Mistake-Prone Gulls Suffer Seventh Consecutive Loss at Home

The team that showed up in the third period Tuesday was two periods too late.

The Gulls skated pensively for the first 40 minutes against Salt Lake, and they paid for it with a 5-3 loss in an International Hockey League game in front of 2,844 at the San Diego Sports Arena.

Even with their slow start, the Gulls were only trailing by one goal when they gave up their 17th short-handed goal of the season with 51 seconds remaining.

For the Gulls (24-29-5), it meant a seventh consecutive loss at home and their eighth in the last nine. They are still fourth in the IHL West but are fast losing ground to fifth-place Milwaukee.

“The little mistakes are killing us,” Gulls Coach Mike O’Connell said. “But we can’t get down; we can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We still have to come out and try to win (Wednesday) night.”

The Gulls finish their six-game home stand tonight against second-place Salt Lake (30-22-4), winners of six in a row.

Salt Lake goalie Steve Guenette said it will take a stronger overall effort by the Gulls to get them out of the dumps and back in the winner’s circle.

“It seemed liked they were just waiting for something to happen,” said Guenette, who is now 4-1 against the Gulls. “Then in the third period, they played much better. I’m sure we’ll have to try a little harder Wednesday, because they’ll come back ready.”

Ron Duguay, who had his first two-goal game, brought the Gulls to within 4-3 when he scored a power-play goal at 9:58 in the third period.

But another power-play opportunity with 1:44 left came up empty, and Tim Sweeney scored short-handed to wipe out the Gulls last chance.

The Gulls are 2-for-17 on the power play in the last five games.

As the wacky San Diego Chicken worked his way around the arena in the second, the action on the ice kept pace.

The Golden Eagles led 2-1 after one period before adding to the lead. On a move that could have impressed a figure skating judge or two, Bryan Deasley spun around in the right circle before getting the puck to Paul Kruse, who scored a goal for the 3-1 lead.

Then came a moment of madness. To the awe of an entire arena, Salt Lake defender Darryl Olsen scored in his own net, on a perfect shot from the slot.

It appeared that Olsen was trying to clear the puck off the board and didn’t get it wide enough.

Duguay, by fortune of being closest to Olsen, was credited with his seventh goal, to pull the Gulls back within one, 3-2.

On the subsequent faceoff, Marc Bureau, the Golden Eagles’ leading scorer, sent another shot flying into his own net, but the line judges disallowed it, ruling the players weren’t properly lined up.

“Mistakes happen,” said Guenette. “I’ve seen it happen, but not twice. We were able to come back and score the winning goal a minute later.”

That came when Rick Lessard slapped a shot from the 30-foot range for a 4-2 lead.

In the first period, Salt Lake’s Richard Zemlak and Rich Chernomaz sandwiched goals around the Gulls’ Darren Lowe.

Gulls Notes

Gulls left wing Clark Donatelli had arthroscopic surgery Tuesday and will be out four to six weeks because of ligament damage in his knee. Donatelli (17 goals, 10 assists) had missed four games recently. Gull defenseman Steve Dykstra suffered a mild concussion in the first period Tuesday and didn’t return.