Gulls Come Close but Fall Again

For the second time in as many nights, the Gulls ended a game with the carrot dangling in plain view, but just out of reach.

For the second time in as many night, the visiting team left town with a smile on its face and a one-goal victory in its pocket.

Wednesday, the Gulls were defeated, but not outplayed, by Salt Lake, 3-2, in a key Western Division International Hockey League game in front of 3,006 at the Sports Arena.

“We’ve played two pretty good games the past couple of night,” center Larry Floyd said. “I think we just need to make that little extra effort to get out of this slump.”

It was to be the Gulls’ golden opportunity to leap from the doldrums and generate some activity that would shake up the standings in the IHL West.

Now they’ll have to wait till the weekend, when sixth-place Kansas City and third-place Phoenix come to town.

The Gulls dropped to 24-26-5 and remained within two points of Phoenix by virtue of the Roadrunners’ loss to Kalamazoo Wednesday. Salt Lake improved to 27-22-4.

“We played pretty consistently over the past two nights,” Coach Mike O’Connell said, “but we don’t have much to show for it.”

Glimmers of hope faded to black in an unproductive third period that turned the second-period score into a final.

An unsettling span of time--1:40 in the second--was enough to put the Gulls behind by two goals, before rebounding to cut Salt Lake’s lead back to one going into the third.

Tim Sweeney, reassigned to the Golden Eagles from Calgary Jan. 28, scored at 10:16, his second goal with Salt Lake and second point of the night--he had an assist on their first goal.

What spunk the sparse crowd had mustered up to that point quickly fizzled when Todd Harkins took a face off from the left circle and directed the puck in from just inside the red line.

Two of the Gulls’ newest additions, Byron Lomow and Rod Dallman, orchestrated the goal that kept their spirits and chances alive.

Dallman slid the puck to Lomow from the right circle, and as goalie Steve Guenette anticipated and reached right, Lomow scored his second goal with the Gulls, into the left of the net.

For the 36th time in 55 games, the Gulls allowed the first goal, as Andrew McKim scored at 15:18.

Gull workhorse Floyd has fared well against Salt Lake. Wednesday he scored his fifth against the Golden Eagles--the most of any player in the series--and his 16th of the season, on a rebound from outside the right crease at 19:47 for the 1-1 tie. He took six stitches after the second period, but came back for the third.

Gull Notes

For the third time this season, Alain Chevrier, Detroit Red Wing goalie, has been sent to the Gulls. Chevrier, 29, was recalled last week and played in one game with Detroit, a 5-2 loss to Minnesota. He is 6-8 and has a 4.28 goals against average with the Gulls. With Scott Brower and Mark Reimer, their roster now has three goalies . . . After missing three games because of a knee injury then playing Tuesday, Clark Donatelli missed Wednesday’s game with a bruised knee. His status is day to day. Taylor Hall was back in the lineup Wednesday after missing four games . . . Sunday’s game against Phoenix was originally scheduled to begin at 2:05 p.m., but has been changed to 6:05.