GULLS MOVE INTO FOURTH WITH WIN

Country music, cowboy hats and plenty of Gulls getting their name on the scoresheet.

It was that kind of night at Pechanga Arena as an energetic crowd celebrated “Country Night” and watched the Gulls put an old country whoopin’ on the San Jose Barracuda, 6-3.

Max Comtois scored twice for San Diego, Isac Lundestrom, Chris Mueller, Sam Carrick and Blake Pietila also lit the lamp and Chase De Leo and Alex Broadhurst were each credited with a pair of assists.

Goalie Anthony Stolarz made 34 saves to improve to 11-1-2 in his last 14 starts.

The Gulls (26-17-5-2) improved to 9-1-3 in their last 13 games and leapfrogged Ontario into fourth place and playoff position in the Pacific Division.

“We know we’ve been in a tough spot,” said Comtois, who has seven goals and 12 assists in 24 games as a Gull this season. “We came to the rink knowing this was a chance to get into a playoff spot and we wanted to take advantage.”

The Gulls wasted no time taking control in the first period. Comtois scored at 4:24. Lundestrom ripped a shot past Josef Korenar at 11:27. Mueller planted himself in front of the net and slammed home a rebound at 12:46.

The lead swelled to 4-0 at 5:18 of the second period

when Comtois scored his second goal of the night.

After San Jose showed some life with a pair of second-period goals to make it 4-2, Gulls captain Carrick scored his 20th goal of the season on a power play at 19:56 of the second and after that, well, the Barracuda were heading down that old town road.

With seven straight road games looming, coach Kevin Dineen sees even more room for improvement, particularly at the defensive end.

Following Friday night’s 4-1 win at Bakersfield, Dineen talked about a team meeting in which players emphasized the importance of limiting opponent puck possession and shots on goal while maintaining an aggressive forecheck.

The Gulls were outshot 37-35 by San Jose, but the game’s outcome was never really in doubt after the first period when the home team dominated.

“We had that as a priority,” Dineen said of playing better on the defensive end. “We felt we had a good meeting where the players had a voice on how we have to manage the game. That’s an area that you can talk about all you want, but when it comes from your teammates, I think it resonated very large with our group.”