Samuels-Thomas who appeared in his first game after signing a professional tryout (PTO) on Nov. 10. “Great play by Kase and I think it was easy to get up to speed this week since the coaches got me up to speed so quickly.”
Derek Roy almost doubled San Diego’s lead early in the second period, but missed wide on a breakaway opportunity. The Gulls continued to generate plenty of chances and finally broke through at 12:33 when Kevin Roy potted his team-leading fourth goal of the season off the rush. Roy has now recorded 2-3=5 points in his last seven contests. Manitoba would cut the lead in half at 16:09 as Manitoba’s Dan DeSalvo registered his first goal of the season, beating Dustin Tokarski glove side. The Gulls dominated most of the second, outshooting Manitoba by a 13-5 margin and held a 2-1 advantage after 40 minutes of play.
Brandon Montour would add to San Diego’s lead with a power-play goal at 1:01 of the third period to register his fourth multi-point contest of the season. Montour now sits 4th among AHL defenseman in points (3-7=10) and leads the league in shots (57). Manitoba inched closer on a near-side goal from defenseman Kevin Czuzcman late in the period, but the Gulls kept their composure and finished off the victory with a sound defensive effort.
“We spent a lot of time this week talking about our defensive zone coverage and I thought we played excellent defensively tonight” said Head Coach Dallas Eakins. “We limited their shot total and did not give up many Grade-A chances.”
San Diego netminder Dustin Tokarski stopped 21-of-23 shots, picking up his third win of the season (3-2-0-0) in his fifth appearance. Manitoba’s Eric Comrie started for the Moose, giving up three goals on 37 shots (3-3-0-0).
The Gulls were solid on special teams, going 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and 1-of-3 on the power play.
San Diego wore a new, special desert camouflage jersey to honor the United States Armed Forces. Eakins noted that he reminded the players the significance of wearing camouflage.
Eakins added, “We talked about it before the game. It is a privilege and honor to wear these jerseys. We always preach commitment and discipline. Our military takes those ideals to a different level. We wanted to show that type of commitment tonight.”
NOTES: Tonight’s game marked the first home matchup against a Canadian franchise in the Gulls’ history…Stefan Noesen and Darcy Murphy got into a minor scrap at 11:51 of the first period, Noesen received an extra minor for cross checking…Murphy would fight Nick Tarnasky early in the third period as well…Corey Tropp added his team-high eighth assist of the season (3-7=10)…Shea Theodore contributed two helpers and now has five assists (0-5=5) in five games with San Diego…The Gulls allowed a season-low 23 shots against and notched 30-plus shots for the sixth time this season.
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