PREVIEW: Gulls, Roadrunners Finish Weekend Series In Tucson

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October 30, 2021

By Paige Burnell / SanDiegoGulls.com

The first is always the hardest.

A day after their first win of the season, the San Diego Gulls are ready and waiting to fight the Tucson Roadrunners again in the hope that they will play the second game of their series of two games tonight at the Tucson Convention Center Arena (7:00 p.m.) PT.) Can win; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).

“Well I think we were talking about hard work this week,” said head coach Joel Bouchard. “You asked me if we were going to be better and I said, ‘I hope so.’ I know we got better over the week, but you never know how that will translate into the game. I thought we were obviously better. That is the standard. I don’t go for less than that. “

San Diego is 26-20-2-1 on the standings and 13-9-1-0 on the road against Tucson. Tonight is the second matchup of an eight-part regular season series that the teams will split evenly in the 2020/21 season.

“The AHL is tough, you’re playing back against the same team so I expect them to come out pretty tough on us in their own building tomorrow,” Bouchard said. “So I want to see how we can get even better in some details in order to achieve greater pressure. I expect that they will put us under a lot of pressure. “

After being beaten 16-5 in their first three games, the Gulls’ offensive exploded into a 5-1 win over the Roadrunners last night. The key to success was maintaining possession of the ball and a successful fore check.

“That’s something we know as a team when we do our best, we’re playing physically, so I think the fans for sure saw that tonight,” said Gulls center Jack Badini. “It creates insult, doesn’t it? So we take part in the pre-inspection and use our bodies and that gave us a lot of impetus tonight. “

Jacob Perreault heads the gulls tonight with four points (2-2 = 4) and collects his second multi-point performance in victory. Alex Limoges (2-0 = 2) and Bryce Kindopp (0-2 = 2) also showed multiple points.

Jack Badini enjoyed a milestone of the night, scoring his first American Hockey League goal of his career, match winnings a little over a minute into the second period. Greg Pateryn earned an assist for his first point as a seagull.

“It wasn’t the most exciting game winner, it was a goal in the second period and the boys added a few more in the end,” said Badini. “It’s always nice to be on the offensive.”

Limoges goes into the night and leads the team with goals (3). One of his last two nights came up with a great strength for the Gulls – the power play. San Diego scored a power play goal in their fourth straight games and ranks second in the AHL with 33.3% (5/15).

“We really only played one team game,” said Badini. “Of course we didn’t have the good start this season that we wanted, but I think the guys really got together, came together as a team. Playing alone is always difficult and I think we really dominated.

A rookie and a vet helped seal San Diego’s first win.

Gulls captain Sam Carrick scored his first goal and point of the season on his return to the line-up, while center Mason McTavish received an assist on his Gulls debut.

This seems like a pattern for the 18-year-old, as McTavish scored a goal on his NHL debut with the Ducks earlier this season, becoming the youngest player in franchise history to find the net back.

“I think the organization likes him. I like him, ”said Bouchard. “But what I like about him is his presence, the way he does it. He goes about his business, he’s a hockey player. I’m still going to push him on some details and you know, obviously he’s still an 18 year old boy who is a big piece of the puzzle in the organization. But what I like is that he has a cool head. He’s shopping. He’s a competitor. I think any coach would like him. Apart from that, he still has to get better than everyone else. “

Although Tucson only scored a single goal in the defeat, he still has a lot of offensive talent. Roadrunner Ben McCartney is third among the rookies with three goals. He collected this in his first professional hat trick in the 4-0 win against the Texas Stars on October 23.

Additionally, Liam Kirk is currently in a two-game points streak after scoring Tucson’s only goal on Friday.

“As soon as we leave the ice rink, we start to prepare for tomorrow,” said Badini. “As you said, it is always difficult to beat a team twice in a row at any level, so we know we will do our best tomorrow. We have to come and adjust that and I think if we play like this tonight we will have a good shot. “

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