SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Gulls (14-12-2-1, 31 pts.) defeated the San Antonio Rampage (16-17-0-2; 34 pts.) 3-2 in front 8,634 fans at Valley View Casino Center on Saturday night. Stefan Noesen led the way offensively with two points (1-1=2) and Corey Tropp scored the game-winning goal on the power play as San Diego earned a point for the fifth time in its last six games (3-1-1-1).
A scoreless first stanza saw San Diego goaltender Kevin Boyle make 12 saves to keep the game scoreless after the first period of play. Boyle (3-3-2-0) made 28 saves on the night, his best coming off Alex Belzile’s bid from the slot and J.T. Compher’s breakaway in the opening frame.
“He was definitely sharper tonight,” said head coach Dallas Eakins when asked about Boyle. “We don’t want Kevin to be the type of goalie that gives us a chance to win. We want him to be the reason that we do win and I thought he did that tonight.”
In his last five games, Boyle has posted a 3-1-1 record with one shutout, a 1.99 goals-against average (GAA) and .928 save percentage (SV%).
Early in the second period Kevin Roy went to the box for hooking and the Rampage made the Gulls pay. Only 45 seconds into the man advantage, San Antonio’s two leading scorers struck once again as Rocco Grimaldi slapped home a centering pass from AJ Greer to put the visitors up 1-0.
Nick Tarnasky tied the game up a little over a minute later at 3:23 of the second as he corralled a bouncing puck and beat Rampage goaltender Jeremy Smith with a slapshot over the right shoulder. Tarnasky’s goal was his first since Nov. 12 against Manitoba.
At 11:10 of the middle frame, the Gulls jumped ahead 2-1 as after a power play expired as Theodore found Noesen in the right circle and he made no mistake into an open net. Noesen now has 5-2=7 points in his last eight contests and Theodore now leads all San Diego skaters with 3-4=7 points in five career games against the Rampage.
“We were getting some good looks on the power play and Shea made a great pass,” said Noesen of his goal. “You don’t get too many of those and I was happy we took advantage of it there.”
With Nate Guenin in the box for slashing, San Antonio cashed in on the man advantage again when Gabriel Bourque potted his fifth goal of the season to tie the game 2-2 heading to the final period.
San Diego earned another power-play at 4:18 of the third period and finally capitalized. After some tough work in front of the net, Corey Tropp gathered and slid home the rebound off Kalle Kossila’s shot to put the Gulls back ahead. Tropp’s marker was his first goal in 16 games (Nov. 26 @ BAK), but the 27-year-old still leads San Diego in scoring with 7-17=24 points on the year and ranks second on the club in goals.
“As a team we talk about scoring dirty goals all the time,” said Tropp. “It’s never easy to go into those areas, but it was nice to get rewarded tonight.”
The Gulls limited San Antonio the rest of the way as they conceded only five shots in the third frame as they skated off with their first home win since Dec. 6 against Bakersfield.
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