Defenseman Brandon Montour had a goal and an assist and Jordan Samuels-Thomas scored his second goal in his two games with the San Diego Gulls in a 6-3 victory over the Manitoba Moose Saturday at Valley View Casino Center.
Zac Larraza, Kevin Roy, Nick Tarnasky and Corey Tropp also scored as the Gulls (4-5-1-0) won their second consecutive game following a five-game winless streak. Goaltender Matt Hackett stopped 39 of 42 shots for his first victory of the season after three losses before a crowd announced at 11,024.
“(It was) our best game of the year defensively,” Gulls coach Dallas Eakins said after recording his 200th victory in his six seasons in the American Hockey League.
“I thought our power play was clicking, more importantly, our penalty kill is coming around.”
The Gulls killed six of Manitoba’s seven power-play opportunities, including a double minor for high sticking to Montour in the first period. The Gulls scored on two of their seven power-play opportunities and got a shorthanded goal from Samuels-Thomas in the second period.
Moose center Chase De Leo opened the scoring six minutes, 58 seconds into the game. Tarnasky scored on a snap shot from the left faceoff circle at 10:14 of the first period. Montour scored 20 seconds later.
De Leo’s power-play goal at 6:59 of the second period 40 seconds after Samuels-Thomas’ short-handed goal cut the Gulls lead to 3-2.
Tropp scored a power-play goal and Larraza an even-strength goal later in the period for the Gulls, the Anaheim Ducks AHL affiliate. In the third period, Jimmy Lodge scored for Manitoba (6-5-0-1) while Roy scored a power-play goal for the Gulls.
Moose goaltender Ondrej Pavelec made 28 saves as his record dropped to 3-2-1-0. Montour also had a goal and an assist and Samuels-Thomas also scored in Friday’s 3-2 victory over Manitoba, the Winnipeg Jets AHL affiliate.
The Gulls will next play Friday, facing the San Jose Barracuda. A celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Valley View Casino Center will be held.
— City News Service
