Once again, the Gulls were outshot nearly two to one (45-23), which is a serious concern coming up on the playoffs, despite the win. It was nice to see Sherwood out there still trying to create and taking shots that the opponents weren’t expecting based on the play of the rest of the team. Boyle earned every bit of the first star with his 44 save performance. The officials didn’t call one. Single. Penalty. On. Cleveland. The. Entire. Game. I disagreed.
The score could have been even more tilted the Gulls’ way. Tropp was awarded a penalty shot he couldn’t convert on; Sabourin’s shot down off the crossbar was waved off as no goal, a call that later withstood video review somehow; and the Monsters pulled Zatkoff with nearly 4 minutes to go in the third, leading to at least four shots that could have scored empty netters, but didn’t. Three barely icings, and one post hit, but the fourth goal was just not meant to be.
Kosilla’s goal was a beauty of a backhand that somehow snuck through a short side angle I thought would have been impossible. His reaction after seemed more one of relief than celebration.
San Antonio has moved ahead of Stockton as the team just outside the playoff bubble in the Pacific, but with the way points percentage works, the Gulls’ magic number to clinch the postseason dropped to 7 points after last night’s results. Tonight, San Antonio and Stockton play against each other, so one of those teams will win, not helping the cause, so the only points coming off the magic number this day would be whatever the Gulls extract from their final faceoff against the Condors in Bakersfield.
Next week, the Gulls face the Barracuda in San Jose (the fish do not appear headed for playoff participation) on Wednesday before a weekend home-and-home against Ontario. The Reign remain ahead of the Gulls in the standings, but only due to the ROW tiebreaker, so these two games will be vital for determining home ice in the likely first round matchup between the two SoCal rivals.
The final week of the season, the Gulls host division leading Tucson on Wednesday, then finish their schedule with two games at the Roadrunners’ home. The Runners haven’t quite put the division title out of reach, but they keep winning, and if they lead by four points or more coming into that final week, they’re not likely to drop three in a row in regulation. Their current lead is six points over both the Gulls and Reign, with both SoCal teams holding a single game in hand over Tucson.