LIVE: Gulls Push Win Streak To Four
Mar 18, 2022By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls defeated the Henderson Silver Knights 3-1 in tonight's game at Pechanga Arena San Diego.
The win - San Diego's fourth straight - pulls them within four points of the sixth-place Silver Knights in the heated Pacific Division playoff race.
Jacob Perreault, Greg Printz and Nikolas Brouillard (SHG) all scored for the Gulls, leading the team to a fifth straight win over Henderson. Goaltender Lukas Dostal stopped SHOTS for his 15th win of the season.
Third Period Recap
Paul 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.
Second Period Recap
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 Henderson goaltender Jiri Patera for his eighth goal of the season.
Elvenes, the former Silver Knight, has 1-3=4 points against his old team.
Brouillard extended the Gulls lead to three, getting the bounce off a Henderson stick with 1:13 left in the second.
With his team shorthanded, 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.
First Period Recap
Perreault opened the scoring with 5:19 remaining in the opening period.
Alex Limoges took the puck from the corner and cut hard toward the net, creating a mass of bodies in front of Henderson goaltender Jiri Patera. Perreault found the loose puck, moving it to his forehand and lifting it into the net for his 10th goal of the season.
Perreault continues his recent scoring surge, collecting his sixth point (2-4=6) in his last six games. Limoges picked up his sixth assist in the last five games, while Groulx has his sixth point (3-3=6) in his last six games.
Patera entered tonight with a 6-8-0 record, a 2.91 GAA and .902 SV%. The rookie goaltender has lost his last four starts, posting a 4.10 GAA and a .823 SV%. In two starts against the Gulls this season, Patera is 0-2-0 with a 5.59 GAA and .771 SV%.
Opposing him is Dostal, who stopped all four shots he saw in the opening period. San Diego's goaltender is 14-10-0 with two shutouts, a 2.58 goals-against average (GAA) and .918 save percentage (SV%). He's started four games against Henderson this season, going undefeated with a 1.50 GAA and .949 SV% against his division foe.