Following a 6-2 loss in the lone preseason game for the Gulls, they sure adjusted all right.
“The amount we were able to learn and absorb through last week’s practices I thought was real good,” Matt McIlvane said. “Obviously, getting guys into the lineup makes a big difference as well, but a lot of great things for [the] team through those two games.”
The Gulls outscored the Ontario Reign, 10-5, between the two games over the weekend with many firsts for their young team.
It’s inevitable, having a lot of players who hadn’t played in the AHL before to see many firsts – and there’s many more to come – but seeing seven guys score their first AHL points is something that wasn’t as expected.
“We’re going to be a team that’s going to need to get scoring, up and down our lineup and through it. We know we’ve got some top end guys that can certainly put it on the board but we know we’re going to need to score by committee and it was good to see that this weekend,” McIlvane said.
The team’s first goal, scored by Pavol Regenda, earned a pair of first AHL assists by Sasha Pastujov and Olen Zellweger in the first 10 minutes of the opening game last Friday.
Pretty hands from Pavol 🤗#LetsGoGulls | #SDvsONT pic.twitter.com/GBu2w7LHEo
— San Diego Gulls (@SDGullsAHL) October 14, 2023
Zellweger assisted another goal Friday and one more Sunday to lead the team with three assists through the first two games.
His assists came from Regenda, Jacob Perrault, and Andrew Agozzino, three players with a combined 844 games played in the AHL going into this season – the majority coming from Agozzino’s 664 games prior to the season.
Zellweger sung the praises of the veterans – and the experience they share – he plays on the ice with.
“I think it’s great to have a really good forward core here that can play really well offensively, hold up to the puck. And then on defense we have a lot of mobile guys as well so all around we have guys who can really handle the puck with their head up and make plays offensively which is really important. You’d have both aspects of the game really dialed in to be a really complete team.”
The complete team isn’t quite there yet. It was a great weekend on the offensive front with 10 goals scored, but the defense could certainly use some help after allowing 80 shots on goal in the first two games alone. Fortunately, veteran goaltender Alex Stalock was up to the task in the first game, saving 40 of 41 shots, and rookie goalie Calle Clang made a career-high 35 saves on 39 shots in his sixth career game in the AHL.
Down 2-1 in the second frame of Sunday’s game, Tyson Hinds passed the puck to Travis Howe who shot it off Ben King, going into the goal. Everyone involved earned their first AHL points with Hinds and Howe collecting their first assists and King scoring his first goal in his first AHL game to tie the game.
What a way to score your first!@benking_02 bats it out of the air to tie the game 🙌#LetsGoGulls | #SDvsONT pic.twitter.com/H2qr5yjyrY
— San Diego Gulls (@SDGullsAHL) October 15, 2023
They followed that up with a go-ahead, first-goal score from Judd Caulfield and another first point from 2022 first-round selection Nathan Gaucher to take their first lead of the game. Veteran defenseman Robert Hagg also collected his first assist of the season.
Judd Caulfield sticks with it and gets his first career @theahl goal!#LetsGoGulls | #SDvsONT pic.twitter.com/rgkbUyEBbr
— San Diego Gulls (@SDGullsAHL) October 15, 2023
The two SoCal rivals play one more against each other this Friday, October 20, for the San Diego home opener as the Gulls look for their first 3-0 start since the 2020-21 AHL season that they opened with six consecutive victories.