GULLS FIND A WAY INTO WIN COLUMN

One night after absorbing a decisive loss to the Abbotsford Canucks, the short-handed San Diego Gulls played one of their stronger games of the season.

Danny O’regan, Hunter Drew, Alex Limoges and Trevor Carrick scored goals, rookie goalie Francis Marotte finished with 30 saves en route to earning his first career AHL win and the Gulls played with consistent physicality while earning a 4-3 victory at Pechanga Arena.

Gulls 4, Abbotsford 3

The Gulls (11-13-2-0) had been outscored 9-1 in a pair of losses to Abbotsford this season, including a 5-1 home loss to the Canucks Friday night.

Agenda No. 1 Saturday night: stop getting pushed around.

Sure enough, the Gulls made a point of imposing themselves physically during a scoreless first period.

Mike Mckee laid a crushing check on Tristen Nielson and then stared down several Canucks, as if daring someone to do something about it.

Hunter Drew stood up a streaking Phil Di Giuseppe, slammed the forward into the boards and stole the puck.

Lucas Elvenes chased a loose puck in the boards and smashed into Jett Woo. Elvenes and Woo then dropped gloves and traded fists, much to the delight of the home crowd.

That kind of toughness was sorely lacking throughout a 4-0 home loss to Abbotsford on Dec. 15 and again for much of Friday night’s defeat.

All of that hard work and some sharp goalie play from Marrotte paid off at 6:42 of the second period when the Gulls earned a power play and O’regan ripped a shot past Arturs Silvos for his fifth goal of the season.

Drew made it 2-0 San Diego at 17:33 of the second when he gathered a slick pass from Tracey and snapped a wrister past Silvos gloveside for his sixth goal of the season.

After Elvenes was sent to the penalty box for slashing with just under two minutes remaining in the second, the Canucks made it 2-1 on a power play goal from Jack Rathbone, whose wrister from the slot beat Marrotte stick-side.

The game’s biggest moment came early in the third when Gulls defensive pressure forced a turnover. Limoges took a perfectly placed feed from Kodie Curran and snapped a shot home for a short-handed goal and a 3-1 San Diego lead.

That goal also helped kill off a 5-minute Abbotsford power play that was awarded after San Diego’s Morgan Adams-moisan was whistled for a check to the head.

The Gulls once again played with a juggled roster. Marotte was making his third start of the season in place of Lukas Dostal, who was called up by the Ducks and started in their loss at Chicago Saturday night.