The Gulls are working to become a good hockey team.
On Friday night at Pechanga Arena, they got an up-close look at one.
The Gulls (3-6-0) absorbed a 3-1 loss to the Milwaukee irals (6-2-0), were outshot 38-20 and were punished for a handful of untimely mistakes as the visitors won their fifth straight game.
With San Diego trailing 3-0 with just under three minutes to play, forward Pavol Regenda ripped a one-timer that beat Yaroslav Askarov top shelf for his second goal in two games as a Gull.
That shot and goal helped the Gulls avoid their first shutout of the season.
“We played pretty well, did some good things, but just a few turnovers there early in the third got us in trouble,” Regenda said. “We have to eliminate those kinds of mistakes to win games against a good team like that.”
After opening the season with the Ducks and posting two assists in five games, Regenda was sent down Oct. 31 and scored his first AHL goal in Wednesday night’s loss at Bakersfield.
Milwaukee led 1-0 and held a 27-12 edge in shots on goal entering the third period, so it could have been much worse if not for Gulls goalie Lukas Dostal, who made several nice saves, and the penalty kill that went 3-for-3 in the first two periods.
The visitors quickly took total control early in the third on goals from Markus Nurmi (3:22) and Cole Schneider, whose tally at 6:14 came after he slipped a beautiful between-the-legs drop to Luke Evangelista, who in turn fed Schneider back for a short one-timer that beat Dostal.
Askarov earned the win for Milwaukee.
The teams meet again tonight at Pechanga.
Familiar face
Veteran center Sam Carrick, who has played 469 career AHL games, including 219 with the Gulls, centered a line flanked by Justin Kirkland and Danny O’Regan as he continues a rehab assignment following offseason hip surgery.
Carrick played a career-high 64 NHL games with the Ducks last season posting career-highs of 15 goals and 15 assists.
While he’s likely headed back to Anaheim soon, Carrick is providing some valuable leadership to a young team.
“Overall, it’s about tightening things up,” Carrick said. “Making our es a little cleaner. It seemed like things got a little sloppy (at Bakersfield). We have a lot of skill with this group, a lot of skill. It’s about coming together and making sure we’re all on the same page.”
Notable
Forward and captain Chase De Leo remains out with an undisclosed injury suffered in the opening game of the season. No timetable has been set for his return.
An encouraging sign so far this season has been a solid penalty killing unit. The Gulls entered Friday night ranked eighth with an 83.8 percent success rate (31-of-37), went 18-of-19 in the previous four games and killed off all four of Milwaukee’s power plays on Friday.
Carter is a freelance writer.
