The San Diego Gulls allowed power-play goals in the first and second periods and were limited to Nick Ritchie’s second-period power- play goal in a 3-1 loss to the Charlotte Checkers Friday night at Valley View Casino Center.
The goal nine minutes, five seconds into the second period was the team- eading 13th for the 20-year-old Ritchie, the Gulls’ youngest player. Stefan Noesen and Brandon Montour were credited with assists.
Ritchie and Montour were announced Thursday as the Gulls’ representatives in the American Hockey League All-Star Game, which will be played Feb. 1 in Syracuse, New York.
Defenseman Jake Chelios, a son of Hockey Hall of Fame member Chris Chelios, opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 15:45 of the first period.
Charlotte, the Carolina Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate, increased its lead to 2-0 lead on defenseman Mike Cornell’s goal at 1:02 of the second period.
Patrick Brown scored a empty-net goal for the Checkers (20-11-1-1) with 1:03 left before a crowd announced at 8,522.
Charlotte goaltender Daniel Altshuller made 29 saves, improving to 6-0- 1. Goaltender Anton Khudobin made 26 saves for the Gulls, the Anaheim Ducks’ AHL affiliate.
The Gulls (17-13-0-1) scored on one of their five power-play opportunities. The Checkers scored on two of their five power play opportunities.
The two teams will play again Saturday night at the Valley View Casino Center. Charlotte is 4-0-1 on its California road trip.
— City News Service
