Blades Get Their Revenge, Shut Out Gulls : Hockey: Kansas City scores 2-0 victory to remain atop IHL’s West Division.

Two days after the Gulls staged their most dramatic comeback of the season, they suffered their first shutout.

The Gulls fell, 2-0, to the Kansas City Blades in front of 7,498 at Kemper Arena Friday. The Blades (25-7-1, 51 points) have a commanding lead in the West Division of the International Hockey League. However, they were shocked Wednesday by the Gulls.

The Gulls, trailing, 2-0, in third period, rallied to win, 4-2. Friday they took 29 shots at goalie Brian Hayward (1-1) and came up empty. Hayward, a 12-year NHL veteran, had been sent to Kansas City on Tuesday by the San Jose Sharks.

“We had some good scoring chances and we played pretty well, but we just ran into a hot goaltender,” Gull Coach Don Waddell said. “He has been an NHL goalie for years and years. You just have to give him credit.”

The Gulls had scored four or more goals in nine of their past 10 games. They also had won seven of nine and had a 9-5 record on the road.

Hayward fared better than the Gulls’ Rick Knickle (12-5), who stopped 33 of 35 shots in suffering his first loss in 10 road games this season.

The Gulls (16-13-0) are tied with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles (15-16-2) for third place in the West. Each team has 32 points. Salt Lake picked up one point Friday with its 5-4 overtime loss to Phoenix.

The Gulls didn’t help Knickle in the first period, as they yielded a league-leading 10th short-handed goal. Larry DePalma scored at the 6:08 mark to make it 1-0. DePalma got an assist from Rich Lessard on his 35-foot shot that was screened from Knickle’s view.

The second goal was scored by Gary Emmons after a scramble in front of the net in the second period. Emmons got an assist from Chula Vista native Craig Coxe on the score.

The Gulls split the two-game series and are 1-5 against Kansas City this season. They head to Indianapolis to play the Ice (9-12-4, last in the East) for the first time. The game will be broadcast live at 4 p.m. today on XEK-AM 950.

Said Waddell, “To come out of here with a split is still a positive for us. But this was just one of those nights we just weren’t going to score.”