Badly needing a victory against one of the better teams in the American Hockey League’s Pacific Division, the Gulls went out and earned just that on Wednesday night.
Brent Gates Jr. broke a 1-1 tie at the 8:19 mark of the second period, and the Gulls went on to a 4-1 road victory against the Stockton Heat, the second-place team in the division.
Gates’ third goal of the season came less than three minutes after Stockton had tied it on a Mason Morelli goal past Gulls goalie Anthony Stolarz.
Stolarz stopped 36 of 37 shots for the evening to improve to 11-10-3-0 on the season.
The Gulls won despite being almost doubled up in shots on goal. Stockton (36-23-8) had a 37-21 edge in that category.
The Gulls got on the board first, with the only goal of the first period.
With Stockton on the power play thanks to a penalty on San Diego left winger Blake Pietila, Kiefer Sherwood got the scoring started at 9:09 of the first period with a shot that got past Heat goalie Jon Gillies for a short-handed goal. It was Sherwood’s eighth goal of the season.
Meanwhile, the Gulls (15-15-2-2) were able to successfully kill off the Pietila penalty and another on Justin Kloos for tripping in the first period.
Sherwood would add the Gulls’ third goal, an empty netter with just 37 seconds remaining, for his ninth goal of the season.
And Gulls center Alex Broadhurst tallied his fifth of the season with one second remaining for the final scoring.
Both teams struggled on the power play, with the Gulls going 0 for 3 and Stockton even worse at 0 for 4.
San Diego, which had lost four straight before winning two in a row last week at home against Iowa, is back in action Friday at home against the Tucson Roadrunners.
The Gulls then go back on the road for a game Saturday against Bakersfield.
