For a frantic, super intense stretch of the third period, Gulls fans smelled victory.
Trailing by a goal and desperately seeking their first win of the season, the Gulls pepperd Ontario Reign goalie Cal Petersen with shots.
With every blast off the stick of a Gulls player, fans inside Pechanga Arena San Diego let out “oohs” and “ahhs.” And then those sounds turned into groans when Ontario’s Matt Luff snapped a shot past goalie Kevin Boyle with just over six minutes remaining.
Time remained but San Diego’s best chance had ed and by the time Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Mikey Eyssimont capped scoring for Ontario to provide the final 6-2 score, a large portion of the announced crowd of 7,510 headed for the exits.
The Gulls (0-5) finished with a 35-27 edge in shots on goal but were left with another loss and much to ponder on a bus ride to Ontario for a return engagement tonight, including a power play that went 1 for 8 on the night and is 1 for 24 on the season and a string of bad puck luck that saw them hit the Ontario post at least five times.
“I thought structurally we improved in a lot of areas,” coach Kevin Dineen said. “It’s the outcome that’s killing us. It’s easy to sit there and be looking for positives and certainly you like to see your team get into desperation mode and play as hard as we did tonight but right now it’s about results. That’s what we’re focused on.”
The Gulls fell behind 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 before Ontario broke the game open. In between they played some of their best hockey of the season against Petersen, who earned his fifth win for the Reign (5-1) by making a flurry of key saves during a key stretch of the third period when the Gulls made their biggest push.
For San Diego, defensemen Simon Benoit notched his first goal of the season as did defensemen Chris Wideman while the power play — though still not scoring nearly enough — created several good chances.
Last season’s leading scorer, Sam Carrick, hit the post at least twice while seeking his first tally of the new campaign and several other Gulls came close as well.
Boyle (21 saves) took his second loss of the season. He has shared goalie duties Anthony Stolarz and thus far, neither has done enough to keep pucks out of the San Diego net.
Overall, the Gulls have been outscored 22-8 on the season.
Another chance at victory No. 1 comes tonight in Ontario. What would that mean? “It would be great,” Wideman said. “For us, the staff, the peanut vendors, the parking attendants. I think everyone wants a win. And I can tell you, the guys in the room really want one too.”
The Gulls and Reign meet a total of 12 times during the regular season. San Diego leads the all-time series 29-17-1-2.
Carter is a freelance writer.
