Gulls regain series lead with Game 3 victory

Photo: Kavin Mistry

San Diego moved a step closer to the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs with a 4-2 victory over San Jose in Game 3 of their Pacific Division semifinal series on Monday night.

With a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series, the Gulls can eliminate the Barracuda with another victory in Game 4 on Wednesday.

San Jose scored first for the third consecutive game as Jon Martin netted his second goal of the series just 2:48 into the contest.

But the Gulls answered as Sam Steel buried a pass from Sam Carrick with 38.2 seconds left in the opening period, and then took the lead on Ben Street‘s power-play goal 3:41 into the second.

Chase De Leo made it 3-1 with 3:13 left in the middle frame, finishing off a two-on-one rush with Justin Kloos for his third goal of the series.

Martin banged home a bouncing puck less than two minutes later to cut the deficit to 3-2 with his second goal of the night.

The Barracuda could get no closer, with San Diego hanging on to the one-goal cushion until Adam Cracknell scored an empty-net goal with 57.3 seconds left in regulation.

Jeff Glass made 20 saves to earn the win for the Gulls. Josef Korenar stopped 32 of 35 shots for the Barracuda.

Pacific Division Semifinals – Series “H” (best-of-5)
P2-San Jose Barracuda vs. P3-San Diego Gulls
Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 17 – SAN DIEGO 6, San Jose 5 (OT) | Recap
Game 2 – Thu., Apr. 18 – San Jose 5, SAN DIEGO 3 | Recap
Game 3 – Mon., Apr. 22 – San Diego 4, SAN JOSE 2
Game 4 – Wed., Apr. 24 – San Diego at San Jose, 10:00
*Game 5 – Thu., Apr. 25 – San Diego at San Jose, 10:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern