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AHL San Diego Gulls

San Diego Blanks Henderson 7-0

November 9, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls earned their first shutout of the 2022-23 season tonight at The Dollar Loan Center, besting the Silver Knights 7-0 to tie the franchise's American Hockey League record for the largest margin of victory (last: Jan. 25, 2017 at TUC). The Gulls earned standings points in a fifth straight game at The Dollar Loan Center (3-0-0-2). San Diego also improved its record to 4-7-0-0 overall and 3-4-0-0 on the road.

Lukas Dostal made 28 saves for the third shutout of his AHL career (also: 4-0 win on Feb. 26, 2022 at HSK and a 3-0 win on Mar.11, 2022 at BAK), tying Reto Berra for the most shutouts in franchise history. The netminder's 28 saves also represent the most he's made in a shutout. In his last eight starts against the Silver Knights dating back to 2021-22, Dostal backstopped the Gulls to a 7-0-0-1 record for an impressive 1.25 goals against average (GAA) and a .958 save percentage (SV%).

Rocco Grimaldi posted a four-point effort (1-3=4), bringing his season total to a team-leading 4-9=13 points. The output marks the second four-point game of his AHL career (last: Dec. 9, 2015 vs. SPR with POR), and the three assists ties a career high for assists in a single game (three additional times, last: Feb. 2, 2022 at MB with MIL). The Rossmoor, California native is averaging over a point-per-game through 10 games in a Gulls sweater, ranking first on the team in points, tying for the team lead in goals and ranking second in assists.

Benoit Olivier-Groulx scored two goals, earning his first multi-goal game of the season (2-0=2) and tying a career high for goals in a single game (two additional times, last: Mar. 12, 2022 vs ONT). Groulx is tied for the team lead in goals and is also averaging a point-per-game with 3-4=7 points in his last seven games.

Justin Kirkland recorded 1-2=3 points in the contest, tying a career high for points earned in a single game (three additional times, last: Apr. 10, 2022 with STK).

Danny O'Regan registered a two-point game, earning a goal an and assist (1-1=2). O'Regan's 10 assists this season lead the Gulls and marks the third time the center collected 10 or more assists in an 11-game span in his AHL career (last: 11 assists in 11 games from Jan. 12 - Feb. 23, 2018 with SJ).

Pavol Regenda extended the first point streak of his AHL career to four games (2-2=4) with an assist, while Jacob Perreault notched his third tally of the season for goals in back-to-back games (2-0=2).

Drew Helleson scored the first goal of his AHL career, while Jarod Hilderman (0-1=1) earned an assist for the first point of his professional career.

Nikolas Brouillard contributed an assist, bringing his season tally to 3-8=11 to rank tied for third in goals and points among AHL defensemen (as of Nov. 8). The St. Hillaire, Quebec native is also tied for second on the Gulls in points.

Josh Lopina (0-1=1) and Brayden Tracey (0-1=1) also recorded assists in the victory.

San Diego matched a season high by killing seven penalties, marking the third time in four games the Gulls were perfect on the penalty kill (21-for-22). In their last seven games, the Gulls have killed 30 of their opponents' 32 opportunities on the man-advantage (93.8%). At the conclusion of tonight's game, the team's penalty kill ranked sixth in the AHL, fifth in the Western Conference and third in the Pacific Division with an 86.0% overall success rate (43-for-50).

The Gulls return home to Pechanga Arena San Diego for Military Appreciation Night on Friday, Nov. 11 against the Bakersfield Condors (7 p.m. PT).

POSTGAME QUOTES

Gulls defenseman Drew Helleson

On how it feels to get his first career AHL goal:

For sure. It felt good and for some reason there, I couldn't get one to go (in) for a long time there. Hopefully, when it rains, it pours here.

On how the team generated its offense:

I mean, we felt the last few games we've been trending in the right direction. So, it felt good. We kind of felt we deserved to at least get one of those against Milwaukee so to finally score some goals and like you said, break out, it feels good and hopefully, we can keep that going.

On Lukas Dostal earning a shutout:

The goalies have been playing great. We just haven't given them any goal support, which, I feel bad, but hopefully, we can keep this going, like I said.

On if this win will provide momentum for the two games this weekend:

For sure. The vibes in the locker room are great and you know, we've got a long bus ride back and then a recovery day and then let's get back on the horse again against Bakersfield.

Gulls head coach Roy Sommer

On the win over Henderson:

It was a good way to come out a slump. We knew it was there. I've kind of been talking about it, we've been doing a lot of good things, like cleaned up our d(efensive) zone and neutral zone and started to get a little offense. We were getting good looks and we ran into hot goaltenders and, tonight, the floodgates opened for us.

On what the offensive outburst means for the team:

I think it's good for their confidence. I think practice is going to be better. It just shows we're capable of scoring goals. We have goals in that room, we just weren't seeing them. Now maybe guys won't be gripping their sticks so tight and letting it fly.

On Lukas Dostal's shutout:

That's even better. I have to give the guys a lot of credit, came down at the end and they got in front of some pucks and continued to work on it. They weren't cheating and trying to get goals, they were working for their goaltender, which was good to see.

On how the win shows the separation of teams near the bottom of the division:

We've been playing pretty good hockey; we just weren't getting rewarded with any wins. If you play the right way, sooner or later it's going to turn around. Hopefully tonight, that's what happened.

Check out the San Diego Gulls Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from November 9, 2022


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