Lesson learned by young Gulls in late loss to Firebirds

The San Diego Gulls returned to their home nest for Wednesday’s game against the Coachella Valley Firebirds after splitting last weekend’s series in Tucson. San Diego was shut out 3-0 in Friday’s series opener but came back to post a 3-2 overtime win in Saturday’s rematch.

The Gulls entered Wednesday’s matchup with a 3-3-1 record and seven points in the Pacific Division standings while the Firebirds were 2-2-2-1, also with seven points. Coachella Valley defeated San Diego, 6-3, in Game 3 of the season on Oct. 9.

Tucson scored a goal in each period in Friday’s contest in Arizona, including an empty net goal to put away a close 2-0 game. Nico Myatovic scored two goals in the rematch, including the OT game-winner. Matthew Phillips also scored for the visitors while Stian Solberg picked up two assists for his second multi-assist effort of the season. Damian Clara turned aside 28 of 30 shots to record the goaltender win. Clara improved to 2-0-1 on the young season with a 2.28 GAA and 0.895 save percentage.

Saturday’s rematch against the Roadrunners featured a more determined performance by the Southern California visitors.

“We wanted to play faster and create a little more offense,” said Myatovic, who earned first star of the game honors. “I think that was a key going into the game, and I think we succeeded at it.”

Clara and Solberg assisted on Myatovic’s OT winner.

“I kind of just saw the D-man there,” Myatovic recounted. “I had a lot of speed I knew coming all the way from my end, so I just decided to take him on one-on-one, and it ended up going in. Coming in here for a split was huge, so we’re looking to build on this.”

Battle of the Birds
 Laurent Brossoit (1-3, 2.85 GAA, 0.898 SPCT) started for San Diego between the pipes in Wednesday’s Novel Night Out theme game

Myatovic entered Wednesday’s game as the San Diego goals leader with four in seven games while Anton Wahlberg was the team’s points leader with seven (one goal, six assists).

The contest, seen by 5,832 in the arena, appeared to be going in the Gulls’ favor until a late breakdown failed to produce the desired outcome.

The Firebirds got the first power play of the game at 5:19 of the opening period as Myatovic was charged for holding. Brossoit made a stop in the crease with three seconds left in the penalty.

The hosts took a 1-0 lead at 8:39 of the first period as captain Ryan Carpenter tipped in a pass from distance. Solberg receoved credit for the lone assist.

The Gulls doubled their lead  to 2-0 at 12:55 as Phillips cleaned up a bouncing put in front of Coachella Valley netminder Nikke Koko. Wahlberg picked up the lone assist for San Diego. It was the fourth goal and sixth point of the season for Phillips.

It was a good start despite being out-shot 13-8 in the opening period.

Coachella Valley cut the deficit in half, 2-1, at 17:44  as Lukas Dragicevic scored straight on to place the puck underneath Brossoit. Assists went to Logn Morrison and Jagger Firkus.

Koko made a sliding save on a Gulls break-in with 12 seconds left to prevent the hosts from going ahead further.

Koko would made several clutch saves in the third period that kept his team in position to snatch a victory from apparent defeat.

The second period was scoreless as both Boissoit and Koko scrambled to make saves.

The Gulls had nine shots in the period but still trailed 21-17 in the shot counter through 40 minutes.

The hosts appeared primed to skate off with two points in the standings to start the third period but couldn’t find the right combination of passes or shots to finish off the Firebirds.

Coachella Valley pulled Koko with exactly two minutes to play in regulation. The game was tied, 2-2, 19 seconds later. J.R. Avon netted the equalizer, assisted by Morrison and Firkus.

Avon was back on the ice for the game-winner 1:19 later. The goal again came following a scramble at the side of the San Diego net. Julius Miettinen and Tyson Jugnauth assisted.

The Gulls played with an empty net for the duration of the contest — a scant 22 seconds — but couldn’t get another shot on Koko.

Avon earned first star of the game honors with two goals while Dragicevic (one goal) garnered the second star award and Koko (18 saves on 20 shots) was named the game’s third star.

The Gulls hurried off the ice, wishing to put the sudden impact loss behind them as quickly as possible in advance of Saturday’s upcoming home game against San Jose.

The San Diegans coughed up two points in the division standings to the Firebirds as a result. It was a lesson learned by the younger players on the Gulls. Class is obviously still in session.

“Well, there’s lessons to be learned every day we play and today we got taught a couple,” San Diego head coach Dave Manson said postgame. “I thought we played a pretty good game, but when you’re playing good teams, it comes down to the last seconds of the game. That can be the difference and tonight that was the game changer.

“I thought we played very well for 55, 56 minutes. We went dead at the end, but it boils down to you never know when that shift’s gong to come, and you always got to be on your toes and be mentally attached.”

“It’s a tough feeling,” Phillips conceded. “I think we played a pretty solid game (against a) very, very good team. We limited a lot of their offense, but bottom line is that just can’t happen. We need to get out of that game.”

Coachella Valley out-shot San Diego 10-3 in the third period for a final 30-20 edge. Neither team scored on two power plays apiece. Brossoit made 27 saves.

A bright spot for the Gulls continued to be the play of Wahlberg, who picked up his team-leading seventh assist of the season. He moved into the team lead with nine points (two goals, seven assists) in seven of eight games played. Solberg recorded his third assist in the last two games.

Ice chips
The San Diego Saints from the Kroc Center provided first intermission youth hockey entertainment.

Coachella Valley (3-2-2) moved up the Pacific Division standings with nine points — one behind the division leading Calgary Wranglers (5-3-0) and tied with the Colorado Eagles (4-1-1). Ontario (4-2-0) slipped into fourth place with eight points.

The Gulls (3-4-1) are tied with Tucson (3-2-1) and Abbotsford (3-2-0-1) with seven points. Henderson (3-2-0) sits in eighth place, followed by Bakersfield (2-3-0) and San Jose (2-4-0) with four points.