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AHL San Diego Gulls

Gulls Clinch Season Series over Henderson

March 19, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls defeated the Henderson Silver Knights 3-1 Friday night at Pechanga Arena San Diego to earn their fourth-straight victory and seventh win in their last 10 games (7-3-0). The victory marks the Gulls fifth of the season against the Silver Knights (5-0-0) to claim the season series, while outscoring Henderson 24-7 in the first five contests.

Jacob Perreault opened the scoring with his 10th goal of the season for points in back-to-back games and now has 2-6=8 points over his last 10 contests.

Greg Printz scored his eighth goal of the season at 10:54 of the second period for his team leading third game-winning goal of the season. Lucas Elvenes registered the primary assist on the play for assists in back-to-back games, marking his fourth point against Henderson in as many matchups (1-3=4)

Nikolas Brouillard extended his point streak into a fourth game (4-2=6) with his 12th goal of the season to now lead all AHL defensemen in goal scoring while ranking tied for eighth in points (34). Brouillard leads the Gulls in assists and points, and ranks tied for second in goals with 12-22=34 points.

Benoit-Olivier Groulx, Bryce Kindopp, Alex Limoges and Brogan Rafferty each earned assists. Groulx has collected 4-4=8 points over his last eight games. Kindopp's helper marks 1-2=3 points in his last three games. Limoges has assists in consecutive games and 4-6=10 points in his last 10 outings.

Lukas Dostal stopped 22-of-23 shots for his third consecutive victory and his 15th win of the season. Dostal improved to 5-0-0 with one shutout against Henderson this season, while posting a 1.40 GAA and a .950 SV% in five starts. Since Jan. 7, Dostal has posted an 10-4-0 record with two shutouts, a 2.15 goals-against average and .936 save percentage to lead all AHL goaltenders (min. 500 minutes played) in SV%, while ranking fourth in GAA, tied for third in shutouts and tied for fifth in wins.

The Gulls and Silver Knights continue their four-game, mid-March series tomorrow, Mar. 19 at Orleans Arena (7 p.m.).

POSTGAME QUOTES

San Diego Gulls

Head Coach Joel Bouchard

On what stood out to him about tonight's win:

I like that we keep that, we kind of feel our groove and our style of play has kicked in, and I think since we've been back from the (February break), every night we've pushed guys on a few things and it's clicking and it's working. Like I told the guys, you stay humble, you stay hungry, but you have to realize when you do things right, obviously not everything in your game is perfect. I think in the third period we had some good teaching lessons there, which is always good. As a coach, we reset and we go back tomorrow, but I liked the way that we handled some of the key moment in the game.

On the key to the team's success on the penalty kill:

First of all, it starts with the goaltender. We're going to give a few shots, it's going to happen so the goaltending has been good and then I think that, one of the things we ask is that engagement of details and I felt it's normal- new coaching staff, new high demand- I told you I'm demanding. I put the bar high on every detail and it's demanding at the beginning of the year, but as you can see, things like sticks and angling and stuff...and then when you get to the pk (penalty kill) when you're a man short, those things are important. I like our aggressiveness, our trigger points when we know when it's time to go. That being said, it's always to start all over again the next day.

On scoring goals in "greasy" areas of the ice:

Yeah, you like them. You like to play on the inside, as we say it. And it used to be a lot of that and obviously, the game has got somehow a different way, but there's still you get to the playoff or get deep into the season, there's still that way of getting those hard goals and those goals way inside and converging to the net. So, offense comes from all different ways. I think we've got better in some of the strategy we brought, but that strategy is always a good one.

On how the team needs to manage their rivalry with this team tomorrow:

I think you're right. The emotion is like playoffs. You play that same team and you know, you win two so we expect them to come out really hard tomorrow at home. It's that fine line where you still want the guys to protect each other, to stick together, but to not get overboard and still play within the concept and with the scoreboard and stuff, which I think our guys did good.

Jacob Perreault

On scoring goals in the "greasy" areas:

Yeah, I mean it's huge. Obviously, Bo (Benoit-Olivier Groulx) did a good job in the corner. He brought the puck to the net and, honestly, I just saw that and just tried to go to the net and hoping for something good. It turned out I got the best of it, so I was pretty happy after that.

On the success of his line with Groulx and Alex Limoges:

I don't know. Honestly, I think we just got chemistry. We all see the ice pretty well, so we try to move the puck as much as possible, stay in movement. Yeah, I mean, it's hard to tell but we got a lot of like different skills and we can all can use each other to make plays and all of that. So, I've been liking this line a lot.

On the secret to their success against Henderson this season:

Yeah, I feel like the whole team we've been buzzing a lot. So, our feet are moving, we're making plays, our zone entries are really good, our breakouts, we're working harder than the other team I feel like. We're a skilled team, so once we work hard and outwork the other team there's good chance of winning the game.

On scoring the first goal of a game:

Yeah, I feel like once you get the first goal it opens up a lot of room on the ice because the other team tries to score a goal to get back at you. With vice versa, once they score the first goal they kind of shut down. You got less plays to make. So, getting the first goal is huge for us and it kind of shows in the last couple games.

On playing Henderson tomorrow for a third matchup in four nights:

You know, obviously, today I was trying to be a little bit more physical, I got two penalties, but tomorrow I'll try to do the same just without the penalties. Our whole team has been really good playing physically and with speed. I feel like we're doing pretty good right now.

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