Floyd, Donatelli Spark Gulls’ Win

Not since opening night had so many people had so many reasons to make so much noise.

Playing in front of its second-largest home crowd of the year, 8,734, the Gulls took a 3-2 International Hockey League victory away from Phoenix on Wednesday night at the Sports Arena.

The energy mimicked that of Oct. 5, and some of it must have rubbed off on the players.

Larry Floyd, who scored a hat trick that night under similar conditions, seemed particularly affected. He scored two goals.

Clark Donatelli, the Gulls leading scorer, scored the winning goal in on a quirky play in the third period. The puck caromed off the boards and was fielded by Darcy Norton outside the right circle.

Norton passed the puck to Donatelli outside the left crease, but the puck only reached Donatelli after grazing the skate of Phoenix’s Kevin MacDonald. Donatelli’s goal came at 9:51.

Fortune kept the Roadrunners (13-19-1) from knotting the game three minutes later. What looked like a sure goal by Sylvain Couturier was grabbed on the red line by Gulls goalie Scott Brower.

With the Gulls (17-15-1) trailing 2-0, Floyd scored a power-play goal when he skated in from the blue line and took a slapshot from the slot that beat goalie David Goverde on the right side.

It was the Gulls’ 51st power-play goal of the season. Floyd has scored a point in nine consecutive games.

In the third, Floyd again found breathing room. His second goal of the night mirrored his first and evened the score at 2-2, just 1:51 into the period. This time the pass came from the left wing. Derek Mayer, with an assist on the goal, extended his point scoring roll to 18 of the last 20 games.

“When you get to take a shot like that from the line, the main objective is that it makes it into the net, and I was able to do that on both,” Floyd said.

A 2-1 deficit may not look bad on most teams, but after two periods, it was most unbecoming on the Gulls.

A scoreless second period drew the Gulls closer to widening an already pathetic statistic, where their record was 1-12-2 when losing after two periods.

Marc Saumier scored first for Phoenix, when Mayer let Mickey Volcan pick the puck off the boards and pass it without a threat to Saumier, who was in position to simply nudge it in from about 12 feet on the left side.

The player who has absolutely owned the Gulls, Couturier, upped his property value when he scored the seventh of his nine goals against the Gulls at 10:45.

With the Roadrunners on the power play, goalie Scott Brower tried to clear out the puck. Well, he did. Right into the waiting stick of Couturier, who took it in from 10 to 12 feet out.

The Gulls continued its game of chase with Salt Lake, who had a 9-5 victory over Kalamazoo, but remain in second.

It was the fourth time the Gulls have defeated Phoenix, but the Roadrunners has still outscored them, 30-18. The Gulls have yet to score more than three goals any time against them.

The Gulls play Phoenix for the sixth time this month tonight in Phoenix.

Gull Notes

Edward Scissorhands: Gull forward Mike Sullivan cut his hand doing dishes Wednesday and was taken out of the lineup for an unspecified period. . . . Gulls fans were once again denied the chance of seeing Alain Chevrier in goal. Chevrier, acquired first Nov. 22 on a two-week reconditioning assignment by the Detroit Red Wings, then reassigned back to the Gulls Dec. 10, has played in eight games--he is 4-4-0--none in San Diego. . . . Defenseman Al Tuer played in his first game Wednesday since the birth of daughter Carly, Dec. 17 in Canada, but not until he has passed out cigars to teammates. . . . Peter Dineen is expected to be out six to eight weeks after he had surgery or a nagging shoulder injury. . . . Easy ID: Ron Duguay, the Gull with hair any rock ‘n’ roll star would be proud of, is one of a handful of players left in professional hockey who doesn’t use a helmet. . . . For the 26th time in 35 games, the Gulls were scored against first.