Gulls Stretch Win Streak To Four, Stay Unbeaten Against Henderson This Season
Mar 18, 2022By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls are making their push.
Powered by stellar goaltending and timely goal-scoring, San Diego stretched its win streak to four with a 3-1 victory over the Henderson Silver Knights tonight at Pechanga Arena. The win brought them within four points of the sixth-place Silver Knights in an ever-tightening Pacific Division playoff race.
"I like that we keep that, we kind of feel our groove and our style of play has kicked in, and I think since we’ve been back from the (February break), every night we’ve pushed guys on a few things and it’s clicking and it’s working," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "Like I told the guys, you stay humble, you stay hungry, but you have to realize when you do things right, obviously not everything in your game is perfect. I think in the third period we had some good teaching lessons there, which is always good. As a coach, we reset and we go back tomorrow, but I liked the way that we handled some of the key moment in the game."
Jacob Perreault, Greg Printz and Nikolas Brouillard scored for the Gulls, who remain undefeated against the Silver Knights this season. Goaltender Lukas Dostal stopped 22 shots for his 15th win of the season and fifth against Henderson.
Paul Dorofeyev scored for Henderson, who lost for the seventh time in the last eight games. Jiri Patera suffered a third consecutive loss to the Gulls, making 22 saves.
Perreault opened the scoring with 5:19 remaining in the opening period.
"Yeah, I mean it’s huge," Perreault said of his 10th goal of the season. "Obviously, Bo (Benoit-Olivier Groulx) did a good job in the corner. He brought the puck to the net and, honestly, I just saw that and just tried to go to the net and hoping for something good. It turned out I got the best of it, so I was pretty happy after that."
Perreault continues his recent scoring surge, collecting his sixth point (2-4=6) in his last six games. Alex Limoges picked up his sixth assist in the last five games, while Groulx recorded his sixth point (3-3=6) in his last six games.
"Honestly, I think we just got chemistry," Perreault said of his line. "We all see the ice pretty well, so we try to move the puck as much as possible, stay in movement. Yeah, I mean, it’s hard to tell but we got a lot of like different skills and we can all can use each other to make plays and all of that. So, I’ve been liking this line a lot."
Scoring the first goal remains a significant advantage for the Gulls. who moved to 19-9-0-0 when opening the scoring.
"Yeah, I feel like once you get the first goal it opens up a lot of room on the ice because the other team tries to score a goal to get back at you," Perreault explained. "With vice versa, once they score the first goal they kind of shut down. You got less plays to make. So, getting the first goal is huge for us and it kind of shows in the last couple games."
Dostal made a stellar save to keep San Diego in the lead, shutting down Reid Duke early in the second period.
With Henderson on a power play, Paul Cotter controlled the puck, carrying it in on the blue line. His cross-ice pass found Duke, who quickly shoveled the puck toward the net. Dostal met his chance, sliding across the crease to smother the puck into his chest.
Printz doubled San Diego's lead with 9:06 remaining in the period.
Brogan Rafferty and Lucas Elvenes worked a give-and-go along the side boards, with the Swedish forward carrying the puck deeper into the offensive zone. His pass to the slot found Printz, who slammed the puck past Patera for his eighth goal of the season.
It marked the second time in the game San Diego established inside position and converted, scoring the "greasy goal" coaches love at this time of the year.
"You like to play on the inside, as we say it," Bouchard said. "And it used to be a lot of that and obviously, the game has got somehow a different way, but there’s still you get to the playoff or get deep into the season, there’s still that way of getting those hard goals and those goals way inside and converging to the net. So, offense comes from all different ways. I think we’ve got better in some of the strategy we brought, but that strategy is always a good one."
Brouillard extended the Gulls lead to three, getting the bounce off a Henderson stick for a shorthanded tally with 1:13 left in the second.
Bryce Kindopp carried the puck out of his defensive zone, leading a 3-on-2 rush into Henderson's end. The center found Brouillard to his left, and the defenseman fired a wrist shot toward the net. Colt Conrad tried to bat the puck down, but the Silver Knights center deflected it past Patera and into his own net.
With the goal, Brouillard extended his point streak to four games. He's averaged a point-per-game over that stretch (4-2=6) and leads all American Hockey League defensemen with 12 goals.
"I put the bar high on every detail and it’s demanding at the beginning of the year, but as you can see, things like sticks and angling and stuff…and then when you get to the PK (penalty kill) when you’re a man short, those things are important," Bouchard explained when asked about the special teams. "I like our aggressiveness, our trigger points when we know when it’s time to go."
Dorofeyev broke Henderson's goose egg, pulling the Silver Knights within two at 3:57 of the period. The team's leading scorer carried the puck in on a 2-on-1 rush, beating Dostal with a wrist shot for his 22nd goal of the season.
Tensions rose as the third period continued - and as San Diego kept Henderson off the board. With tomorrow marking three games in four nights between the two opponents, a focus on discipline is key for tomorrow's matchup at Orleans Arena.
"The emotion is like playoffs," Bouchard said. "You play that same team and you know, you win two so we expect them to come out really hard tomorrow at home. It’s that fine line where you still want the guys to protect each other, to stick together, but to not get overboard and still play within the concept and with the scoreboard and stuff, which I think our guys did good."