The San Diego Gulls opened their fifth season in the American Hockey League by allowing the first two goals in a 2-1 loss to the Bakersfield Condors Friday evening in Bakersfield.
Kiefer Sherwood cut the deficit to 2-1 seven minutes, 41 seconds into the second period when he put in the rebound of a shot by Daniel Sprong.
Gulls coach Kevin Dineen pulled goaltender Anthony Stolarz for a sixth attacker with 1:15 to play in hopes of scoring the equalizer. A hooking penalty to Condors center Brad Malone with 44 seconds gave the Gulls six skaters to Bakersfield’s four.
Their only shot with the two-skater advantage, taken by Sam Carrick with one second left, was stopped by Shane Starrett.
Condors right wing Josh Currie opened the scoring 8:16 into the first period off assists by Tyler Benson and Evan Bouchard before a crowd at Mechanics Bank Arena announced at 5,701.
Bakersfield increased its lead to 2-0 10:22 into the first period when a slap shot by Caleb Jones hit the boards behind the Gulls goal and went to Kailer Yamamoto, who put a shot from the right faceoff circle past Stolarz. Brad Malone was also credited with an assist.
“I liked our pushback,” Dineen said. “It’s just very early on in the season and you like to think that you addressed a lot of things in training camp. All of a sudden the game kicks up and you realize that there are areas to continue to work on. We have a long week that will keep us busy and our preparation will be much more solid heading into next week.”
Both teams were scoreless on three power-play opportunities. Both teams took 28 shots.
Stolarz made 26 saves in his debut with the Gulls. He signed a two- year contract with the Gulls NHL parent team, the Anaheim Ducks, this summer after playing for the Philadelphia Flyers and Edmonton Oilers in the NHL and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the Flyers’ AHL affiliate, during the 2018-19 season.
Starrett made 27 saves for the Condors, the Oilers AHL affiliate.
The game also marked Dineen’s debut as the Gulls coach, succeeding Dallas Eakins, who was promoted in June to coach the Ducks after coaching the Gulls throughout their first four seasons in the AHL. Dineen is a former coach of the NHL’s Florida Panthers.
The Gulls will next play next Friday at San Jose. They will play their home opener Oct. 18 against Stockton at Pechanga Arena San Diego.
— City News Service
