Sam Carrick scored the tie-breaking goal with 14 minutes, 35 seconds to play and Joe Blandisi had a goal and an assist as the San Diego Gulls defeated the San Jose Barracuda, 3-2, Saturday evening.
Kevin Boyle made 46 saves, tying the team record set Friday night by Reto Berra in a 5-0 victory over the Barracuda. The Gulls allowed 48 shots, the most in their three seasons in the American Hockey League, two more than the previous record set Friday.
The Gulls never trailed Saturday, wining for the ninth time in 11 games and extending their winning streak over San Jose at Valley View Casino Center to nine games.
“I’m not sure we were at our best tonight, but when you are not at your best and still win that’s a great, great tool for your team,” Gulls coach Dallas Eakins said.
The victory was the Gulls 100th since moving to San Diego in 2015 from Norfolk, Virginia to be closer to their NHL parent team, the Anaheim Ducks. The Gulls are the first Pacific Division team to win 100 games. They are 100-56- 8-4 since the division’s inception in 2015.
Carrick skated from the left faceoff circle to in front of the net where he put a shot past Troy Grosenick for his seventh goal of the season. Blandisi and Marcus Pettersson were credited with the assists.
The Barracuda, the San Jose Sharks AHL affiliate, tied the score 3:56 into the third period on Emerson Clark’s goal.
Following a scoreless first period, Eric Fehr scored a power-play goal 5:12 into the second period. Fehr leads the Gulls with 11 goals, including eight in his past 10 games.
San Jose (15-14-0-2) tied the score on Adam Helewka’s unassisted goal at 15:00 of the second period.
The Gulls (18-13-1-0) regained the lead on Blandisi’s power-play goal 2:14 into the third period before a crowd announced at 9,015.
The Gulls were out-shot 48-33, including a 18-10 disadvantage in the third period.
The Gulls league-leading power-play scored on two of three opportunities. The Gulls killed both of the Barracuda’s power-play opportunities and have killed 18 consecutive power-play opportunities over their past five games.
Grosenick made 30 saves.
The Gulls announced before Saturday’s game they had assigned right wing Austin Ortega and defenseman James Melindy to the Utah Grizzlies, their primary affiliate in the ECHL.
Ortega, an Escondido native, had two goals and eight assists in 17 games with the Gulls. His most recent game with the team was Dec. 9.
Melindy was scoreless in eight games with the Gulls. His most recent game was Dec. 27.
The Gulls will play the third game of a four-game homestand Wednesday against the Chicago Wolves, the Vegas Golden Knights AHL affiliate.
— City News Service
