PREVIEW: Gulls To Host Henderson Silver Knights For First Time In San Diego
Nov 10, 2021By Paige Burnell/SanDiegoGulls.com
The Henderson Silver Knights are coming to town, but it’s the San Diego Gulls who plan on defending their castle in their first matchup of the season against the Silver Knights tonight at 7 p.m. PT (TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
The Gulls did not fare well against the newcomer Silver Knights last season with an overall record of 1-4-1-0. This season, the Gulls have a 2-5-0-0 record ahead of playing the Silver Knights and are currently ninth in the AHL’s Pacific Division. The Silver Knights are off to a respectable 5-3-1-0 start to the season, placing them third in Pacific Division and fourth in the Western Conference.
The Gulls are going to utilize their own defensive systems as the method of obtaining the results they want against the Silver Knights on both ends of the ice.
“When we’re tight on the other team and we’re closing quick, I think that’s when we have a lot of success,” Greg Pateryn said. “A lot of our offensive opportunities are going to start from playing well in the d-zone and I think the better we get at that, the more opportunities we’re going to get on the other end.”
In the Gull’s most recent match on Nov. 6 against the Colorado Eagles, the team rallied late and scored two unanswered goals to turn what was a 3-0 shutout into a one-goal game.
“I thought the second game, especially, against Colorado, we had ten minutes where we kind of stopped playing a little bit and we were watching more,” Assistant Coach Max Talbot said. “So, I’d like for us to have a 60-minute effort from the start to the end and be committed to doing the right thing, the same things and see where it goes.”
Nikolas Brouillard netted his first goal of the season in the outing, while Brayden Tracey earned his third assist in four (1-3=4) games on the goal to keep his career-high four-game point streak going strong.
Jacob Perreault also played a major part in this almost-comeback as he revived the Gulls’ power play with his third goal of the season. He is currently riding a career-best four game point streak (2-4=6) and paces San Diego with 3-5=8 points this season. Perreault has also scored a point in every home game this season (1-2=3).
The Gulls broke their five-game scoring streak on the power play on Friday, Nov. 5 against the Bakersfield Condors, but they picked up right where they left off the following day with Perreault’s goal on the man-advantage.
“Even if you’re not getting a goal, just getting the momentum in the game and just really using it to your advantage,” Pateryn said. “I think we’ve done a good job of getting shots and opportunities, and the team on their heels a little bit. So, I think we just continue with that and the pucks will start going in.”
Currently, the Gull’s power play is fourth in the AHL with a 27.6% success rate, while the Silver Knights’ power play is ranked ninth at 23.8%.
However, in the case of the Silver Knights, these numbers are very deceiving.
Over their most recent games against the Tucson Roadrunners, in which they won by scores of 3-0 and 3-2, the Silver Knights scored four power play goals on 10 opportunities for a 40% success rate.
Sven Bärtschi is responsible for two of these power play goals, one of which he scored in overtime in the Silver Knight’s 3-2 win over the Roadrunners on Nov. 6.
Lucas Elvenes notched an assist on this goal in addition to scoring a power play goal of his own on Nov. 5 in the Silver Knights’ definitive 3-0 shutout over the Roadrunners.
Despite the result of the Silver Knights last games, the Gulls are focused on their own game and following through with the systems they’ve put in place.
“I think a lot of it is we focus on what we need to do and we look at the tendencies of the other team,” Pateryn said. “While, also at the same time, we’ve got to play in our structure and play into what our strengths are and do what we do well. At the end of the day, if we do that, then we’ll come out with a win.”
This principle even applies to The Silver Knights’ star goaltender, Logan Thompson.
In his rookie season last year, Thompson was the recipient of the Baz Bastien Award given to the AHL’s most outstanding goaltender and led the league with a 0.943 save percentage (SV%). Additionally, he was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team and the Pacific Division All-Star Team.
In seven games played this season, he is 4-2-1-0 with a 0.914 SV % and 3.06 goals against average (GAA)
The Gulls certainly have work ahead of them as their schedule intensifies starting on Wednesday versus the Silver Knights for the first of three games in four nights.
“For me, a good team is a team that that all push in the same direction and they know what they’re doing and they’re on the same page,” Talbot said. “So, you know, you look at the last weekend and we had a big win and the second game, we came back in a game and the scoring chances against are way better that they were at the start of the year. We’re seeing some improvement and we’ve got to keep doing that.”