PREVIEW: Gulls Look For Weekend Sweep In Matinee Matchup With Silver Knights
Feb 26, 2022By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
Unlike many of its other visitors, the San Diego Gulls are waking up in Las Vegas without regret.
The Gulls prepare to finish a back-to-back set with the Henderson Silver Knights at Orleans area today, less than 24 hours after a dominant effort against their Pacific Division foe (3 p.m. PT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
San Diego owns a 2-0-0-0 record against Henderson following last night’s 5-2 victory. The Gulls rode a supercharged power-play effort – the team scored three man-advantage tallies – to their first franchise win at Orleans Arena.
"Yeah, you know I think we played an all-around pretty good game and our power play wasn’t doing well before," Gulls captain Greg Pateryn said. "We got some good bounces and some good shots, kept it simple, got the puck in the net a few times there, which is huge. I thought we played on the right side of the puck and limited the good chances against and that’s all you can really do in this this game and if you do that, you’ll usually come out on top."
Danny O’Regan – who scored twice in 30 seconds to burn his former team – opened the power-play scoring in the first period, snapping a 0-for-17 skid with the man advantage. This opened the floodgates for those units, as Alex Limoges scored an additional two power-play goals over the game’s final 40 minutes. It marks the first time the Gulls scored three power-play goals in a game since a 7-4 win over the Ontario Reign on Apr. 13, 2021.
O’Regan leads the team in power play points (6-6=12) and is tied with Limoges for the lead in power play goals (6). Additionally, Limoges is now tied with Hunter Drew for the team lead in goals (10).
"There’s a lot of positive from tonight’s game," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said following Friday’s win. "We’re working on our game. You get that group for a little bit now. We’re seeing that last weekend was a little disappointing for us because we feel we didn’t play as great as we could and we were right there against one of the best teams in the league. So, I think tonight is a feel-good win, but I’m already about tomorrow and see how we’re going to manage it, how we’re going to keep stepping up."
Last night, San Diego’s veterans certainly continued to step up. Celebrating his 200th American Hockey League game, Pateryn set a new career-high with three assists while earning his first multi-point and multi-assist game as a Gull (0-3=3).
Vinni Lettieri also earned 0-3=3 to match a season-high for points in a game. It marked his third multi-assist effort in his last six games (1-8=9). In addition, Kodie Curran collected an assist for 0-5=5 in his last five games.
“You can tell that the guys are playing with a little more pace, a little more jam and playing the right way,” Pateryn said. “You can tell that it’s definitely taking care of itself on the scoreboards so, you know, I’m really happy with the way things are moving forward.”
The Gulls scored four-or-more goals for the seventh straight game, an offensive output they’ll need to continue their success against Henderson.
While the Silver Knights lost three of their last four games, two skaters continue to find ways to produce. Pavel Dorofeyev, who collected a goal last night, leads Henderson in scoring with 19-16=35 points. Rookie defenseman Daniil Miromanov collected another assist in the loss and enters today second among rookie defenseman with 24 helpers. He sits sixth among all AHL blueliners with 6-24=30 points.