Gulls Stretch Point Streak To Five In Shootout Loss To Silver Knights
Mar 19, 2022By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
It came down to a shootout in the wild, wild west as the San Diego Gulls fell 4-3 to the Henderson Silver Knights at Orleans Arena in their first loss to the club this season.
Henderson netminder Dillon Kelley, making his American Hockey League debut, carried his team to its shootout victory. The rookie goaltender made 25 saves throughout regulation and overtime before stopping all three attempts in the shootout. Silver Knights’ leading scorer Pavel Dorofeyev netted the game-winning shootout tally.
"We could have won this game," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "The guys did really well. And then you go into shootout and, you know, it’s just what it is. I think it’s one of those games where you take it, you pack your stuff and go home and just gonna reset and go."
Despite the loss, San Diego earned points in five straight games (4-0-0-1) and defenseman Trevor Carrick registered his fifth multi-point effort (1-1=2) of the season.
Jonas Rondbjerg scored the first goal of the game, giving Henderson its first lead over the Gulls this season halfway into the initial period. Henderson capitalized on a loose puck in front, with Rondbjerg sliding a shot past Olle Eriksson Ek to give the Silver Knights the 1-0 lead.
Later in the period, Eriksson Ek ensured the deficit remained one with an impressive right-pad save on Dorofeyev, sliding across his crease to deny a one-timed shot from the slot..
The Gulls offense refused to stay quiet, breaking out for three second-period goals – including two on the power play – to tie a season-high for goals in the middle frame.
"I know how they are doing in their PK (penalty kill) and all that from playing here," Gulls center Lucas Elvenes said. "No, it’s good. If you’ve got confidence, it’s always going good and all that stuff and happy we scored. What is it? Three goals today, maybe? We’ve just got to keep that. Like let’s go, keep that going with the p-per (power play) and we’ll hopefully win games with that."
Alex Limoges cracked the Gulls’ goose egg with their first power-play goal, tying the game at one at 8:20 of the period.
Limoges maneuvered along the blueline to keep the puck in the Silver Knights zone, dishing it over to Nikolas Brouillard, His point shot hit a skate in the slot, and found Limoges, who then buried his next attempt.
The Virginia native leads the Gulls with eight power-play goals and is tied for the team lead with 13 goals this season. The tally 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.
Brouillard pushed his point streak to five games (4-3=7) and continues to lead the Gulls in assists (23) and scoring (35), while Jacob Perreault, who grabbed the secondary assist on the goal, has 2-5=7 points in his last eight outings.
"I thought the guys battled hard, to be honest," Bouchard said. "I thought the second period was good and even the third…it’s not like we totally packed it in."
Carrick capitalized on the Gulls’ next power play for his ninth goal of the season.
The defenseman swooped in on a Henderson clearing attempt and carried the puck to the low slot, where he sniped the puck past Kelley.
Carrick would help the Gulls collect their third goal of the period, sending a shot off Kelly and into the corner later in the frame. Danny O’Regan picked up the puck, with the center’s pass deflectingoff the skate of Henderson’s Ben Jones to an open Bryce Kindopp. He drilled the puck past Kelley and increased the Gulls lead to 3-1 with his ninth goal of the season.
Kindopp has points in back-to-back games (1-1=2) and 2-2=4 points in his last four matches, while Carrick now ranks fourth among AHL defensemen and second on the Gulls in goals (9). He also sits second among Gulls blueliners in points (22).
This is the second time in three games the Gulls scored two goals on the manadvantage. Additionally, San Diego is 4-for-12 (33.3%) in its current four-game stint against the Silver Knights.
However, Henderson was determined not to go away quietly as Dorofeyev brought the score within one at 2:05 of the third period, earning goals in back-to-back games against the Gulls (2-0=2).
"Of course it’s frustrating that we couldn’t score a goal in the third and we let two goals in, but we’re playing against them on Tuesday again so we’ve just got to forget this game and be ready for Tuesday," Elvenes said.
The Silver Knights took advantage of this momentum and erased the Gulls’ lead as Jake Leschyshyn tied the game at three with a tip-in off a shot from Rondbjerg. Both Leschyshyn (1-1=2) and Rondbjerg (-1=2) posted multi-point efforts with the play.
"I think Olle (Eriksson Ek) was solid for us too," Bouchard said. "A tough play, like a tip shot from one hand and then a scramble and an open net on the other side and that’s always just…like you said, you know it’s a 3-3 game. It could have went either way. Was it our best game overall over 60 minutes? No. Is there a couple play we’d like back? Yes. But I don’t think it was a disaster. I think we still stay with our principle. It was just, maybe a lack of chemistry and a couple things happening here and there. So we use tomorrow to reset and we’ll go back at it."
The two teams would fail to find a solution in regulation and overtime, with Kelley making several quality stops on a Gulls’ power-play chance in the extra session.
The efforts of O’Regan, Perreault and Benoit-Olivier Groulx couldn’t solve Kelley in the shootout, but the Gulls will soon have another chance as the clubs will conclude their four-game series on Mar. 22 at Pechanga Arena San Diego.