Peoria Takes Wind Out of Gulls : Hockey: A 5-1 victory gives Rivermen two-game lead in series. Gulls hope to solve woes tonight at the Sprots Arena.

Maybe somewhere deep in the bowels of the San Diego Sports Arena there is a storage closet in which the Gulls’ offense is being kept. Maybe they forgot to board it on the plane to Peoria and there it sits unused.

Maybe they better look. Today.

After a 5-1 defeat Friday night at Carver Arena, the Gulls find themselves in a two-game hole to the Peoria Rivermen in their best-of-seven quarterfinal playoff. After sharing the International Hockey League lead in goals scored during the regular season, the Gulls have managed only two in two nights against the defending Turner Cup champions.

“We gotta get to them earlier,” said Gulls’ goalie Sean Burke, who faced 28 shots. “You’re playing at home, holding teams to one goal a game, you’re gonna get a lot of confidence.

“I’m sure they’re confident right now. But it’s two games and you gotta win four. There’s a lot of hockey left.”

Game 3 is 7:30 tonight at the Sports Arena.

Not even an entire section of imported San Diego fans sporting rally towels and game jerseys could revitalize the Gulls.

They watched the Gulls offense sputter through a four-shot first period. They watched the San Diego power play fail on all eight opportunities, including a late five-on-three. They watched the Rivermen pepper Burke for four goals in the third period. And they watched Rivermen goalie Guy Hebert not allow a goal until Steve Martinson’s made it 3-1 late in the third period.

Spanning the two games, Hebert shut out the Gulls for 81:50.

“Their goaltending, that’s the difference right now,” said Gulls Coach Don Waddell. “He makes the big saves when he has to.”

Not that he had to very often.

The Gulls, who averaged 31 shots a game this year, managed only four in the scoreless first period, giving them 25 in four playoff periods. Hebert stopped all eight of the Gulls’ second-period shots as well.

“We’re gonna have to find a way to beat their goalie,” Waddell said, “especially on the power play.”

No, they won’t. Hebert was called up by the St. Louis Blues late Friday with the resolution of the NHL players strike.

Even the 124-goal scoring line of Dmitri Kvartalnov, Len Hachborn and Robbie Nichols went without a shot for 1:15 of a Gulls’ power play in the first period.

“They’re getting the best of us right now on our special teams,” said Nichols. “They come at us so hard. As soon as we come in, they don’t give us a second to set up.”

Peoria broke the standoff at 16:58 of the second period while Jason Simon sat in the penalty box for interference. Michel Mongeau sent a soft pass through the crease to Steve Tuttle, who one-timed the puck past Burke from the left side.

Tuttle, who led the IHL with 21 power-play goals, added another at 8:41 of the third to give Peoria a 2-0 lead. Three minutes later, Mongeau rifled the third Peoria goal on a Derek Mayer give-away.

“It was still a pretty good hockey game,” said Waddell. “It wasn’t a 5-1 game, that’s for sure.”

It was after Mongeau’s second goal at 14:11 and Yves Heroux’s coffin-closer at 19:10.

“We’ve got to bear down and want to win this game more than anything,” Burke said. “You’re never out in a series like this. We haven’t had any games at home yet. We gotta win this one and go from there.”

Agreeing with his goalie was Waddell, who knows a little something about a come-from- behind playoff series. In 1988, as the Flint coach, Waddell watched his team take the first two games of the Turner Cup finals against Salt Lake City before losing the next four.

“I’ll tell them that story (today),” Waddell said. “I’ve been on the other side of the coin. You gotta win at home.

“We knew we were going to have to win all our games at home.