The San Diego Gulls eight-game winning streak ended Saturday as they allowed four third-period goals and David Rittich stopped all 37 of their shots in a 4-0 loss to the Stockton Heat Saturday at Stockton.
The Heat opened the scoring four minutes, three seconds into the third period as Morgan Klimchuk put a wrist shot past Gulls goaltender Dustin Tokarski for his sixth goal of the season.
Stockton (11-5-1-1) scored again 35 seconds later as Hunter Smith scored his first goal in his 12 games this season.
Klimchuk put in his own rebound on a breakaway for a shorthanded goal at 9:16 before a crowd at Stockton Arena announced at 4,482.
Former Gull Matt Bailey scored at 12:37 for the Heat, the Calgary Flames American Hockey League affiliate.
The eight-game winning streak was the Gulls’ longest in their two seasons in the AHL and matched the longest in the league this season.
Rittich improved to 4-3-0-2 with his third shutout in 10 games this season, sharing the league lead. He leads the league with a 1.43 goals against average and .949 save percentage.
Tokarski made 35 saves as his six-game winning streak ended and his record dropped to 8-3-0-0.
The Gulls, the Anaheim Ducks AHL affiliate, killed all three of Stockton’s power-play opportunities and have killed off 29 of their last 32 shorthanded situations, 90.6 percent. The Gulls (10-6-1-0) were scoreless on their four power-play opportunities.
Gulls left wing Nick Tarnasky and Heat left wing Brandon Bolling both drew a five-minute major penalty and a two-minute minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct for their fight with seven minutes left.
The Gulls are 1-3 against Stockton this season.
The Gulls will next play Tuesday at Valley View Casino Center against the Bakersfield Condors, the Edmonton Oilers AHL affiliate.
— City News Service
