PREVIEW: Gulls, Silver Knights Close Four-Game Series Tonight
Mar 21, 2022By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
For the San Diego Gulls, they hope what happened in Vegas stays there.
The Gulls are back home to take on the Henderson Silver Knights in the final game of their four-game March mini-series tonight at Pechanga Arena (7 p.m. PT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
The Gulls fell 4-3 in a shootout Saturday, losing their first game to the Silver Knights this season. Despite the setback, the Gulls have points in five straight games (4-0-0-1) and hold a commanding 5-0-0-1 season series record against Henderson, including three wins at home.
"We look at the last game and we can focus on that one and even the one before where we were not able to finish, to play a 60-minute game so I think we’ve got to focus on that," Gulls assistant coach Max Talbot said. "We’ve played four very good periods of hockey out of our six last ones so it’s about that. We can be proud of the guy, the way that they’re playing and competing right now."
While sometimes cliché, scoring the first goal remains a psychological edge for the Gulls. Henderson netted the first goal on Saturday – the first time in the season series they opened the scoring – and the Gulls will look to strike early.
"If I look at the season in general, one thing I can say about the team is that we’ve been pretty good with the lead, you know, since the start of the year," Talbot said. "That first goal is obviously really important for us. Last game, we lost the lead so we can obviously make adjustments and talk about that."
San Diego built that lead – a two-goal advantage – with three goals in the second period. The team’s power play drove the offense, as Alex Limoges and Trevor Carrick tallied man-advantage tallies to give the Gulls multiple power-play goals for the second time in the last three games.
San Diego is 4-for-12 (33.3%) in its current four-game stint against the Silver Knights, and will need to continue to capitalize on the man advantage tonight
The Gulls will look to Limoges to help with this feat as his goal garnered him the team lead in power-play tallies (8) and tied him for the lead in goals (13). The tally also extended the rookie’s point streak to three games (1-3=4) and marks his eighth point (2-6=8) in his last seven contests.
San Diego’s penalty kill is also operating at peak efficiency, as it quietly supports the Gulls in this four-game series with a 100% kill rate (13-for-13).
"The team is progressing," Talbot said. "We’re doing good things and I know that we can even do better things so that’s the good thing."
A key element in the special team’s success is defenseman Nikolas Brouillard, who enters tonight with a career-tying high five-game point streak (4-3=7). He leads all American Hockey League blueliners in goals, while leading the Gulls in assists and scoring with 12-23=35 points.
"(We’re) trying to work our best and just get ready for this week." Gulls goaltender Lukas Dostal said of the team’s mindset going into tonight’s game.
Tonight also marks a pivotal battle in the ever-tightening Pacific Division standings. San Diego enters this game sitting in the seventh – and final – playoff spot in the division, five points back of sixth-place Henderson. A win brings them within three points with one more regular-season meeting in April.
"Obviously, (we need to) collect as many points as possible," Dostal said when asked what the team needs to do in the stretch before the playoffs. "You know, have a good feel towards the playoffs and climbing as a team. Just working on our structure, working on our system. Just feel good about ourselves, but at the same time, really work hard on the everything and juts get ready for the playoffs."
The Henderson team may not be the same the Gulls saw just a few days ago. The National Hockey League’s trade deadline, combined with announced roster moves from the Vegas Golden Knights, sent their roster in flux. Still on the team is leading scorer Pavel Dorofeyev, who has goals in back-to-back games against the Gulls. He also notched the shootout-winning tally in Saturday’s game.
However, the Golden Knights recalled center Paul Cotter, right wing Jonas Rondbjerg and defensemen Zack Hayes and Daniel Miromanov on Monday. All four players skated for Henderson on Saturday, with Rondbjerg recording 1-1=2 points in the win.