The San Diego Gulls needed this one. And they got it.
Trailing by one goal on three different occasions in front of a sellout crowd of 12,920 against their Southern California arch-rivals on Saturday, the Gulls scored the final goal in the Pacific Division clash with just 17.5 seconds to play to spirit away a 4-3 win over the first place Ontario Reign.
The epic win served to validate the Gulls’ quest to not only qualify for this year’s Calder Cup playoffs but excel in them.
“I think one of the big things is the fans were unbelievable,” said Nathan Gaucher, who recorded his first career game-winner. “Getting a crowd like this is so fun and just gets the guys ready to go, ready to battle. We wanted to win this game really bad and between the second and the third, it was just the belief, and we knew we had more to give. So that’s what we did.
“We have so much character in our locker room, and we’ve seen so many different times this year where we’ve been down and come back and sealed the deal or forced overtime,” Gulls head coach Matt McIlvane said. “We just knew that we were going to find a way and I give the guys so much credit for gutting this one out.”
The fireworks started early as Jacob Doty of the Reign and Travis Howe of the Gulls dropped gloves — and helmets — just 2:46 into the eagerly-anticipated contest for a long (by AHL standards) fisticuffs bout. Fans applauded the exhibition when it appeared both fighters tired.
Both fan bases contributing to the size of the crowd were fired-up and ready to howl.
Chants of “Let’s go Reign!” were quickly drowned out by alternating chants of “Let’s Go Gulls!”
The Gulls started to gain momentum as the game went on, piling up a 19-2 shot advantage in the third period to go with three goals.
The Reign entered the game 11 points ahead of the Gulls in the division standings and looked the better team despite being out-shot 10-6 in the opening stanza.
Ontario led 1-0 through 20 minutes on a goal by Andre Lee, his 18th of the season, at the 10:09 mark, assisted by Kirill Kirsanov and Angus Booth.
The Reign out-shot the Gulls 11-10 in the second period as each team dented the other’s net. Judd Caulfield scored the 1-1 equalizer at 1:26, lightning quick to excite the home fans and give them hope. The goal was Caulfield’s 12th of the season and assisted by Tyson Hinds, his eighth of the season.
But the visitors scored the 2-1 go-ahead goal at 5:47 by Jared Wright, his 11th of the season. Kirsanov picked up his second assist of the game, his fourth of the season, while Koehn Ziemmer netted his 10th assist.
The shots stood 20-17 in the Gulls’ favor through 40 minutes.
The hosts got their fans roaring again with a goal 4:19 into the third period to tie the game, 2-2. Tyson Hinds scored just his second goal of the season, assisted by Caulfield and Nico Myatovic. The assist was Caulfield’s 13th of the season and the seventh for Myatovic.
But the black-clad Reign on Star Wars Night fired another salvo to go ahead once more, 3-2, on Jakub Dvorak’s third goal of the season at 5:34 — just 1:15 after Hinds’ game-tying tally — to dampen the festivities and send a shudder through the large crowd. Francesco Pinelli logged his 13th assist of the season while Wright earned his ninth helper and second point of the game.
From there, it looked like the Reign would skate off with a narrow win. But the Force turned out to be with the Gulls.
Team captain Ryan Carpenter tied the game, 3-3, at 10:38 to collect his eighth goal of the season, assisted by Tristan Luneau (his 10th) and Nathan Gaucher (his seventh).
The ending was a blur. The Reign held possession for most of the final minute, looking strong defensively to take the game into overtime. Suddenly, the puck was deep in the Ontario end, and even more suddenly, Nikita Nesterenko was battling toe-to-toe at the edge of the net with Reign goaltender Pheonix Copley, a 78-game NHL veteran with the St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals, Tampa Bay Lightning and Los Angeles Kings.
And suddenly, the puck somehow squirted through the crease where Gaucher was positioned on the other side to tap it into the open corner.
It caught just about everyone in the building by surprise. It took a few seconds for it all to sink in before Gulls fans began airing out their lungs. It was almost too good to be true, but it was very much real.
“Turnover created by me and Judd([Caulfield),” Gaucher said while walking through the game-winning play. “Judd just put the puck deep, and (Nikita) Nesterenko on his speed and his skill just brings it to the net. I knew Nesty was going to get far post, so if there’s a rebound, I can just chip it in. So that’s what I did.”
The game re-started and San Diego fans – and the Gulls – had a weather the final few seconds before time finally ran out and the hosts had handed the Reign a stinging defeat, knocking them from their first-place perch they had shared with the Colorado Eagles.
There were a lot of heroes, obviously Nesterenko and Gaucher and Caulfield, who had initially passed the puck to Nesterenko to gain the secondary assist. But it may not all have mattered if it wasn’t for San Diego goaltender Calle Clang’s stop of a breakaway by Ontario’sMartin Chromiak. Clang stopped the puck with his left pad. The puck glanced downward, missing the goal line by inches from putting the visitors further ahead.
Clang finished the game with 16 saves on 19 shots.
“He’s unbelievable,” Gaucher said. “He’s been really good for the past month for us, we know we can count on him. He’s been a brick wall, and we want to win those games for him. too.”
“I think his best saves were in the second period,” the San Diego coach said. “He had two slot line plays, and one of them got tipped out of the air, but he was unbelievable in the net. I think he’s established a really calm, solid game, and that he was able to give to us.”
Copley, who appeared in 42 games with the Reign last season and one game with the Kings this season, made 35 saves on 39 shots.
The goal was Gaucher’s fifth of the season while Nesterenko picked up his second assist of the season and Caulfield his 14rth assist.
Gaucher has 12 points in 38 games this season while Nesterenko, recently returned to the Gulls after 29 games with the NHL parent Anaheim Ducks, has four points in eight games and Caulfield has 26 points in 43 games (setting an AHL season-high with 12 goals).
Pastujov tops the Gulls with 29 points in 43 games — one point ahead of Matthew Phillips (eight goals, 20 assists) and two points ahead of Caulfield.
Clang has recorded a 2.30 goals-against average and 0.907 save percentage to go with a 10-3-4 record in 18 game appearances.
Ultimately, it was a team effort.
“It was a big crowd, a lot of energy going on. I think we owed that one to our fans, too,” said Tyson Hinds, who goal in the third period led to a 2-2 standoff. “We were down one goal. Just keep on grinding and keep on finding ways to win. That’s just Gulls hockey. Third period, I think we outshot them, what? 19 to two, apparently. So that’s great. I think that’s the way we played. Our third period was great and that’s what we want to do every game.”
“When things aren’t going well, you want people who take accountability,” McIlvane said in regard to Carpenter. “They say, ‘I can do a little bit more,’ and then the way that you back it up is when the moment’s on the line, you step up. That’s what we know our captain’s capable of doing.
“The lines just get put together, top six, bottom six. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about that. I know we have got a deep team, and I know we got guys that are capable of scoring. You look at these goals and where they scored from, they’re all the hard areas. The guys that want to go there, they get rewarded and we’re thankful that they do.”
The Gulls recorded their third consecutive game with standings points following Wednesday’s 4-3 shootout loss to the visiting Tucson Roadrunners and Friday’s 4-3win in Coachella Valley.
The Gulls have now earned points in five of their last seven contests (4-2-0-1) following a two-game sweep of the Roadrunners in Tucson and back-to-back iosses in Abbotsford to close out a four-game road swing. The Gulls have earned points in 16 of their last 24 games (13-8-2-1) to bring their season record to 20-13-6-3 (sixth place in the 10-team division and in playoff position).
The sellout was the 16th in San Diego’s AHL history.
“We’ll take all the momentum from all these games that we can,” McIlvane said. “I think the key is you just kind of stay even keel, and we get an opportunity to rest and practice, which we haven’t had in a bit, so we’re already looking forward to the next game.”
Saturday’s win could stand as a turning point in the season, according to several players.
“It’s just a lot of hype up on Ontario,” Hinds said. “It’s a big rivalry over the years and everything. I feel like our season has had a lot of ups and downs, but we were grinding, and we’re right there. I think we can prove it to everybody. They’re first in the Pacific right now, and we proved it to everybody that we can win games against the top teams, because we believe that we are a top team and we have great talent on our roster and everything. We’re confident, and we just need to keep going.”
“I think that was a good full 60 effort from the team,” Gaucher said. “Three games in four days just proves what our group is capable of, and we get to continue on that growth.”
The Gulls faced off their latest three-game homestand with the shootout loss to Tucson on Wednesday, a game the hosts initially led 3-0 before the Arizona visitors rallied to send the game into overtime and then a 10-round shootout.
The Gulls made a quick trip to Coachella Valley on Friday, coming out on top on the strength of two goals by Yegor Sicorov and singletons by Caulfield and Stian Solberg (fifth goal of the season and his first AHL power play goal).
