Gulls blanked 3-0 in Tucson as Hrabal posts his first AHL shutout
San Diego put 31 shots on Tucson goalie Michael Hrabal on Friday night and solved none of them. Ben McCartney scored in the first period and set up the empty net goal as the Roadrunners won their third straight, 3-0.
TUCSON: The San Diego Gulls put 31 shots on goal Friday night at the Tucson Convention Center Arena and came away empty, falling 3-0 to the Tucson Roadrunners in the opener of a two game weekend set. It was the first time this season the Gulls failed to score the opening goal, and they never recovered the initiative.
Ben McCartney opened the scoring midway through the first period, Cameron Hebig doubled the lead late in the second, and Brandon Tanev closed it out with a late empty net goal, his first of the season. McCartney assisted on the Tanev goal to finish with a two point night, the best line on the ice. Austin Poganski, Gabe Smith, Artem Duda, and Robbie Russo also recorded assists for Tucson.
The difference was in net. Tucson's Michael Hrabal stopped all 31 San Diego shots for the first shutout of his AHL career, in his eighth career start. At the other end, Laurent Brossoit made 25 saves on 27 shots in his fourth start of the season for the Gulls, beaten only by the McCartney and Hebig goals before the empty netter.
Accountability in the room
Defenseman Corey Schueneman did not dress the loss up afterward. "Some good and some bad. Ultimately, I think we just weren't good enough in our D-zone. We kind of stalled ourselves too much in the neutral zone, I think. Too much stuff at the blue lines, and we've got to have a better first period," Schueneman said. On the quick turnaround, he added: "We've got to respond tomorrow. Got to start on time and got to play a complete game. They're an offensive team, they want to play offense but, we've got to put pucks behind them and go to work."
Head coach Dave Manson pointed to a power play that generated looks without a finish. "It's one of those things if you're knocking on the door eventually it opens. You have to work to create those chances and the guys did that. There were chances there to be had. We just got to find a way to finish them off," Manson said.
The loss dropped San Diego to 2-3-1-0 with five standings points, while Tucson improved to 3-2-0-0 with six points and a third straight win, its second in a row without trailing. Anton Wahlberg still leads the Gulls in scoring with six points, and his five assists lead the team; Nico Myatovic, Stian Solberg, and Matthew Phillips share the active team goal lead with two apiece. The rematch is Saturday night at 7 in Tucson, streaming on AHLTV on FloHockey.
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