San Diego Loses 3-1
November 5, 2022 – American Hockey League (AHL) – San Diego Gulls News Release
The San Diego Gulls fell 3-1 to the Milwaukee Admirals tonight in the first of back-to-back games at Pechanga Arena San Diego, bringing San Diego’s overall record to 3-6-0-0 and 1-2-0-0 at home.
Pavol Regenda scored the Gulls’ lone goal at 17:43 of the final frame, earning two goals in his first two American Hockey League contests (2-0=2) after notching his first tally in his debut Nov. 2 against Bakersfield.
Austin Strand recorded an assist on the play, his fourth point (1-3=4) this season.
Lukas Dostal made 35 saves on 38 shots in the loss, marking the third game in a row the netminder has made 35-or-more saves (41 saves on Oct. 29 and 42 saves on Nov. 2).
The Gulls were perfect on the penalty kill (4-for-4) for the third straight game, killing 13 consecutive power plays and 22 of their opponents’ 23 opportunities on the man-advantage (95.7%) through their last five contests. Currently, the team’s penalty kill ranks seventh in both the Western Conference and the AHL with an 85.4% overall success rate (35-for-41).
Despite going scoreless tonight, Nikolas Brouillard’s 3-7=10 points rank him tied for second in points and tied for third in goals among AHL defensemen (as of Nov. 4). The St. Hillaire, Quebec native also tops San Diego’s leaderboard in points and is tied for the lead in goals while ranking second on the team in assists. In addition, his two power-play goals rank tied for first among AHL defensemen and tie a career high, set last season with the Gulls.
The Gulls will close out their weekend series against the Admirals tomorrow, Nov. 5 with the team’s inaugural Mexican Heritage Night at Pechanga Arena San Diego (7 p.m. PT).
POSTGAME QUOTES
Gulls left wing Pavol Regenda
On the loss to the Milwaukee Admirals:
I think we could easily beat them. We’ve been playing good. The last game, today, we had five minutes where we made mistakes and they scored two, three goals and it’s hard to get back. We have to manage to not do that and keep on rolling, getting better every game. Overall, we’ve been playing pretty good, but we just have to score a few goals and be aware of those five minutes in the game.
On what prevented the team from finding success:
We started pretty good. First, second period was pretty good, and then a few mistakes. We turned the puck (over) a few times, they get scored, and today (Lukas) Dostal was good again. We’re happy with having him because he’s keeping us alive all game. We have to help him. We can’t have all those turnovers. If we don’t do it, we’re probably going to score some goals. We have to be aware of that five minutes because, it’s like the same as the last game, it was our biggest problem again.
On his third-period goal:
I didn’t see. I just closed my eyes and put it there. Sammy (Carrick) was screening, so the goalie didn’t see anything. Happy for that, but I would rather have a win than score a goal. We’re going to have to score more goals, and hopefully it will be better next time.
On how the team can improve in tomorrow’s rematch:
We just have to continue to skate, be aware of turnovers – it was our biggest problem. Even breaking out, we had turnovers where (they attacked) 2-on-0, 3-on-1. That’s the biggest problem; we have to make it better tomorrow and keep on pushing. I think we have a really good team; just have to score some goals.
Gulls center Sam Carrick
On the loss to the Milwaukee Admirals:
We played really well at times. What really worked for us was when we were physical and we were getting the puck deep and pressuring their d(efense) to make turnovers. That’s something we’re going to look to build off of. The times we got in trouble were just really our own mistakes, where we’re tying to make the hard play and making a turnover. That’s basically the story of the game; they capitalized on some turnovers by us.
On how the team cam improve in tomorrow’s rematch:
You have to have that mindset. That’s all it is. As soon as you let go of that mindset, teams are good in this league and they’re going to score as soon as you take your foot off the pedal. It sounds cliché, but we just have to play a full 60 (minutes) the same way that we know will work against these guys.
On the play of goaltender Lukas Dostal:
Not just tonight, the other night in Bakersfield as well, he was phenomenal. He’s one of those kids you can rely on. He gives you a lot of confidence as a team, when you know you have a guy like him in net that’s going to bail you out. Hockey’s a game of mistakes; there’s always mistakes that are going to be made and to have a guy like him who’s always there to bail you out is huge. At the end of the day, it’s not a good feeling because we want to get the win for him because he does battle so hard out there for us. Nothing we can do now; we’ll move on and look towards tomorrow.
Gulls head coach Roy Sommer
On the loss to the Milwaukee Admirals:
I think them scoring early in the first. I thought we did a good job on the penalty kill, and we came out in the second period, like the first 10 minutes, we gave a good push and were in their end. Their goalie made some big saves on us and, 1-0 going into the third, two turnovers from guys who don’t turn the puck over are in our net. Kind of a work in progress. I thought we were better through the neutral zone as far as making plays. The forecheck was sporadic at times; I thought there were times we were really good but not consistent enough. The good thing is we get these guys back tomorrow. We think there’s some things we can tweak a little bit to give us a better opportunity.
On how the team can improve in tomorrow’s rematch:
I thought we started out quick in the first, but then we kind of sat back and they kind of came at us. They play a pretty simple game, it’s nothing (where) they were real flashy or out-skated us. I think our first touches have to be a little better coming out of our own end. We turned a couple of pucks over that came back to being good scoring chances against. We have to manage pucks better in our own end and get our forecheck going. We need to get pucks to the net and bodies to the net on this guy. He saw too many pucks.
On the play of goaltender Lukas Dostal:
Good again. He gave us an opportunity to win. With your goaltender, that’s all we ask of him. Again, he kept us in. We’re just not giving him any help. We’re not giving him anything to hang his hat on. A couple of goals where we sit back a little bit. We’ve kind of been fighting it all year, trying to score goals.
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