Lukas Dostal Records First AHL Shutout As Gulls Sweep Weekend Series
Feb 26, 2022By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com
Who says the house always wins.
The San Diego Gulls swept a weekend series against the Henderson Silver Knights, taking the second game of a back-to-back series 4-0 today at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The win puts the Gulls three points ahead of the Tucson Roadrunners for the seventh and final playoff spot in the Pacific Division standings.
"Yeah, well it’s one of the good games because we followed the plan," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "I think this is the chemistry you build over weeks and adversity. Coaches, player - finding your groove, finding what gets us successful and I feel this week was a good growing experience for our group. We weren’t happy about last weekend because we felt we could’ve been better and we were short a goal, and I think we came in during the week with a plan and kind of tried to establish our game to another, bring it to another level and I felt we did this this weekend, but you know how it is. We’re going to have to go back and face Colorado and we haven’t beat them yet and this is our challenge. So, yeah, it was good."
Jacob Larsson led the offense, recording the first multi-goal performance of his American Hockey League career (2-0=2) in the win. Bryce Kindopp collected two assists (0-2=2) while nine other Gulls found the scoresheet.
"Had a little bit of luck, I would say," Larsson said about his performance. "Got lucky there coming out of the penalty box, came up, makes a nice play and scored so a little lucky bounce there and the second goal is I was just trying to get it on net and it goes in so it’s a little bit of a lucky night for me."
The offense supported Lukas Dostal, who stopped all 27 shots he faced for the first shutout of his American Hockey League career. The Czechia native became the youngest Gulls goaltender to blank an opponent at 21 years, eight months and five days. In addition, it marks San Diego’s first shutout win since Mar. 2, 2019 at Stockton (3-0, Jeff Glass – 20 saves).
"He’s a good goalie," Bouchard said. "He’s a guy that you know, is very professional about the game and the thing with Lucas - the adversity this year was everything that happened with COVID and called-up and taxi squad and he played some good games in the NHL and he played some good games in the AHL, but just didn’t have the amount of starts that you would have liked him to have before Christmas and it’s nobody’s fault. It’s just the reality of pro hockey. So, now we’ve been working with him and Jeff is doing a good job to get him into a rhythm and he’s comfortable in net, that’s for sure."
Dylan Ferguson stopped 18 shots in the loss as Henderson lost for the fourth time in its last five games.
Dostal made an immediate impact, stopping a high-quality scoring chance early into regulation. With Larsson in the box on a tripping minor, Henderson went to work. Jake Leschyshyn took a puck at the post, sending a spinning backhand pass across the crease to a cutting Sven Baertschi. The left wing shoveled his attempt on net, but Dostal slid across his crease to block the attempt and smother the puck.
Larsson atoned for his penalty, opening the scoring just seconds after his penalty expired.
San Diego killed off the man advantage, with Kindopp finding Larsson streaking free from the box. The Swedish defenseman moved in alone on Ferguson, momentarily losing the puck before collecting it and sending his shot past the Henderson netminder for the goal.
The score remained the same until the second period, where Alex Limoges would strike early to extend the lead to two.
An effective forecheck led to the goal, as Kindopp and Jacob Perreault forced a turnover in the corner of the Henderson zone. Perreault's pass found a streaking Limoges, who tucked a backhand shot through the legs of Ferguson for his team-leading 11th goal of the season.
Limoges - who collected two goals in last night's win – led all skaters with three goals in the weekend series.
Kindopp collected his second assist, matching a season-high for helpers in a game. Perreault, who ended a five-game pointless drought last night, recorded points in both games of the weekend series.
Greg Printz pushed the lead to three with 4:32 left in the period.
Trevor Carrick thwarted a Henderson odd-man rush at his blue line, sending a pass to Lucas Elvenes for a rush opportunity. The former Silver Knight carried it over the blue line on a 2-on-1 opportunity, sending a hard wrist shot off the blocker of Ferguson. The Henderson goalie couldn't corral the rebound and Printz converted, pushing the puck past the desperate Ferguson for his seventh goal of the season.
Elvenes continued to haunt his former team, collecting a point in both games of this weekend series.
Larsson scored his second goal of the game, pushing the Gulls lead to four at 3:13 of the final frame.
Danny O'Regan won an offensive zone faceoff, guiding the puck to Larsson at the point. The Swedish defenseman sent a floating shot through traffic and past the stunned Dylan Ferguson for the first multi-goal performance of his American Hockey League career.
"Yeah, it was good and Larsson scoring a couple of goals - that’s always fun for guys that defends really hard," Bouchard said. "A defensemen like Larsson is obviously a guy that sometimes goes under the radar and then he gets to score that goal. No, it was fun to see him score, but it was big for us."
O'Regan, the former Silver Knight, collected his fourth point (2-2=4) of the weekend series.
The Gulls would close the game with little fanfare, holding the Silver Knights to eight shots in the final frame. Dostal picked up his sixth win in his last 10 games, posting a 1.65 goals-against average (GAA) and a .950 save percentage (SV%).
"We turned him loose a little bit there," Bouchard said on giving his goalie both starts over the weekend series. "Like I said, he didn’t have as many starts as he should have. Want to put him in a situation where AHL, NHL you’re going to have to play back-to-back for different reasons. Playoffs or a push at the end of the season for a championship or something to put yourself in the playoff in a good position. So, it’s just mileage.
"You have to remember he’s a second-year pro and last year was a short season. So, every time we can give experience to a player, and he deserves it too, and you know, we like Olle (Eriksson Ek). Olle is working with Jeff right now, he’s going to get back, but we felt that Dos - it’s a good mileage for him."
San Diego will look to take this momentum and bring it into three games against the Colorado Eagles in Loveland, CO, starting Wednesday at 6:05 p.m. PT.
"It’s huge for our group," Larsson said. "I mean we’ve been having a little bit of up and down the whole season so coming in here, two games, like you said in like twenty hours or so, it’s huge for us. Have a nice bus ride home now to have relax time and have a fun time together. So, it means a lot to us. We have a big weekend coming up, a big week coming up next week. Colorado - three games, I think, so we’re feeling good right now and we’re going to take that with us to next week."