Heat come out on top of 14 round shoot out with Gulls

SAN DIEGO, Calif, – The Stockton Heat continued their roadtrip against the San Diego Gulls at the Valley View Casino Center in 14-round shoot-out that turned out to be a nail bitter, finally coming up on the winning side, with a 5-4 final tally. The Heat gave up a four goal lead to force the overtime, but neither team could make anything really happen. In the end it was Morgan Taormina that scored the only shot against the second Gulls goaltender of the game, Jared Coreau.

Heat defenceman Matt Taormina (17) scores during the 14th round of the shootout to give the Heat the victory – Photo by Jack Lima

The Stockton Heat looked to be off to a bad start, when early in the first period was faced with a penalty kill, then quickly getting a second penalty and having to hold off the two-man advantage. The result was positive for them and may have been the boost of adrenaline they needed to start off a barrage of goals before the end of the first period. The Heat went on to score four unanswered goals beginning with a goal by Scott Sabourin. Sabourin’s one-timer blast from the blue line to the net, beat Gulls goalie Kevin Boyle with 11:49 remaining in the period. This was Sabourin’s first goal of the season with the Heat and was assisted by Adam Ollas Mattsson (his first point of the season).

Gulls’ goalie Kevin Boyle makes a stop on a shot from Heat forward Tyler Graovac (44) during first period action – Photo by Jack Lima

A Gulls penalty gave the Heat a chance to set up another goal, when a loose puck near the front of the Gulls net was wristed to the net by Glenn Gawdin, for his third goal of the season. It wasn’t long afterwards, when Andrew Mangiapane, Tyler Graovac and Ollas Matson skated towards the net in a back and forth odd-man rush, ending with shot off Mangiapane’s stick from the near circle, besting Boyle to the back of the net, with 8:23 remaining in the period.

Heat forward Brett Pollock reaches for the puck – Photo by Jack Lima

Later in the period, Stockton had another power play opportunity. Curtis Lazar passed the puck to Gawdin, who redirected it to the net, for the Heat goal with 4:09 remaining in the period. The Heat made it through the period leading the Gulls 4-0, but not before having to kill another five-on-three penalty for 37 seconds.

Heat goalie Jon Gillies attempts to cover a rebound – Photo by Jack Lima

The Gulls turned the table for the second period, when they pulled Boyle in favor of Jared Coreau in the net. The second period belonged to the Gulls, as they finally found a way to solve Jon Gillies in the net for Stockton, to close the gap to 4-2. A goal only three minutes into the period by Luke Gazdic put the Gulls on the Board. His shot from the circle beat Gillies glove side. An interference call against the Gulls, gave Stockton’s Spencer Foo a penalty shot. His shot was deflected away from the net off the post. With 8:40 remaining in the second period, Deven Sideroff slipped the puck from behind the net to Gazdic, in front of the crease, and he put the puck past Gillies.

Heat goalie Jon Gillies attempts to make a save – Photo by Jack Lima

Gazdic is well known by Stockton, having played on the team all last season and now on a PTO assignment with San Diego. In his second appearance, now has two goals and an assist for the season.

The third period continued to tilt towards the Gulls, as Giovanni Fiore’s redirected shot from the top of the far circle sailed to the back of the net for the power play goal. Then the equalizer goal came with 13:37 remaining in the period, with another penalty being served by Stockton. Kalle Kossila wristed the puck near the crease for another power play goal.

Gulls’ forward Troy Terry (19) skates the puck around the net as Andrew Mangiapane (26) defends – Photo by Jack Lima

With less than five minutes remaining and the score tied at 4-4, a skirmish in front of the Gulls net nearly allowed a goal from the Heat, but was ultimately waved off by the officials. Despite a late power play opportunity for the Heat, as a result of a delay of game penalty to the Gulls, Stockton could not get anything past Coreau, forcing the overtime period.

Gulls’ goalie Jared Coreau stops a breakaway attempt by Curtis Lazar – Photo by Jack Lima

Penalties assessed for both teams only 1:15 into the overtime for both teams, including Stockton’s second face-off violation in the game, changes the number of players on the ice, but both goaltenders hold fast and leading to the shoot out.

It would take fourteen rounds of skater versus goalie to decide the game winner.

Andrew Mangiapane – no goal / / / Kalle Kosila – no goal
Glenn Gawdin – no goal / / / Troy Terry – no goal
Tyler Graovac – Goal / / / Sam Carrick – Goal
Spencer Foo – Goal    / / / Chase De Leo – Goal
Adam Ollas Mattsson – no goal / / / Giovanni Fiore – no goal
Kerby Rychel – no goal    / / / Max Jones – no goal
Brett Pollock – no goal    / / / Corey Tropp – no goal
Ryan Lomberg – no goal / / / Josh Mahura – no goal
Buddy Robinson – no goal    / / / Logan Shaw – no goal
Curtis Lazar – no goal    / / / Deven Sideroff – no goal
Scott Sabourin – no goal    / / / Andy Welinski – no goal
Oliver Kylington – no goal    / / / Alex Dostie – no goal
Anthony Peluso – no goal    / / / Simon Benoit – no goal
Matt Taormina- Goal    / / / Ben Thomson – no goal

In the end, Stockton earns the shoot out win with a final score of 5-4. The total shots on goal were tilted towards Stockton 38-33.

After the game, former Gulls winger Sabourin reflected on that first goal of the game. “It felt awesome, and being my first goal of the year. And being able to help contribute to the big win, it was a good feeling.”

The Heat were able to monopolize on only two of five power play opportunities. Coach Cail MacLean spoke about their power play after the game.

“The first period was really strong. I like the way we made it though that first penalty kill and obviously getting through a five-on-three is big. Credit to the penalty killing units and Jon Gillies. He played really well to get us through that.”

The Heat travel to Bakersfield to visit the Condors on Sunday.