Ryan Carpenter knocked home a rebound in overtime to give the San Diego Gulls (22-25-5-3) a 3-2 win over the Ontario Reign (31-18-3-1) on Friday night at Toyota Arena.
Francesco Pinelli let Ontario in the game with a goal and an assist, while Samuel Fagemo found the back of the net on the power play in the first period.
Fagemo got the Reign on the board first with a power play goal at 16:53 of the opening period, scoring his 22nd of the year on a backhand from the slot off a feed by Pinelli.
Ontario had a 15-3 shot-on-goal edge in the first frame, but were only able to solve San Diego netminder Oscar Dansk once in the opening period.
The Gulls evened the score at 1-1 when Roland McKeown scored at 9:49 of the second on a shot from the left point that deflected past goaltender Pheonix Copley.
Moments later, while Ontario was killing a penalty to Joe Hicketts for tripping, Pinelli and Jack Studnicka broke up a play and went into the Gulls’ zone on a 2-on-0 break. Pinelli took the puck to the net and put a shot up high over Dansk to make it 2-1 in favor of the Reign. The shorthanded strike came at 11:22 of the middle period and gave Pinelli his 13th tally of the season.
But San Diego responded four minutes later to tie the game back up at 2-2 on a shot by Yegor Sidorov at 15:26 of the second.
The game remained even throughout the third period and into overtime, where Carpenter netted the winning marker at 1:27 of the 3-on-3 session.
Ontario had the lone power play goal of the night, finishing 1-for-4 on the man-advantage while holding San Diego to an 0-for-5 mark. The game was a physical rivalry matchup, which consisted of a combined 76 penalty minutes between the clubs.
Dansk made 34 saves to earn the victory for San Diego, while Copley suffered the loss on the Ontario side of things with 21 stops. The Reign out-shot the Gulls 36-24 overall in the contest.
Postgame reactions from forward Jacob Doty and head coach Marco Sturm are below –
Jacob Doty
On tonight’s battle
I thought we played pretty well, to be honest with you. Played with a lot of energy, a lot of energy in the building. Disappointed to not come out with two points, but get back on the horse tomorrow and try and do that in San Diego.
On his fight against Travis Howe
I know he’s pretty much always game, as am I. So something that I was thinking about for the last couple days. I knew I wanted to get that done, try to get some energy in the building and within our team. I thought we responded well to it. Both the building and our bench, which I appreciate. Once again, wish we could have come away with two points.
On positives from tonight
I thought we stuck with it. You know, we had maybe a few minutes at the end of the second period where we started making some mistakes with the puck. But overall, I thought we were pretty good most of the night. Some big moments, some big blocks, and I think trending in the right direction from the last 10 days or so. I’ll circle back to it again, got to come away with two points.
Marco Sturm
On the team’s overall performance against an improved San Diego team
Since I’ve been here, they always play us hard. It doesn’t matter how good they are, how bad they are, how they are in the standings, it’s always a tight game. Again, it was no surprise and overall our guys worked hard. Unfortunately, a few mistakes cost us the hockey game. We had a few guys down too, so it was not easy, especially for our forwards, but they battled hard and played a pretty solid third period to at least give us a chance.
On a late power play chance that didn’t succeed
I think that’s one thing we have to get better. It’s been going on for a while, and it’s a big moment. You have a few minutes left in the game that could win us a hockey game, and we didn’t get anything out of it. Guys were a little tired too, but that’s something we need to get better at.
On Pheonix Copley’s effort
He gives us comfort. He’s a good person and especially a good goalie. Even through tough times like right now he gives us a chance to win every night. Sometimes I feel bad because we give him plays like the OT goal. They wacked three times and we were just standing right beside and we didn’t do anything. He’s trying everything and we just have to give him a little bit more help. He’s been outstanding for a month or two. I think it’s the best I’ve seen from him. Unfortunately, we just need to get him a few more wins but he’s been awesome.
The Reign and Gulls are back at it on Saturday in their final scheduled meeting of the season at Pechanga Arena which begins at 6 p.m.
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