SAN DIEGO – Antoine Laganiere scored the game-winning goal on the power play with 2:12 left in regulation to give the San Diego Gulls (17-12-2-1, 37 pts.) their fourth consecutive victory with a 3-1 win over the Iowa Wild (18-19-2-1; 39 pts.) at Wells Fargo Arena on Monday night.
San Diego has now won six of its last seven games (5-1), and has earned standings points in eight of the past nine games (6-1-1-1) and 17 of the last 24 overall (15-7-1-1). The Gulls have also won four straight road contests dating back to Dec. 29 at Texas.
Brandon Montour scored an empty-net goal to extend his goal-scoring streak to five games (6-4=10). Montour’s streak is tied for the longest current streak in the AHL (Justin Bailey, Rochester) and is tied for the third longest such streak in the league this season. Montour also ranks tied for second with 11 goals and seventh in points (26) among league defensemen this season.
Tonight marked Laganiere’s first two-goal game (2-0=2) since Oct. 14 against Tucson, while Corey Tropp (0-3=3) and Kalle Kossila (0-2=2) also contributed multi-point efforts in the victory. Tropp’s three points equaled a season high, and his three assists tied a career high previously set twice (last: Feb. 10, 2012 with Rochester).
Kossila also extended his career-high point streak to seven games (2-8=10 points), matching Tropp’s team-long point streak this season set from Nov. 4-25 (3-7=10 points). Kossila’s current streak and Tropp’s previous streak are tied for the third longest such streaks in the AHL this season.
For the first time in seven games, a new face was in the net for the Gulls as veteran goaltender Jhonas Enroth (3-1-0), acquired by the Anaheim Ducks from Toronto last week, was a calming presence all night and made 21 saves to pick up the win in his San Diego debut.
The Gulls scored the first goal of the contest for the first time in six games as Corey Tropp found Antoine Laganiere in the slot and his wrist shot trickled through Iowa goaltender Steve Michalek to give the Gulls a 1-0 lead at 11:22 of the first period.
A scoreless second period saw both goaltenders make key saves with Enroth making key stops on Teemu Pulkkinen’s breakaway chance and Matt Hagel’s bid above the crease. On the other end of the ice, Michalek kicked out Greger Hanson’s bid late in the period to keep the score 1-0.
Early in the final frame, Michalek made his biggest save of the contest when he stoned Gulls’ rookie Kevin Roy on a breakaway attempt with a great glove stop. Minutes later at 11:48 of the third stanza, Iowa tied the game as Kurtis Gabriel potted his fifth of the season when he finished off a backhand feed from Hagel after a scrambling Enroth couldn’t get back to his post.
With only 2:16 remaining in the contest, Wild defenseman Dylan Labbe went to the box for slashing and the Gulls made them pay as Laganiere tipped a rebound out of the air past Michalek to give the Gulls a 2-1 advantage only four seconds into the power play
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