Gulls’ Norton Cheated Out of Goal, Then Scores Winner : Hockey: Pass intended for Norton hits Roadrunner’s stick, goes in in 5-3 victory.

Darcy Norton could have slammed his stick in disgust when the referee credited Ray Whitney with a goal Norton seemed to score in the first period of the Gulls’ game against Phoenix Tuesday.

But, in a game that was like a microcosm of his season, Norton kept working and eventually scored the most important goal of the Gulls’ 5-3 victory over the Roadrunners before 3,389 at the San Diego Sports Arena.

The victory was the 10th in 11 games against Phoenix and it allowed the Gulls regain sole possession of second place in the West Division of the International Hockey League.

The Gulls are 35-19-5 with 75 points, while idle Peoria slid to third with 73 points. Fifth-place Phoenix is 20-34-6.

Norton appeared to tap in a pass from Whitney as Norton skated toward the slot midway through the opening period. But a Phoenix defenseman put his stick inside Norton’s and tapped it in.

“Our sticks were so close, he deflected it in before it got to mine,” Norton said.

In a season interrupted by injuries, Norton--who had 22 goals and 45 points for the Gulls last year--hasn’t gotten many breaks this season. It’s only now that he thinks he’s finding a groove.

And he eventually found an opening on goalie David Goverde’s stick side 4:31 into the third period--taking a pass from Len Hachborn from the right circle and one-timing it from the slot.

Norton’s 13th goal and 26th point proved to be the game-winner for the Gulls, who let Phoenix score three times in a third period that produced 20 penalties.

Slowed by a knee injury, Norton had an eight-game scoring streak in December then tapered off. But Tuesday’s game-winner was his second in a month.

“I think I’m coming on now,” Norton said. “I feel pretty good about myself. I was expecting a better year. But we’ve got goal scorers and I have 26 points in 40 games. That’s not too bad, really, for me.”

Larry Floyd made it 2-0 only 44 seconds into the second period when he put in the rebound of Dmitri Kvartalnov’s shot that hit the post. Hachborn had his first of two assists on the power-play goal. Hachborn pushed his scoring streak to 13 games and he’s threatening the club-record 16-game streak he had earlier this season.

Kvartalnov made it 3-0 with 1:04 left in the period, and it was one of the most spectacular of his league-leading 48 goals. Kvartalnov, taking a pass from Kord Cernich near the blue line, deked Roadrunner defenseman Derek Booth as he skated into the slot and rifled the puck between the legs of Goverde. Keith Gretzky capped the Gull scoring on a pass from Ron Duguay, who could have taken a point-blank shot himself.

Gull Notes

The Gulls were ranked fourth in the IHL in power-play efficiency, having scored 21.2% of the time with a man advantage. They have improved that rating from ninth place. They are also third in penalty killing with an 81.7% success rate. . . . Gull winger Robbie Nichols was back in the starting lineup Tuesday, albeit with a sore right hip. He passed a kidney stone about 2 p.m. Monday after he had been hospitalized for nearly two days and had consented to arthroscopic surgery for removal. “They say it’s like (being in) labor,” Nichols said of the pain. “I thought I was dying; the pain was incredible.” The only thing that troubled Nichols Tuesday was his hip, stiff from 20 injections of pain killer. . . . The Gulls were averaging 6,255 fans per game since Jan. 1 going into Tuesday. That’s far better than the 4,889 the Gulls were averaging this season before Jan. 1. The difference might be the Gulls’ 15-5-4 record since New Year’s. They totaled only 13 victories in 45 games after Jan. 1 last year. The Gulls have drawn 151,933 this season..