Gulls Have 3-Goal Lead, but It’s Atlanta’s Night : Hockey: Knights deal Gulls their third shootout loss of the season.

The Gulls have been trying to market themselves this season as a team loaded with star veteran NHL talent.

Current stars? No. Future stars? Perhaps. Name players? That’s more like it.

The Atlanta Knights won the name game and this International Hockey League contest, overcoming a three-goal deficit for a 6-5 shootout victory in front of 6,115 Thursday night at the Sports Arena.

Atlanta defenseman Roman Hamerlik fired a knuckler of a shot from the left point to beat Gulls goaltender Rick Knickle for the game-winner.

Hamerlik, the first pick of the 1992 NHL entry draft by the Tampa Bay Lighting, might be the big name of the future. For now, he was the player yet to be named.

Demoted to Atlanta by the Lighting on Thursday, Hamerlik made it here in time for the game, but his name patch did not.

Still, he managed to attract a few tough checks, but not the attention of Gulls Coach Rick Dudley.

“I don’t have much of an impression of him,” said Dudley. “I really did not notice him out there.”

Dudley did notice his team had a 48-23 shot advantage and that it failed to come away with a victory.

“I liked our game. At least I was pleased with most of it,” he said. “You outshoot a team (like that), you have to be happy.”

The Knights (16-6-1 for 33 points, best in the Eastern Conference) will be happy with this victory, their second shootout decision over the Gulls (21-0-3, 45 points) this season.

Goaltender J.C. Bergeron, who relieved David Littman in the second period, stopped John Anderson, Len Hachborn, Don McSween and Mitch Lamoureux in the shootout session.

Keith Osborne and Dave Capuano scored in the shootout for Atlanta.

The excitement surrounding the possible appearance of Manon Rheaume, the first woman to play in an NHL exhibition game, subsided when she did not suit up.

Without that drama, the game lacked a tone until the second period.

After the Gulls (Hachborn) and Knights (Capuano) traded early second-period goals to make it 2-2, the Gulls finally took advantage of opportunities in front of the net to grab a 5-2 lead.

Daniel Shank scored on a deflection at 5:43 of the second period, giving the Gulls their first power-play goal in four opportunities. Fifty-six seconds later, Jean-Marc Richard sent a hard shot from the right point that beat Littman.

Anderson increased the Gulls’ advantage to three with his goal at 13:01 of the second period. Hubie McDonough had fired a shot from the high slot, and Anderson, battling for position in front of the goal crease, managed to get his stick free to redirect the shot.

That was it for Littman, who gave way to Bergeron.

The Knights came back at 16:43 of the period. Matt Hervey skated into the slot and took a pass from Hamerlik and beat Knickle.

A defensive lapse at 19:46 brought the Knights back to within one goal.

The Gulls were trying to clear the puck from their end when a clearing pass to the side of Knickle hit Lamoureux’s skate before going into the net. Atlanta’s Stan Drulia was credited with the goal, which made it 5-4 after two periods.

It was the first time in 15 games the Gulls allowed more than three goals. It also was the fourth time the Gulls had scored on themselves.

Hachborn tied the game at 1-1 by redirecting a shot by defenseman Dale DeGray from the right point at 9:14 of the first period.

Atlanta got the early advantage, 1-0, at 3:26 of the first period when Callander, who fought off a McSween check at the blue line, drove in hard from the right point and beat Knickle on the glove side with a shot that trickled in.

Gulls Notes

Goaltender Manon Rheaume, the first woman to play in an NHL exhibition game, was a scratch for Thursday night’s game.