With a seven-game road trip looming at the end of February and tight race forming for a spot in the AHL playoffs, every opportunity to win at home is precious for the Gulls.
They helped their own cause with a come-from-behind 5-3 win over the Tucson Roadrunners at Pechanga Arena on Friday night.
Even better, the Gulls (21-16-4-2) improved to 3-2 on the season against first-place Tucson (28-14-1-1) and have earned points in six straight games.
Chris Mueller’s power-play goal at 8:00 of the third period pushed the Gulls ahead 4-3 and Isac Lundestrom scored an empty netter to finish off Tucson. Goalie Anthony Stolarz (28 saves) earned the win.
The Gulls were coming off a 4-2 victory at San Jose on Wednesday night while Tucson had lost five straight.
Additionally, the Gulls had a hot goalie in Stolarz, who was 6-0-1 with a 2.39 goals-against average and .933 save percentage in his previous seven starts.
However, the visitors got rolling early and jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead on goals from Jon Martin and Andy Miele.
The Gulls continued to struggle with puck possession and creating shooting lanes until 9:45 of the second period when Justin Kloos won a faceoff and knocked a back to Chase De Leo, whose one-timer beat Ivan Prosvetov to make it 2-1.
“I swear that’s a play we’ve worked on 500 times and it has never worked,” De Leo said of the Kloos that set up his shot. “It was definitely nice to get rewarded there.”
De Leo’s eighth goal of the season got the crowd into the game and sparked the Gulls, who tied the score at 2-2 when Sam Carrick snapped a wrister past Presvetov at 14:21 of the second for a power-play goal.
Kloos got in the action at 17:07 when he gathered a rebound off a missed shot and slapped in his 10th goal of the season and just like that, San Diego held a 3-2 lead.
Tucson responded with a strong start to the third period and evened the score at 3-3 on a goal from Michael Bunting just 54 seconds in. Mueller’s score pushed San Diego back ahead.
“Where we are in the standings we have to keep chasing teams but we really have to make sure we don’t give any away at home,” Kloos said. “This was a big one for us.”
Notable
Forward Kiefer Sherwood was recalled by NHL Anaheim. Forward Daniel Sprong came down and was in the Gulls lineup.
Carter is a freelance writer.
