CEDAR PARK, Texas – The San Diego Gulls (13-11-2-1, 29 pts.) extended the club’s point streak to four games (2-0-1-1) with a 3-1 win over the Texas Stars (15-13-1-1; 32 pts.) on Saturday night to win back-to-back games in Texas. Keaton Thompson (1-1=2) notched the first multi-point game of his career and goaltender Kevin Boyle (2-2-2-0) made 37 saves as the Gulls improved to 11-6-1-1 in their last 19 games.
Boyle’s stellar play has seen him stop 85-of-88 shots faced while earning a 2-0-1 record in his last three games with one shutout, a 0.98 goals-against average (GAA) and .966 save percentage (SV%).
In a reversal from last night’s contest, the Stars controlled the first period as the home team carried the play and forcing San Diego goaltender Kevin Boyle to make 12 saves in the opening frame. Boyle made several spectacular stops, his best save of the opening 20 minutes denying Gemel Smith’s bid with a post-to-post save.
At 4:29 of the second period, the Stars earned a penalty shot after Gulls’ defenseman Jaycob Megna tripped up Caleb Herbert on a breakaway opportunity. Boyle denied Caleb Herbert’s penalty shot attempt to keep the game scoreless on the third penalty shot against the Gulls in club history. Shooters have scored on one of the three attempts, the last successful attempt coming from Barclay Goodrow of the San Jose Barracuda on Dec. 10, 2016 against Dustin Tokarski.
Texas continued to carry the momentum and got on the board at 6:29 of the middle frame when Brendan Ranford’s wrist shot from a sharp angle trickled through Boyle to give the Stars a 1-0 advantage at 6:29 of the middle period.
The Gulls struck back only 27 seconds later as Lagace lost sight of the puck and Chris Wagner (1-0=1) poked one home for his fifth goal of the season.
Midway through the middle frame, the Stars ran into penalty trouble and San Diego made them pay. On a 5-on-3 power play, Stefan Noesen tipped in a feed from Corey Tropp to put the Gulls on top 2-1. Noesen’s goal extended his goal-scoring streak to a career-long three games and has seen him score four goals in last five games and earn points in five of his last six games (4-1=5).
Early in the third period, the Gulls cashed in on the man advantage again as Thompson’s slap shot from the point beat a screened Lagace to extend Ssan Diego’s lead to 3-1 only 1:31 into the period. Thompson has recorded points in back-to-back games for the first time in his career (1-2=3).
Boyle was the story the rest of the way as the Manalapan, N.J. native continued his fine play throughout the third period, putting an exclamation point on the evening with a great save off Cole Ully’s one-timer from the slot in the final stages of the third period.
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