SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Gulls (13-12-2-1, 29 pts.) fell to the San Antonio Rampage (16-16-0-2; 34 pts.) 5-4 in front 9,044 fans at Valley View Casino Center on Friday night. The Rampage received tallies from five different skaters help earn their fourth win in the last six games.
Despite scoring four goals, the Gulls fell for the first time in 2017 and now have an 13-3-0-1 when scoring three or more goals.
“I thought we deserved a better fate,” said head coach Dallas Eakins. “We were a victim of bad luck tonight, but I was proud of the fact that our guys didn’t quit at all.”
AJ Greer got San Antonio on the board early as he scored his team-leading 11th goal of the season when he banked in a rebound off rookie goaltender Kevin Boyle’s skate and into the net at 3:21 of the first period. Greer now has a five-game point streak (3-2=5) and goals in three straight contests.
Boyle, making his fourth consecutive start, has helped earn points for the Gulls in three of his last four starts, posting a 2-1-1 record with a 1.98 goals-against average (GAA) and .928 save percentage (SV%),
The Rampage added another at 15:48 when Sam Henley backhanded home a centering pass from Julien Nantel to put San Antonio up 2-0.
San Diego would respond a minute later when Nate Guenin’s shot from the boards found a way past a screened Spencer Martin. Guenin’s goal was his first goal in 24 games, with his last coming on Oct. 26 vs. Stockton.
“The goal for me was great, but our compete level as a team was not where it should be,” said Guenin. “We can’t go down three goals at home.”
Early in the second period, Jordan Samuels Thomas took a holding penalty and San Antonio took advantage when Jim O’Brien found himself all alone in front of Boyle and slid a puck through his five hole to give San Antonio a 3-1 advantage. O’Brien’s marker extended his point streak to six games (4-3=7).
At 10:02 of the middle frame, Reid Pretyk potted his first goal of the season off a deflection of a Troy Bourke shot to give the Rampage a commanding 4-1 lead.
With time winding down in the second stanza, Samuels Thomas scored off a rebound from Andy Welinski’s shot to net his fourth goal of the season and second goal in the last three games (2-0=2). The Gulls entered the final frame trailing 4-2 after 40 minutes of play.
San Diego generated multiple quality chances in the first 10 minutes of the third period and Martin made his best saves of the night, denying Nick Sorensen’s point-blank bid from above the crease and Ryan Garbutt’s shorthanded breakaway opportunity to keep the Rampage lead at two.
San Antonio captain Joe Whitney put the Rampage up three goals once again when he finished off a two-on-one break with Rocco Grimaldi when the Rossmoor, Calif. native slowed the break down and made a quick pass to Whitney on the back side.
The Gulls responded with Antoine Laganiere’s sixth of the season to cut the lead to 5-3 and looked to gain some momentum heading into the final stages of the period.
San Diego earned a power play with a little over five minutes remaining and cashed in as Shea Theodore potted his first goal of the season with a seeing-eye wrist shot from the point that Martin couldn’t see with Stefan Noesen and Brandon Morley.
The home club pulled their goaltender in the final two minutes, but could not put another puck past Martin who improved to 15-8-0-1 after stopping 35-of-39 shots on the night.
“It was a tough night for us,” said Gulls forward Scott Sabourin. “Give credit to San Antonio, but we get them again tomorrow and hopefully we bounce back.”
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