The San Diego Gulls kept rolling against the San Jose Barracuda on Saturday night, building on their season-series edge with a 4-1 win at Pechanga Arena San Diego.
San Diego is now up 3-0-1-0 in the first half of the season series, and this was the second time the Gulls have beaten San Jose by a 4-1 score. They controlled plenty of the night, outshooting the Barracuda 34-20 while finishing 1-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
Anton Wahlberg was the difference-maker. The Gulls’ points leader snapped an 11-game goal drought with a pair of goals, giving him his second multi-goal game as a pro.
He opened the scoring in the first period with assists from Lucas Pettersson and Herman Traff, then added his second in the third on the power play. Wahlberg now sits at 3-10=13 on the season, still leading San Diego in points.
“I mean it's always nice to play with Swedes,” Wahlberg said. “Now it happens there's two Swedes, it's great.
We can speak our own language, and I think that’s good for us. It's hard for the opponents to know what we're saying out there.
I feel like we have better chemistry, we had two practices together, we kind of know how we play and where we want to put the puck in. Felt good today.
First game, just trying to keep building on it.”
That third-period power-play strike was a notable one for San Diego, too. It was the club’s first goal with the extra skater since Oct.
- The Gulls are now 7-for-48 on the power play this season, good for 14.6 percent, while their penalty kill has been a steadier part of the team’s game at 85.4 percent.
“ Steve [McCarthy] has done a great job with the PK, and he's got them buying in,” assistant coach Kelly Buchberger said. “They're in the shooting lanes, they're reading their plays, and the goaltending's been solid.
So, when you have that, you're going to have a good PK, and it keeps you in the games. I just think with the structure of how we've been playing, pressuring the puck carriers and turning pucks over for them, it's been a lot better for us.”
Pettersson was right in the middle of both Wahlberg goals, picking up assists on each to move to 3-8=11. The rookie is tied for fourth among AHL rookies in assists and eighth in points, and he’s now produced 3-3=6 over his last four games. Matthew Phillips also chipped in with an assist, his fourth of the season, on the power-play goal.
San Jose got one back in the third, but San Diego answered right away. James Hamblin tipped in his fourth goal of the season, with Jett Woo earning the primary assist and Nathan Gaucher the secondary.
Woo ended a four-game point drought, while Gaucher snapped a six-game drought. Corey Schueneman then sealed it with an empty-netter, his second goal and third point of the year.
Matt Basgall added an assist, extending his first career AHL point streak to 0-2=2 in two games, and Ryan Carpenter picked up his third assist of the season.
Pettersson pointed to the team’s work away from the puck as a big reason for the result.
“I think we worked a lot on our tracking last week, putting more pressure on the puck carrier and killing plays earlier,” Pettersson said. “Also, Damian Clara is doing a hell of a job back there. But I think that was the main thing, just putting more pressure on the puck carrier.”
Clara handled the net for his sixth start of the season and was sharp throughout, blanking San Jose for 41:16 and stopping 19 of 20 shots. The Italy native is now tied for seventh among qualified AHL goalies with a 1.99 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage.
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Gauthiers latest finish tied a team mark and underscored how quickly he has become a bright spot in Anaheims lineup, even on a night when the result went the other way. Justus Annunen turned aside 25 shots for Nashville, while Laurent Brossoit stopped 18 of 22 in the Ducks net, leaving Anaheim to regroup after a frustrating setback with one of its young forwards still carrying the kind of form that can change the mood around a season. [Read more 🡒]