The San Diego Gulls allowed two goals in the final one minute, 32 seconds, including the game-winner with two-10ths of a second to play, in a 2-1 loss to the San Antonio Rampage Sunday in San Antonio.
Gulls center Dennis Rasmussen blocked the initial shot by Rampage defenseman David Warsofsky, who got the puck back and fired a shot from just above the right faceoff circle over Reto Berra’s left shoulder for the game- winner.
The tying goal was scored after San Antonio coach Eric Veilleux pulled goaltender Ville Husso for a sixth attacker. A.J. Greer made a backdoor pass to an open Chris Butler who tied the score with 1:32 left before a crowd at AT&T Center announced at 4,937.
The Gulls (15-13-1-0) opened the scoring 17:33 into the first period when Corey Tropp put a shot from just inside the blue line past Husso for his fifth goal of the season.
The Gulls were outshot, 31-28, including a 13-10 deficit in the third period. Berra (5-4-0-0) made 29 saves in his second consecutive loss. Husso (7- 4-0-0) made 27 saves for the Rampage (19-12-2-0), which is 6-0-1-0 in their last seven home game.
The Gulls killed all three of the power-play opportunities for San Antonio, the Colorado Avalanche’s American Hockey League affiliate.
The Gulls moved up a spot to 29th in the 30-team AHL in penalty killing, killing 77.2 percent of their short-handed situations. The Gulls have killed 13 of their last 14 short-handed situations.
The Gulls, the Anaheim Ducks AHL affiliate, were scoreless on their four power-play opportunities. They are first in the AHL, scoring on 24.5 percent of their power plays.
” I’m extremely happy with our effort, with our execution,” Gulls coach Dallas Eakins said. “I thought we should have been up four or five after two periods. It’s one of those nights.”
The Gulls will conclude their three-game Texas road trip Wednesday against the Texas Stars in Cedar Park, Texas, a suburb of Austin.
The Gulls defeated the Stars, the Dallas Stars AHL affiliate, 6-3, on Saturday.
— City News Service
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