Gaslamp Holds On. Riptide Cruise for Fourth Consecutive Win.

After some chaotic back and forth play, the Guardians started pouring it on.

Game Four Recaps

Torrey Pines Talons vs. Gaslamp Guardians 

Both the Torrey Pines Talons and the Gaslamp Guardians took the opening minutes of the game to feel out the opposition. After some back-and-forth play, the Talons broke the scoring off a tenacious effort by captain Ray Kinsey. Kinsey hunted down the puck after it bounced off the end wall on a shot by Jason Effertz; he took a couple of quick jabs at it, pulled it across the crease, and outwaited the goaltender before ripping it into the net. 

Soon after the Talons took the early lead, the Guardians went on a tear. First, it was a speedy coast-to-coast goal by Logan Wise, who retrieved the puck off a broken play, cruised up the rink, and released a slick wrister using the Talons' defensemen as screens. 

Next, Bailey Ridout got his first goal of the season after picking up an errant Talons pass off the boards, barreling into the offensive zone, and rifling a far-side shot that found twine. Soon after, Zach Nolte received a drop pass from Anthony Mata and circled through the neutral zone, picking up speed and weaving through the Talons before finishing the play off with a quick snapshot from between the circles. Minutes later, Eli Hoffmann won a puck battle along the boards in the Talons' zone, circled to the top of the circles, and wired a top-shelf shot that beat the goalie glove side, putting the Guardians up 4-1.

The Talons got the next goal off a beautiful pass from Colton Grover. Grover streaked into the offensive zone on a two-on-one opportunity, with a Guardians backchecker hot in pursuit. Instead of forcing a shot or pass across, Grover found Kinsey coming in as the high third man. The pass fooled the Guardians defense, allowing Kinsey to fire into a yawning cage for his second of the game, pulling the score to within two.

But then the Guardians stormed away.

Rebound goal by Mata off a shot by Wise.

Three-on-none Guardians rush that resulted in Ridout passing it across to Kyle Agnello, whose quick shot beat the goalie. 

Coming out of the intermission with a 6-2 lead, the Guardians' Oren Berengolts tracked down his own shot behind the Talons' net and gave a sweet centering dish to Zac Miszkiewicz, who potted a goal from top of the crease.

Soon after, Mata fed a seeing-eye, behind-the-back pass to Andrew Day in the high slot. Day received the biscuit and sent it right to the back of the net, putting the Guardians up 8-2 with 12:33 remaining in regulation. The Guardians got eight goals from eight different scorers, a testament to the depth and skill across their lineup.  

With a surge of late-game energy, the Talons were able to get two more on the board. Their third goal of the game came off a well-executed two-on-one, with Chris Sidner sending a nice sauce over to Kinsey, who caught and released the puck in one fluid motion for the hat trick goal. Late in the game, the Talons converted on another nice passing play off the rush, this time between Brian Pino, Jason Effertz, and Grover. Pino passed it across to Effertz and then continued toward the net, pulling a Guardians defenseman with him. Then Effertz moved it across to Grover, who snapped off a shot that squeezed through the goaltender. 

The game ended 8-4 Guardians, but the Talons were building momentum as both teams look ahead to Game Five.  

Final Score

Torrey Pines Talons: 4
Gaslamp Guardians: 8

Keys to the Game

• Torrey Pines building momentum off the rush, but still needing to find a higher gear to make it more difficult for opposing players to gain access to prime scoring areas.  
• Gaslamp finding balanced scoring, but should be aware of the potential for misfired shots to turn into opportunities going the other way.