After dropping their first meeting, Coach Kevin Dineen made some changes to his roster. Taking out Matt Lorito and inserting defender Nikolas Brouillard at forward. Alex Dostie was moved up to the vet line to take Lorito’s spot while Morand centered both Hunter Drew and Brouillard on the fourth line. On defense Keegan Lowe was reunited with Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Carrick placed with Brendan Guhle.
It wasn’t the start the Gulls had hoped for or anticipated as the hosts spent the first four minutes hemming them in their zone and eventually opening the scoring by purely overwhelming the San Diego net. 1-0 Silver Knights.
San Diego attempted a mild push back but swiftly found themselves unable to find any space or clear passing lanes as Henderson continued to pressure. The best opportunities for the period coming from the Morand-paired-with-two-defensemen line as they buzzed and crashed the Henderson net. Unfortunately that line appeared to also have the most difficulty getting out of the Gulls zone.
The opening period ending with the hosts up 1-0 and ahead in shots 10-7, I am pretty sure all three of those net front opportunities seen below came from the Morand line.
Just as I was wondering if we would see the Gulls Power Play tonight (and if it would feature Brouillard) Jamie Drysdale took a stick up high in his own end to give the Gulls their first man advantage of the game.
Neither unit featured Brouillard but they did generate some better chances against the Silver Knights as compared to the previous encounter.
Henderson were able to kill the minor but the Gulls carried the much needed added possession forward and earned another Power Play through some sustained pressure in the Silver Knights zone.
San Diego came close with both of their extra man units but could not solve Dansk and then matters were made worse when Perreault and Guhle took penalties in succession to put the Gulls down two men. Perreault’s call was more than a little harsh – I didn’t see the infraction and all I know is the end result was him lying face down on the ice.
None the less the Silver Knights wasted no time on the five on three, sweeping the puck around and easily splitting the Gulls three man triangle to go up 2-0.
The Gulls were awarded their own brief five on three moments later as Antoine Morand drew back to back penalties (Drink x2) and broke through thanks to a Kodie Curran one-timer that was deflected by Chase De Leo enroute. 2-1 Silver Knights.
But the Silver Knights regained their two goal lead as they broke in on a three on two rush and Dostal had a slap-shot squeak through his five hole and trickle over the line. 3-1 Silver Knights.
Trevor Carrick was assessed a slashing minor at the same time that Nik Broillard and Lucas Elvenes dropped the gloves for a quick tussle (quick because Brouillard dropped him with two rapid rabbit punches) and the Gulls went back to the penalty kill.
Able to escape the minor without incident thanks in part to some strong work from Morand and Groulx the Gulls looked to get back on the attack but ran out of time as the period came to a close. San Diego heading to the second intermission down 3-1 but ahead in shots 21-16. The shot map showing the much improved form from San Diego in the middle frame.
San Diego came out with their best start to a third period this season as they kept the Silver Knights trapped in their zone and continued to run up the shot total. But their momentum was halted by back to back penalties to Sam Carrick and then Brendan Guhle.
The Gulls dispatched with the infractions and headed to a brief four on four and then Power Play as the Silver Knights Jack Dugan was given a slashing and unsportsmanlike call. It was a blink and you miss it goal as BO Groulx won an offensive zone face-off back to Trevor Carrick who fed Jamie Drysdale in space – the rookie defenders wrist shot beating Dansk clean to bring the Gulls back within one on the four on four.
San Diego made a valiant effort to try to tie things up but ultimately ran out of time as the hosts skated away with back to back wins and handed the Gulls their third straight road loss.
Post Game Notes:
Motor Morand
It has been a hot minute since I last salivated over my home boy Morand so let me preach some more. The Gulls played a great team game tonight – no single player stood out as having a glaring mistake nor did any really stand out as being a star player. They were simply beat by a better team. That said, Antoine Morand was the best Gull out there tonight. He was instrumental in shifting momentum in the Gulls favor with drawing calls. He was a pest on the forecheck as always, looked good on the Power Play and excellent on the Penalty Kill. To top it all off, he was paired with two defenders and still made the line look good. It is about time he started getting more recognition.
Vet Line MIA
It was obvious the Gulls would miss Zegras but its pretty clear they are missing Lettieri too. I thought the Vet line would cover up any offensive woes but they have struggled without Lettieri. In the last two games all of the Gulls scoring have come from either their rookies (Kindopp, Groulx, Drysdale) or the “OG Vet Gulls” (De Leo). This three game stand in Henderson was always going to be tough but its even harder when your big guns aren’t firing.
Who Is Hurt?
It’s hard to get injury updates in the AHL and its a lot of guess work to figure out why Defencemen are being deployed as forwards. I am going to go ahead and assume that Jack Badini and Max Golod are out with medium to long-term injuries but then again – Coach Dineen did willingly swap out a veteran scoring forward for a defencemen tonight so it really is hard to know.
Viva Las Loud And Obnoxious
I guess it is only fitting that the Silver Knights goal horn is so loud and obnoxious that it breaks the sound levels on AHL TV’s audio output and can probably be heard from Space. It is Vegas after-all. I also get that as fan of a franchise formerly owned by Disney that I have no leg to stand on when I critique matters of taste related to a hockey team but:
A. Those helmets are horrible and I have now taken to calling Henderson the Daft Punk Tribute Band Knights.
B. If you want the rest of the league to take you seriously as a hockey team maybe don’t have your goals announced in a Monty Python style.
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