Gulls’ Slump Is Prolonged by Road Loss to Salt Lake

Some thanks. Since Thanksgiving, the Gulls have played 15 of 19 games on the road. In their last 10, they are 1-8-1 and have lost four in a row.

In their final game before returning home for a game Wednesday against Phoenix, the Gulls found another bump in the road Saturday night, losing, 3-2, to Salt Lake in front of 8,968 at the Salt Palace.

Salt Lake tightened its grip on second place in the International Hockey League West. The Golden Eagles (20-17-3) have 43 points to the 38 for the Gulls, who are now 17-18-4 and dropped to below .500 for the first time since Nov. 4.

Salt Lake’s Rich Chernomaz scored the deciding goal in the second period.

“We had some good chances,” said Gulls’ Coach Mike O’Connell, “but we’re just not getting the big plays that we were getting earlier in the season.”

Charlie Simmer scored his 10th goal of the season at 6:55 to open scoring. The Eagles’ Paul Kruse scored at 7:49, then Todd Harkins made it 2-1 Salt Lake, going into the second. Darren Lowe had the other Gulls goal.

“We’re going through one of those stretches that everyone goes through,” O’Connell said. “Hopefully some time spent at home will help us snap out of it.”