The Gulls’ club-record seven-game road trip got off to a stumbling start Wednesday as San Diego lost to the Tucson Roadrunners 4-1, ending a three-game winning streak.
“I don’t think we came up in the place we used to,” the Gulls’ Isac Lundestrom said. “They did a great job and we knew before the game they were a really good team. It was a tough game tonight.”
Sam Carrick scored San Diego’s lone goal to extend his point streak to four games. Simon Benoit recorded his 14th assist of the season, tying his career-high set in 2018-19. Goaltender Anthony Stolarz made 28 saves.
A scoreless first 20 minutes ended with the Gulls outshooting the Roadrunners 12-9.
AHL Pacific leader Tucson came out of intermission dominating play as Cam Dineen scored 1:09 into the middle period.
Seven minutes later, Carrick tied it for the fourth-place Gulls (26-18-5-2), scoring against Adin Hill.
Beau Bennett put the Roadrunners (32-17-1-2) back on top to stay at 11:49 in the second. Hudson Fasching and Michael Chaput gave Tucson a couple of insurance goals in the third.
The Gulls, who are 3-3 against the Roadrunners this season, will play at Tucson March 10-11 to complete the season series.
San Diego’s road trip, spanning 15 days and 2,534 miles, resumes at 7 p.m. Friday against the Stockton Heat. The Gulls have never had a homestand or road trip of more than six games.
“Right now we’re scrambling for point and trying to solidify a playoff spot here,” Gulls head coach Kevin Dineen said. “Every game is important and you love measuring yourself against top teams. Certainly Tucson’s one of them and we felt like we had a very winnable two points that we didn’t end up with.”
