2021-2022 Game 41: San Diego Gulls @ Henderson Silver Knights

Playing the second game of a record eight game span of road-games, the Gulls headed into Nevada for a back to back against the Henderson Silver Knights, a game with a grudge for both Danny O’Regan and Lucas Elvenes as former Henderson outcasts.

With Greg Pateryn coming back from Anaheim – Nik Brouillard was moved back up to forward while strangely Brayden Tracey was taken out – I will try find more detail on that later. Lukas Dostal was given his fifth start after coming in relief of Eriksson Ek against the Reign in the last game.

First Period:

The Silver Knights hard and heavy forecheck gave the Gulls fits within the first few minutes of action as they created back to back high danger chances by causing turnovers after punishing hits down-low. Lukas Dostal stood firm and turned aside both and as play went the other way, a nice shift from Brouillard and Danny O’Regan resulted in the later getting to a loose puck in the high slot, turning and firing a high shot over Henderson goaltender Jiri Patera through traffic. 1-0 Gulls.

Moments later Jacob Perreault drew a call in the Henderson zone when he was high sticked coming out of the corner and once again O’Regan made his former team pay, this time on the Power Play. Right off the face-off he was there to grab a rebound after a point-shot from Greg Pateryn was stopped but directed into the slot where he pounced. 2-0 Gulls.

Henderson picked up their physical game after the midway point of the period but the Gulls responded with poise and speed to escape from their heavy forecheck while moving the puck back up ice.

The Silver Knights did slowly turn the shot counter in their direction and by periods end it was 9-7 for the home-team with San Diego taking a 2-0 lead into the first intermission thanks to a great start from Danny O’Regan.

Second Period: San Diego Gulls 2 – Henderson Silver Knights 0

San Diego appeared to have the better of the start to the second period but the Officials deemed it worthy to not give the home team a penalty when Greg Printz was tripped on a partial break and instead later give him a minor for cross checking on the same shift.

On the resulting Power Play the Silver Knights caught the Gulls unawares on some poor man to man coverage as a stretch pass to Gage Quinney sent him in all alone on Dostal. The Czech native had no chance on his perfect snap shot placed high over his shoulder. 2-1 Gulls.

Henderson smelled blood and sent everything they had at the Gulls, causing the Officials to call another penalty as Brogan Rafferty was found guilty of hooking to prevent a scoring opportunity. This time the Gulls stayed tight on defense and killed the minor with only a few concerns caused by some pure individual brilliance by Pavel Dorofeyev.

The Gulls settled things down and started to turn the momentum by spending some sustained attack in the Henderson zone. On one such shift – a very good one from both Jacob Perreault and Lucas Elvenes resulted in a Gulls Power Play when Elvenes was hooked trying to find some separation at the nearside boards.

Henderson almost caught the Gulls out once again with an opportune pass that got behind the defence but Lukas Dostal was able to skate out and get to the puck in time, before opting to play it. San Diego automatically counter-attacked and as they set up in the Henderson zone, Vinni Lettieri spotted Alex Limoges perfectly positioned to the side of the Silver-Knights net. The former Hartford leading scorer sending a great shot-pass toward Limoges who simply had to shift his stick-blade to deflect it into the Henderson net. 3-1 Gulls.

Despite Henderson attempting a weak response after the goal the remainder of the period was all Gulls as they broke even in shots and headed to the second intermission once again up by two, with shots 17-17 a piece. The shot map backing up what had looked like another great period from the Gulls.

Third Period: San Diego Gulls 3 – Henderson Silver Knights 1

San Diego continued their almost flawless road effort to start the third by creating havoc in the Henderson zone then drawing a call as a combination of Badini, Lettieri and Drew won puck battles and sent shots on Patera. Their onslaught only stopped when Drew was deemed to have been tripped near the side of the Henderson net when trying to get to a loose puck.

Henderson were able to kill the minor with San Diego spending the majority of it in their zone and as play returned to five on five they drew a call of their own on Brent Gates. This time the Silver Knights stayed in the San Diego zone for much if not all of the penalty and threw everything they could at Dostal but the Gulls second year net-minder stayed on his game and let nothing get by him during the sequence.

Again the Gulls quelled the Henderson momentum swing and shifted things back the other way, quietly and surely occupying their zone to wind down the clock while also keeping possession. Alex Limoges once again reaped the benefits of positioning himself to the side of the net when he collected a rebound from a point shot and quickly deposited the puck by the sprawling Henderson net-minder. 4-1 Gulls.

The scoring party continued as Lucas Elvenes finished a similar play minutes later, positioned to the side of the net and batting in a rebound from a point shot to make it 5-1 Gulls. Perreault was in the immediate vicinity also.

The Silver Knights best player on the ice all game finally got one back for them as Pavel Dorofeyev one-timed a pass from the very high slot that Dostal got a piece of but could not prevent from trickling behind him. 5-2 Gulls.

Henderson pulled their net minder with just under two minutes to go as San Diego were assessed another penalty when Brogan Rafferty was called for cross-checking but the Gulls withstood their desperate attempt to make a three goal comeback and took the well earned road win.

Post Game Notes:

Deadly Dorofeyev

If you don’t read my stuff or follow me on twitter you may not be aware that I am a huge fan of Dorofeyev and wish the Ducks could some how acquire him. Tonight showed once again how very justified in being a Dorofeyev Stan I am. He was by far and above the best Silver Knight and was on the end of 90% of their high danger chances while creating a good 70% of the others.

Simple Hockey = More Shots = Goals = Win

Who would have thought that by going back to the absolute basics the end result for the Gulls would be success? This was a completely different mentality from what we have seen in recent stretches. The emphasis seemed to be getting the puck in deep, winning it back then feeding the point for a shot with traffic in front. Basic meat and potatoes hockey but it works.

The Bakery Is So Closed

Of course, it didn’t all go to plan quite as perfectly as they might have hoped but when it didn’t – Dostal was there to make the stop (provided it wasn’t a breakaway or hail-mary turn-around shot from the high slot with nothing to lose and traffic in front). He has been an absolute wall lately and is now 0.911 SV% on the season while also bringing is GAA down to an almost respectable 2.65. Not bad considering the Gulls have most probably faced the most shots or are likely up there for having faced the most shots in the league.