Chase De Leo and Corey Tropp scored first-period goals as the San Diego Gulls rebounded from their most one-sided loss of the season to defeat the Colorado Eagles, 2-1, Tuesday evening in Loveland, Colorado.
Gulls goaltender Jeff Glass stopped 29 of 30 shots, three days after allowing six goals in two periods in Saturday’s 7-1 loss at Bakersfield.
“That feels good after the Bakersfield game,” Glass said after improving to 7-6-1-1, including a 4-2-0-1 record with the Gulls. “Credit to the guys tonight, they came out hard. Any time you can get up 2-0 in the first period, it makes my job a whole lot easier. It was a lot of fun to play tonight.”
Glass “had a huge game,” De Leo said.
“He’s done a really good job for us and definitely a couple big breakaway saves and crucial times of the game where he stands up for us and stands on his head,” De Leo said. “He did a really good job for us and we expect him to keep doing the same.”
De Leo opened the scoring two minutes, 36 seconds into the first period when he put a backhanded shot past Colorado goaltender Pavel Francouz for his 14th goal of the season.
The Gulls (26-15-2-3) capitalized on a two-man advantage with Tropp’s goal at 12:03 of the first period.
Defenseman Mason Geertsen scored his second goal in his 36 games with the Eagles and first since Nov. 9 with 3:02 left in the second period.
Colorado (23-19-3-1) had six skaters to the Gulls four for the final minute-plus of the game after Sam Steel was called for interference and Eagles coach Greg Cronin pulled Francouz for a sixth attacker, but was unable to score the tying goal.
“It was definitely a special teams battle there,” De Leo said. The Gulls killed all four of Colorado’s power-play opportunities and scored on one of their four. “Kind of a boring game back-and-forth. I thought both goalies did a good job. It was one of those games where you find a way to get the two points and that’s all that matters.”
Francouz (16-11-1-1) stopped 35 of 37 shots before a crowd at Budweiser Events Center announced at 4,872.
The Gulls, the Anaheim Ducks’ American Hockey League affiliate, led in shots, 37-30, including a 14-8 advantage in the third period.
The victory was the Gulls 15th in their last 19 games.
The Gulls and Eagles, the Colorado Avalanche‘s AHL affiliate, will play again Wednesday in Loveland.
— City News Service