Gulls Fall to Fort Wayne in OT

Disappointment was tempered by the hope that filled the arena moments earlier.

The Gulls fell 5-4 in sudden-death overtime to Fort Wayne Saturday night at the San Diego Sports Arena, bringing their International Hockey League record to 1-3-1.

But by fighting back from two-goal deficits twice, it wasn’t a bad way to go down. Not bad at all. And the crowd of 5,357 roared in appreciation of the effort.

“We didn’t quit, but we’re still making stupid mistakes,” Coach Mike O’Connell said. “On the winning goal, we made the wrong read, so we’re going to have to make some adjustments.”

Fort Wayne’s Steve Fletcher scored the overtime goal 1:57 into the three-minute period as the Komets swept the two-game series.

The Gulls are off until Friday, when they travel to Indianapolis, then return home Oct. 23.

The Gulls outshot Fort Wayne 40-21 in regulation.

The 2-2 tie came at 5:45 in the third, when a series of passes ended with defenseman Paul Marshall getting his first score of the season, also the first Gulls goal by a defender.

Left wing Clark Donatelli, obtained from the North Stars Tuesday, slid a pass from behind the net to Marshall, who shoved it in from the left.

Fort Wayne retook the lead, 4-2, when it scored back-to-back goals at 8:52 and 10:07, first by John Anderson, followed by Max Midendorf, both from close range.

Instead of frustrating the Gulls, as they have been in earlier games, this time they turned it up a notch.

Sapergia avenged himself and pulled the Gulls to within 4-3 when he coaxed in a goal from the slot on a Bob Jones pass from the left wing.

Floyd evened it at 4-4 on a power-play goal at 15:16. On a pass from Sapergia from the far right wing, Floyd took a straight shot from the right point without interference.

Fort Wayne extended its lead to 2-0 at 8:18 in the second, when the Komets set up a screen for center Bruce Boudreau from inside the right point. Boudreau swung and the puck landed in the middle of the net.

The second period has proven dry as the Sahara for the Gulls. They were scoreless in the second until Saturday, when Jim McGeough ended the drought. McGeough jumped on a shot by Larry Floyd from the high slot that was deflected off Komet goalie Mike O’Neill. McGeough reached out and tipped it in from outside the left crease, passing O’Neill from the right at 12:51.

Four minutes later, officials took away the potential game-tying score. Brent Sapergia took a shot from inside the blue line that passed a pack of players in front of the goal and skipped into the net. But officials ruled that the Gulls’ Carl Mokosak had kicked the puck in.

The Gulls continued their shot-on-goal dominance. But whereas on Friday, when they at least had a first-period goal to show for it, Saturday the Gulls trailed 1-0 after outshooting Fort Wayne 12-7 in the first.

Defenseman Brian McGee, who played in Europe last year, opened scoring for Fort Wayne on the power play, taking a wrist shot from high in the slot. The puck caught the tip of goalie Mark Reimer’s stick before it took a short bounce and landed in the lower right corner of the net at 16:33.

Defenseman Al Tuer continued his now-familiar brawling ways, adding a five-minute second-period fighting penalty to the fighting penalty called against him Friday. In the third period, he was hit with a 10-minute game misconduct penalty.

Charlie Simmer, the Gulls’ assistant coach and a left wing, sprained his right ankle and had to be assisted off the ice halfway through the first period.