March 18, 2022

By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com

The San Diego Gulls make their effort.

Powered by stellar goaltenders and timely scoring, San Diego extended their winning streak to four with a 3-1 win over the Henderson Silver Knights tonight at Pechanga Arena. The win put them within four points of the sixth-placed Silver Knights in an ever-tighter Pacific Division playoff race.

“I like that we’re keeping that, we kind of feel our pace and style of play has kicked in, and I think since we came back from (the February break), every night we’ve been pushing guys on certain things and it clicks and it works,” Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard noted. “Like I said to the guys, you stay humble, you stay hungry, but you have to realize that when you’re doing it right obviously not everything is perfect in your game. I think in the third period we “We had some good teaching lessons there, which is always good. As a coach, we reset and we come back tomorrow, but I liked the way we handled some of the key moments in the game.”

Jacob Perreault, Greg Printz and Nicolas Brouillard scored for the Gulls, who remain unbeaten against the Silver Knights this season. Goalkeeper Lucas Dostal stopped 22 shots for his 15th win of the season and his fifth against Henderson.

Paul Dorofeyev scored for Henderson, who lost for the seventh time in the last eight games. Jiri Patera suffered a third straight loss to the Gulls, making 22 saves.

Perreault opened the scoring with 5:19 left in the first 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 area. He brought the puck to the net and honestly I just saw that and just tried to get to the net hoping for something good. It turned out that I had the best, so I was pretty happy after that.”

Perreault continues his recent surge, picking up his sixth point (2-4=6) in his last six games. Alexandre Limoges collected his sixth assist in the last five games, while Groulx registered his sixth point (3-3=6) in his last six games.

“Honestly, I think we just had chemistry,” Perreault said of his line. “We all see the ice pretty well, so we try to move the puck as much as possible, to keep moving. Yeah, I mean, it’s hard to say, but we have a lot of different skills and we can all use each other to make games and stuff. So, I really liked this line.

Scoring the first goal remains a significant advantage for the Gulls. which moved to 19-9-0-0 when opening the scoring.

“Yeah, I feel like once the first goal is scored, it opens up a lot of space on the ice because the other team is trying to score a goal for revenge,” Perreault explained. “With the reverse, once they score the first goal they sort of stop. You have fewer plays to make. So scoring the first goal is huge for us and it shows in both last games.”

Dostal made a great save to keep San Diego ahead, knocking out Reid Duke early in the second period.

With Henderson on the power play, Paul Cotter controlled the puck, carrying it to the blue line. His cross pass found Duke, who quickly shoveled the puck towards the net. Dostal took his chance, sliding through the crease to smother the puck in his chest.

Printz doubled San Diego’s lead with 9:06 left in the period.

Brogan Rafferty and Lucas Elves worked a back and forth along the side boards, with the Swedish forward carrying the puck deeper into the offensive zone. His pass to the lunge found Printz, who slammed the puck past Patera for his eighth goal of the season.

It was the second time in the game that San Diego established an inside position and converted, scoring the “fat goal” coaches love at this time of year.

“You like to play inside, as they say,” Bouchard said. “And it was a lot of that and obviously the game kind of has a different way but there’s always you get to the playoffs or dive deep into the season there’s always that way of getting those tough goals and those goals way inside and converging towards the net. So the attack comes in different ways. I think we’ve improved in some of the strategies that we’ve brought in, but that strategy is still good.

Brouillard extended the Gulls’ lead to three, getting the rebound off a Henderson stick for a shorthanded count with 1:13 left in the second.

Bryce Kindopp carried the puck out of his defensive zone, leading a 3-on-2 run into Henderson’s zone. The cross found Brouillard to his left and the defender fired a wrist shot towards the net. The Colt Conrad tried to hit the puck, 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 averaged one point per game during that streak (4-2=6) and leads all American Hockey League defensemen with 12 goals.

“I set the bar high on every detail and it’s demanding at the start of the year but as you can see things like poles and angling and all that…and then when you get to the PK (penalty kill) when you’re a Brief, those things are important,” Bouchard explained when asked about special teams. “I like our aggression, our trigger points when you know when it’s it’s time to go.”

Dorofeyev smashed Henderson’s goose egg, drawing the Silver Knights within two at 3:57 of the period. The team’s leading scorer carried the puck on a 2-on-1 run, beating Dostal with a wrist shot for his 22nd goal of the season.

Tensions grew as the third period continued — and San Diego kept Henderson off the board. While tomorrow will mark three games in four nights between the two opponents, the focus on discipline is key for tomorrow’s game at Orleans Arena.

“Emotion is like the playoffs,” said Bouchard. “You play the same team and you know, you win two, so we expect them to come out really strong tomorrow at home. It’s that fine line where you always want guys to protect themselves, to hug each other elbows, but don’t be over the top and still play in the concept and with the scoreboard and everything, which I think our guys did well.”