Before the San Diego Gulls faced off against the first-place Tucson Roadrunners Saturday night, team captain Sam Carrick talked about the importance of the matchup.
“They’re at the top of our division, they’ve been buzzing all year,” Carrick said. “These are games we need to start winning.”
You got it captain.
Thanks in part to a pair of goals from Carrick, 21 saves by goalie Anthony Stolarz and crisp play from throughout the lineup, the Gulls broke a three-game skid with a 6-2 win at Pechanga Arena San Diego.
Stolarz earned his eighth win of the season while Blake Pietila, Daniel Sprong, Alex Dostie and Chase De Leo ed Carrick on the score sheet as the Gulls (8-9-1-0) finished with a 30-23 edge in shots on goal.
Max Comtois picked up a pair of assists.
“Pucks on net,” coach Kevin Dineen said. “We can talk all we want about systems and style of play but when it comes down to it, good things tend to happen when you put pucks on net.”
The Gulls scored first for the 11th time in 12 games, built a 3-1 first-period lead and kept the pressure on Tucson all night with organized play in the defensive zone and crisp ing that led to repeated scoring chances.
The Gulls were 0 for 5 on the power play but killed off two of Tucson’s three power-play chances.
Tucson (15-5) had won four straight and was coming off an 8-3 win at Bakersfield. It was the first of eight meetings between the Gulls and Roadrunners this season.
San Diego went 8-3-1 during the month of November to bounce back from an 0-6 October. Beginning with next Saturday’s home game against Colorado, the Gulls will play 10 games in December and eight of them will be against Pacific Division opponents.
“We know we got off to a rough start so getting wins is so important, especially against a team like that,” said Carrick, who leads the team with 10 goals. “This division is so competitive night in night out, the games are close. And you know that to even think about the playoffs down the line, we have to keep this going.”
Notable
Defensemen Jacob Larsson was sent down by the Anaheim Ducks Saturday morning and saw heavy action skating with Chris Wideman. The 2015 first-round pick played in 25 games with Anaheim, ing one goal and three assists.
Carter is a freelance writer.
