SAN DIEGO -- Alex Nylander’s two goal night pushes the Toronto Marlies over the San Diego Gulls, 3-1, on Friday at Pechanga Arena.
Coming off losing four of their last five games including a 5-3 loss on Wednesday to the Marlies, the Gulls hoped to cap off the series finale on a high note.
The opening period of action was filled with high flying intensity from both teams. The Gulls went on the power play three separate times, but ended up with no shots-on-goal and gave up multiple odd man rushes for the Marlies.
At the end of a scoreless first period, Toronto were ahead of San Diego in shots 11-3.
However, when Toronto had shorthanded chances, they didn’t take advantage of the opportunities presented to them. The Gulls’ defensemen were able to rally back to force difficult shots and little-to-no passing chances.
The best scoring chance for the Gulls in the period came from Ryan Carpenter on a shorthanded rush through the right side of Marlies goaltender Dennis Hildeby.
The level of energy went up a notch during the second period. Early on, the Gulls were generating more scoring chances in the Marlies’ zone. Nonetheless, Toronto was still conducting their highly talented offense and finishing off with strong, aggressive defense by finishing their forechecks.
Before the ten mark in the period, Gulls right-winger Carson Meyer was called for slashing, which led to the first goal of the game by left-winger Alex Nylander. Nylander’s goal was set up by a pass from Zach Solow through the center of the crease leaving Nylander alone for a backdoor one timer.
A little under three minutes later, Marlies jumped ahead by two after a Alex Steeves backdoor tap-in behind Gulls goaltender Calle Clang.
The Gulls answered back less than ten seconds later, cashing in their first goal of the night from a deflection by center Jan Myšák (11) that was assisted by left winger Sasha Pastujov, the team’s leader in points and Meyer.
“It’s always like never give up,” Myšák said when asked about his mindset down 2-0. “It doesn’t matter what’s happening… We’ll recover, we’re gonna work on it and we’ll be back stronger.”
That would be the only goal scored for the Gulls, even though they were on the man advantage two more times after the opening period.
“It was disappointing for us that we couldn’t find that next goal in our third period push to listen to the crowd erupt,” San Diego Gulls head coach Matt McIlvane said. “The story of the game is the powerplay pulls for them and our inability to put pucks to the net early in the game.”
“I was really impressed with the guys and the third (period) they were able to put whatever happened behind them and just go empty the tanks,” McIlvane said.
Conversely, San Diego were on the penalty kill six times tonight, giving up two goals in the process including the insurance goal by Nylander late in the third period.
"We need to be connected," San Diego Gulls right winger Sam Colangelo said. "I know it's really cliché and really simple, but there's five guys on the ice and if you're spread out and not connected it's really hard to make to plays."
The Gulls weren’t able to get any offensive momentum going until the third period where they out shot the Marlies 13-10.
“We know we can play with the top teams in the league when we play to our identity,” Colangelo said. “The bounces didn’t go our way in the o-zone. We generated chances in the second and third (period). We give them all the looks on the powerplay. They got a lot of good players… so when you give them that many chances it's hard to win the game.”
Clang had a busy night in net stopping 28 shots for the Gulls. Meanwhile, Marlies goaltender Hildeby finished with 19 saves.
San Diego had two players that recorded more than two shots, defensemen Tyson Hinds and Myšák.
Gulls have six days off until their next game at home against the Coachella Valley Firebirds that is followed up with a four-game road trip.
“The only thing I want them to do right now is get their minds off of hockey,” McIlvane said. “There’ll be plenty of time for a push down the stretch. This is not the purpose of these next six days.”
The emergence of Justin Bailey
On Jan. 22, the Anaheim Ducks announced that they have acquired right wing Justin Bailey from the San Jose Sharks for left winger Pavol Regenda. Once the trade was secured, Bailey was assigned to report to the San Diego Gulls.
Officially with two games under his belt as a member of the San Diego Gulls, Bailey has already made his presence known. During Wednesday’s contest against the Marlies, Bailey notched his first goal with his new team in his debut.
Bailey’s level of play, his speed and his nose for the puck is something that is eye opening and gets recognized immediately.
In his second game in San Diego, Bailey’s ability to locate the puck, get past defenders and drive to the net were very visible. His skills show that he could be the piece of the puzzle that the Gulls have been needing.
“(He’s a) great addition,” McIlvane said. “He’s got game breaking speed. He’s got a great attitude. He’s been working really well and jumped right into our group and adds elements right away. We are happy to have him.
Bailey was drafted in the second round of the 2013 draft by the Buffalo Sabres. Since playing his first season back during the 2015-2016 season, Bailey has played for the Sabres, Flyers, Canucks, Sharks and potentially the Ducks.
“He’s an experienced guy… he’s a nice guy and on the ice he’s really impressive with his speed. It’s nice to watch him, so we’re happy to have him,” Myšák said.
“He’s a great guy off the ice first and foremost,” Colangelo said. “If you don’t know anything about hockey and you watch the game, you notice him right away. He’s pretty fast and he’s always on the top and uses his size. I think he’s a huge addition for our team going into the final stretch here.”
This season playing for the San Jose Barracuda and the Gulls, Bailey has played 37 games with eight goals and seven assists including three powerplay goals. In his AHL career, Bailey has played a total of 407 games with 144 goals and 112 assists.