After the Gulls opened the season with six straight losses, coach Kevin Dineen stressed that his team needed to play with a sense of urgency.
But he did not panic.
“It’s a long season so we need to keep working and find our game,” Dineen said after a Nov. 1 win over Colorado, his team’s first of the season. “We have guys capable of playing good hockey. We know that.”
Jump ahead to Wednesday night at Pechanga Arena San Diego, where the Gulls used a terrific first period to jump all over the visiting San Jose Barracuda and Dineen’s words seemed to ring true.
A hat trick from captain Sam Carrick helped the Gulls (5-7-0-0) earn a 9-3 win and move ahead of San Jose (4-7-0-1) in the Pacific Division.
The nine goals set a franchise record for a single game and Carrick became the first Gull to record a hat trick on home ice.
“When we have all four lines rolling like that and we’re clicking, it is really fun,” said Carrick, who has seven goals on the season. “We are finding a groove as a team and it’s showing on nights like this.”
Justin Kloos got the Gulls rolling just 1 minute, 12 seconds into the game when he zipped down the left flank, took a from Max Comtois and smoothly deposited it past San Jose goalie Josef Korenar for his first goal of the season.
That kick-started a wild first period.
After Danil Yurtaykin and Antti Suomela scored just 35 seconds apart to give San Jose a 2-1 lead, the Gulls took control with some of their best hockey of the season.
Alex Broadhurst used a slick in-and-out move to freeze Korenar before scoring on a forehand snap shot at 11:25. Then Carrick blasted a shot past Korenar’s glove hand for a power-play goal at 12:19. Carrick scored again at 17:29, this time on a breakaway from an incredible from Chase De Leo to make it 4-2.
Anthony Stolarz, who has won his last five starts, kept the Gulls in the lead with a handful of nice saves, including a glove save to snuff John McCarthy on a late second-period breakaway.
Stolarz (5-4) finished with 32 saves.
The Gulls carried a 4-3 lead into the third period and Carrick made it 5-3 when he stuffed home a rebound for his third goal of the game.
Alex Dostie, Kiefer Sherwood, a second goal from Kloos and a goal from De Leo closed out scoring for the Gulls.
San Diego has won five of its last six games going into a weekend home-and-home with rival Ontario.
“Our structure has improved,” Dineen said. “It’s amazing that when you do the right things, especially at the defensive end, it pays off and we’re seeing that here of late. We have to keep it going.”
Carter is a freelance writer.
