AHL News

Preview: Gulls Continue California Road Trip Tonight In San Jose

Preview: Gulls Continue California Road Trip Tonight In San Jose

Jan 20, 2023

By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com

The San Diego Gulls continue their four-game road trip tonight, facing the San Jose Barracuda at Tech CU Arena (7 p.m. PT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).

San Diego (11-27-0-0) looks to begin a second-half surge and pull closer to one of the teams ahead of them in the Pacific Division standings. San Jose (16-21-0-2) sits in the division’s seventh and final playoff spot, holding a one-point lead over the Henderson Silver Knights. In addition, the Gulls enter tonight with three fewer games played than their Northern California rivals, making this matchup an important four-point swing for both clubs.

“They’re a small, fast team,” Gulls right wing Evan Weinger said. “Tenacious; they’re always on the puck and they have a lot of skilled forwards up front so we have to be aware of that. We just need to stick to our game and control what we can control.”

The Gulls want to shake the sting of a tough 5-1 loss to the Bakersfield Condors on Wednesday night at Mechanics Bank Arena. Carter Savoie recorded a hat trick – the first of his career – while Xavier Bourgault and Seth Griffith contributed multi-point efforts to send San Diego to its third straight loss.

“I think we have to start on time,” Gulls assistant coach Kris Sparre said about the loss. “In the last three games, we’ve decided we’d like to play hockey in the third period, which is usually too late at this level. That’s a big thing for us. We just got to play a little less risky, give ourselves a chance to win on the road. I think we have good offensive players who can score when those times present themselves, but just being a little more compact as a team and not giving up so much.”

Tonight is the second of four regular-season meetings between San Diego and San Jose. The teams split the first two meetings, with the Barracuda winning 3-0 on Nov. 16 and the Gulls grabbing a 5-2 victory on Jan. 11. San Diego owns an all-time mark of 42-20-4-1 against the Barracuda, including a 20-12-2-0 record in San Jose (22-8-2-1 at home). The Gulls won 11 of the last 13 head-to-head matchups, outscoring them by a combined score of 33-17 and earning points in 18 of the last 22 meetings dating back to Jan. 31, 2020 (17-4-1-0).  

Rocco Grimaldi leads the Gulls in point production against the Barracuda after recording a pair of shorthanded goals and an assist (2-1=3) on Jan. 11, while Pavol Regenda sits just behind…

Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at San Diego Gulls…