A nervous ripple worked its way through the Pechanga Arena crowd as the Gulls clung to a one-goal lead in the closing minutes.
Visiting Stockton desperately hunted a game-tying goal and did so with an extra skater for the final two minutes, but the Gulls kept their defensive structure and held on Wednesday for a 3-2 win.
The five players caught on the ice for an extended shift in front of goalie Anthony Stolarz — Max Comtois, Alex Broadhurst, Chris Mueller, Simon Benoit and Jani Hakanpaa — were exhausted but happy to leave the ice winners on a night when Stockton finished with a 42-24 edge in shots on goal.
“That was intense,” Broadhurst said. “It’s about … keep it tight. Say in shooting lanes and try to clear the puck. We’re very fortunate to have a goalie like Anthony Stolarz back there. Every guy did a great job.”
Kiefer Sherwood scored twice, Comtois scored once and Stolarz finished with 40 saves as San Diego (24-17-5-2) avenged Monday’s 3-2 overtime loss at Stockton.
More importantly, San Diego now trails fourth-place Ontario by two points in the Pacific Division standings.
Sherwood got things going for the home team when he took a nice feed from Blake Pietila before scoring on a sharp angle shot at 6:53 of the first.
Stockton quickly answered with an even-strength goal from Mason Morelli at 7:22 and the teams settled into a tightly played contest that San Diego broke open on even-strength goals from Sherwood and Comtois at 13:21 and 13:46 of the second period.
Those two scores were the product of San Diego’s most sustained pressure of the night as they aggressively forechecked to win the puck and got traffic in front of Artyom Zagidulin.
Stolarz was particularly sharp around 16:30 of the third period when he made a series of saves to snuff out prime Stockton scoring chances.
The Heat made things interesting when Alan Quine stuffed a shot past Stolarz at 13:05 to reduce the lead to 3-2 but the Gulls hung tough.
Carter is a freelance writer.
