Atlanta Hands Gulls First Loss

The Atlanta Knights took the Gulls to a shootout Thursday before dealing them their first loss of the season, 8-7, in front of 3,130 at the Omni.

Scott Arniel scored four goals in the losing effort, and Hubie McDonough had three assists.

Arniel now leads the International Hockey League with 10 goals, and McDonough leads with 20 assists and 24 points.

The Gulls (8-0-1) were done in by a three-goal performance by Steve Maltais and by a failure to hold two three-goal leads.

The Gulls got four of the first five goals in the second period--two each from Dan Shank and Arniel--to open their first three-goal lead, 5-2.

Maltais narrowed it by completing his hat trick with four minutes remaining in the second period. Arniel then notched his third goal, which came short-handed on a breakaway with McDonough, but Atlanta (6-2-0) scored the next three to tie the game, 6-6.

Brent Gretzky got the tying goal (Keith Gretzky played for the Gulls, marking the first time Wayne’s two younger brothers played against each other professionally).

Arniel put the Gulls on top one last time midway through the final period by tapping in the rebound of a Robbie Nichols shot. Nichols created the play when he stole the puck from Atlanta’s Shawn Rivers behind the net, then whirled in on goalie J.C. Bergeron.

The lead disappeared six minutes later when Keith Osborne got his second of the night.

After neither team scored in the five-minute overtime period, Mitch Lamoureux started the shootout with a goal. But the Gulls’ next three shooters couldn’t even get off a shot, and the final shooter, John Anderson, was squelched by Bergeron. Meanwhile, Maltais and Osborne converted for Atlanta.