The San Diego Gulls finally got the shootout result they’d been chasing, edging the Colorado Eagles 3-2 on Saturday night at Pechanga Arena San Diego to open the series with their first shootout win of the season.
For most of the night, San Diego looked in control. The Gulls carried a 2-0 lead deep into the third period before Colorado clawed back late to force overtime.
Even after the Eagles tied it, San Diego didn’t blink. The Gulls generated a season-high three shots in the extra frame and gave up just two the other way, setting the stage for the finish.
Tomas Suchanek was the difference. In his season debut, the goaltender stopped 32 of 34 shots to pick up his first win of the year.
Colorado couldn’t solve him for long stretches, and he held firm until the Eagles found some life on their final power play. Suchanek opened the season in Tulsa, where he went 1-1-0 in two appearances.
Across 45 games with San Diego, he now owns a 20-17-8 record with three shutouts, a 3.03 GAA, and a .902 SV%.
"It's great for Suchy," goaltending coach Jeff Glass said. "I think he's worked hard.
He's been through a lot, not just this year, but in the last couple years. Everybody knows about the injury, that's been well documented, and to come out today and play the way he did really shows the character he has, the fight, and I really hope it's just the start for him.
I hope he finds a way to keep the momentum now and push forward and keep moving with this thing."
Ryan Carpenter delivered the deciding blow in the shootout, burying a backhand for the second and final goal of the tiebreaker. It was his first game-winner of the season, his 15th career game-winner, and his fifth career shootout goal.
"We played a pretty hard and full 60," Carpenter said. "They kind of weathered the storm, and I think that started in between the pipes with [Tomas] Suchanek.
I thought we've gotten good goaltending all year. He really stepped up for us tonight in his first game with us, so that was huge.
And a little bit of adversity, giving up two goals late like that, and it was nice to find a way to come up with two points."
Matthew Phillips got San Diego on the board first, finishing off a feed from Anton Wahlberg. It was the fourth time this season Phillips has scored with Wahlberg collecting the assist, and the pair have spent plenty of time together on the same line. Phillips now has 5-3=8 on the season, while Wahlberg sits at 1-10=11.
"We just got a pretty good forecheck there, and then [Anton] Wahlberg made a great play to drive the net and just tried to kind of find a little soft spot," Phillips said. "Wally made an awesome pass, so yeah, it was a big goal."
The Gulls pushed the lead to two when Lucas Pettersson slipped one past Colorado’s Ilya Nabokov. Pettersson had scored his first career AHL goal just the night before, and this one was his second goal of both the season and his career. The Sweden native now has 1-7=8 points, which ties him for third on the team.
Nico Myatovic also reached eight points on the season, and he picked up an assist on Pettersson’s goal. The winger has five goals and three assists, while Corey Schueneman added the other helper for his first assist and second point of the season.
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