Hoffort Helps Gulls Turn Away Kansas City : Hockey: San Diego pulls within a point of second place with a 5-3 victory over first-place Blades.

Thirty-three games into the season, the Gulls have realized if they don’t fall apart in the first period they can beat about anybody. Thanks to some superb goaltending by Bruce Hoffort, the Gulls survived the first period Thursday.

And thanks to the resurgence of Larry Floyd, who had a goal and two assists in the last two periods, the Gulls beat the Kansas City Blades, 5-3, in front of 5,708 at the Sports Arena. Both teams will play here again at 7:05 tonight.

The victory gave the Gulls (19-14-0, 38 points) their best record in club history and put them only one point behind second-place Peoria (18-12-3, 39 points) in International Hockey League West Division standings. They beat Kansas City (29-8-1, 59 points), which is threatening to run away with the West title, after they trailed, 1-0, after the first period and 3-2 midway through the third.

“This shows our guys we can beat anybody on any given night,” Gulls Coach Don Waddell said. “Our stats prove that as the game goes on we play better. We knew we’d get the scores as the game went on, we knew we could scored on these guys.

“But we had to come out and prove it. And we have to come out mentally ready again tomorrow night. If we don’t, we probably won’t (win), because they’ve probably got a little more talent than us.”

The Gulls have been outscored, 48-34, in the opening period, but they they have outscored their opponents, 96-78, over the final 40 minutes. The Gulls are 2-5 against the Blades this year. Kansas City has won 13 of its past 15, both losses coming to the Gulls. The Blades entered the game with the league’s second-best offense and a top-rated defense that allowed only 2.67 goals a game.

But Hoffort (4-4), who entered the game with a 4.96 goals-against average, one-upped Wade Flaherty (15-6, 2.84).

And after Hoffort made a glove save with 6:29 left in the game, center Ray Whitney scored to give the Gulls a 4-3 edge. Then after Hoffort, on loan from the Philadelphia Flyers, thwarted another flurry of shots amid an eight-player pileup in front of the net, Len Hachborn scored an empty-net goal with 1:19 left to cap the big victory.

Hoffort was starting only his second game since Nov. 28; Rick Knickle had gained seven consecutive starts in goal. Hoffort earned his paycheck in the first 20 minutes Thursday, using his stick, his glove, his pads and his skates to stop 15 of 16 shots.

“I thought he won the game for us right there in the first period,” Waddell said.

“I felt I got my glove in the game real quick,” said Hoffort, who played for Kansas City part of last season. “The longer we can stay in a close game against a powerful team like Kansas City, the better chance we have. It’s extra special when you do this against some of your old buddies.”

The one that got by him was a tomahawk job by Dean Holstad, who swiped an airborne rebound over Hoffort’s left shoulder.

The Gulls trailed, 1-0, entering the second period, when Flaherty was put on the spot. The goaltender faced only 10 shots but was burned twice as the Gulls took a 2-1 lead.

The Gulls, who had ripped off a team-record three goals in 39 seconds against Brian Hayward Dec. 11, this time scored twice in 39 seconds. And the goals came shortly after they failed to get off a shot against Flaherty on a power play.

Dmitri Kvartalnov stole the puck at the other end, triggering a two-on-one break. Kvartalnov hit Hachborn with a crossing pass. Hachborn passed to Robbie Nichols, who passed back to Hachborn, who stuffed the puck inside the left post.

Flaherty caught the puck in his glove and was apparently trying to show it to an official, when it dropped out of the glove and behind the goal line. Red light, goal, 1-1 tie.

The goal was the first of two by Hachborn, giving him 16 total, second highest among active Gulls players. Kvartalnov’s assist moved him into a league-leading tie for points (48) with Muskegon’s Jock Callander.