The San Diego Gulls returned from the All-Star break with a victory over the Bakersfield Condors at Dignity Health Arena tonight, 3-1.
Goaltender Tomas Suchanek made his sixth appearance of the season tonight, saving 31-of-32 shots. Suchanek did not let up a goal until the final two minutes of the game, securing his second win of the season.
“[Tomas] Suchanek’s perspective, that’s a big-time game for him,” head coach Matt McIlvane said. “He’s been going through the break, he got a game in, he got practices in, so it was easy to keep him going. These are the kind of performances we expect from him because he’s done this force before. I think he was excellent in the net tonight, and I think the team collapsed well at times in front of him to help protect him as well.”
Matthew Phillips found the first goal of the game on a powerplay to give the Gulls an early lead. The forward now totals 10-22=32 points this season, tallying the second most points for all Gulls skaters. Phillips only trails behind Sasha Pastujov who logged his 100th career AHL point as he tallied an assist on the opening goal. The 22-year-old forward has found a total of 37 goals and 63 assists in his AHL career and holds 32 points this season.
It was proven why Tim Washe was credited AHL All-Star honors as he found his 14th goal of the season to give the Gulls a two-goal lead in the second frame. The rookie has logged 14-12=26 points in his 32 games played this season.
Defenseman Tristan Luneau picked up a point as he was credited with the secondary assist on Phillips’ goal. Luneau totals 15 points this season, ranking second amongst all Gulls defensemen. Nico Myatovic found his eighth assist of the season as he picked up the lone assist on Washe’s goal. Myatovic has logged four of those assists in his past five games.
The win was secured tonight when Bakersfield failed to stop a pass which landed in the empty net. The goal was credited to Nathan Gaucher as he was the last Gull to touch the puck.
The Gulls were perfect on both the powerplay and the penalty kill, showing off the improvement of their special teams. The team went 1-for-1 on the powerplay and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. San Diego now ranks fourth on the penalty kill amongst all AHL teams as their kill sits at 84.6%.
The Gulls and Condors will get right back at it tomorrow night as they head to Pechanga Arena San Diego to finish out the home-and-home series (6 p.m. PST).
“I’m not sitting here thinking that we played a perfect game,” McIlvane said. “There are certainly the elements of seven days off and there’s some things to clean up, but I’m really impressed with the way the guys were able to get focused. Being able to reset and refocus to raise our level for tomorrow will be our objective.”
By Ashley Rubin/SanDiegoGulls.com
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