The San Diego Gulls are heading home for Thanksgiving with a mighty delicious win tonight, taking down the Tucson Roadrunners 5-3.
It marks the first AHL victory for Vyacheslav Buteyets, who was terrific in net following a last-minute call-up for Ville Husso. Buteyets made 39 saves, a new career high.
“Slava was awesome and good on him,” head coach Matt McIlvane said. “It’s not an easy situation, but he was composed. He played big and, from a coach’s side, you don’t want to give up 39 shots. I know that they were putting a lot of volume to the net. I think that was part of their game plan. But he was there, and he was strong.”
Stian Solberg provided some clutch-time heroics as well, scoring with less than a minute and a half left to get the win for San Diego.
Tristan Luneau started the scoring with his third goal of the season. It marks the 11th time this season San Diego has gotten on the scoreboard before the opponent, tied for the second-most in the American Hockey League.
Jan Mysak made it a two-goal lead to close out the opening frame, netting his third of the campaign as well. Mysak enjoyed a two-point night, as he also picked up an assist on Luneau’s goal.
Tucson came back firing in the middle frame, though, as Kevin Rooney answered with two goals to tie things up.
Sam Colangelo wouldn’t let them breathe for long, as he scored on a breakaway about a minute after Rooney’s second to give San Diego the lead again.
Tucson tied it up again in the third before Solberg’s late-game heroics. Tim Washe sealed the win for San Diego with an empty-net goal right before time expired.
“You watch how the team’s going to respond, and then we respond the right way again,” McIlvane said. “Being able to come out of this game victorious, it’s a big deal. It’s a good team that we played against, and we’re thankful for the win.”
The Gulls will head back to San Diego for a Black Friday tussle with the Coachella Valley Firebirds for the fourth time this season (6 p.m. PST).
By Nick Aguilera/SanDiegoGulls.com
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