March 16, 2022

By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com

The San Diego Gulls beat the Henderson Silver Knights 6-1 tonight at Pechanga Arena.

The victory, a third straight for the Gulls, puts them within six points of the Silver Knights, sixth in the Pacific Division standings. San Diego currently sits in seventh place, five points ahead of eighth-placed San Jose.

Hunter Drew recorded a career-high four points (2-2=4) while Nicolas Brouillard scored three career points (2-1=3) to push San Diego to its third straight win. The offense supported Lucas Dostalwho stopped 34 shots to collect his 14th victory of the season.

Peter DiLiberatore scored the only goal for Henderson, who lost for the sixth time in their last seven games. Goalkeeper Jiri Patera stopped 18 shots to suffer a fourth straight loss.

Third period recap

Fog scored his second goal of the game just 45 seconds into the final period.

Drew picked up a loose puck in the corner of the offensive zone and found Brouillard at the face-off spot. He advanced the puck to the middle of the ice, sending a wrist shot past Patera to score his 11th goal of the season .

Fog (2-1=3) and Drew (1-2=3) both have three-point performances.

Drew scored San Diego’s sixth goal, a power-play tally, with 6:21 left in regulation. The striker crushed the crease, putting a rebound past Patera for his team-leading 13th goal of the season. Alexandre Limoges got an assist on the play, his second point (0-2=2) of the game.

His four points (2-2=4) are a new career high in a single game.

Summary of the second period

Trevor Carrick extended San Diego’s lead to three with a goal at 3:29 of the second quarter.

Limoges carried the puck to the slot, sending a spinning shot just past Patera. Jacob Perreault picked up the puck behind the net and quickly moved it to Carrick, who snuck in from the point and set low in the face-off circle. his eighth goal of the season.

Thanks to his decisive pass on the goal, Limoges collected his fifth point (1-4=5) in his last five games.

DiLiberatore broke San Diego’s long shutout streak with 7:15 left in the second, sending a wrist shot from the point through a masked Dostal. for his third goal of the season.

Fog restored San Diego’s three-goal lead with 5:36 left in the period.

Kodie Curran started the game, clearing the puck past his crease and finding a serial Drew. The winger dashed out of his own area, leading a 2v1 run with Brouillard. Drew threw a pass for his teammate, who tapped it in the air and passed Patera for his 10th goal of the season.

Drew continues his solid game, posting a second consecutive multi-point performance (1-1=2). Brouillard has four points (2-2=4) in its last four games.

Curran (0-2=2) has his third multi-assist game of the season.

Summary of the first period

Drew opened the scoring, sending a wrist shot past Patera just 40 seconds into the game.

The game started with an effective forecheck, as the Gulls cleared the puck deep into Henderson’s end. Fog moved it to Axel Anderson, which found Drew in the middle of the point. The Kingston, Ont., native unleashed a wrist shot, weaving it through traffic past and past the masked Patera for his 12th goal of the year.

Drew has goals in consecutive games and is level with Limoges for the team leader. Brouillard extended his points streak (1-2=3) to three games.

Brayden Tracey extended San Diego’s lead, scoring a power-play goal with 9:51 left in the first.

The Gulls settled into Henderson’s zone and got to work, moving the puck back and forth with cross-sectional passes. curran placed one in the face-off circle and found an open Tracey in the slot, feeding the rookie a quick strike. Tracey wasted no time, clipping her shot past Patera for her 10th goal of the season.

The count breaks a long draft for Tracey, who scored her first goal in the last 17 games.

Patera is 6-7-0 with a GAA of 2.67 and SV of 0.912%. He’s lost five of his last six starts – and three in a row – heading into tonight’s game. He posted a GAA of 3.22 and 0.886 SV% over that span. In a start against San Diego, Patera allowed five goals on 20 shots in a 5-2 loss.

Dostal kept Henderson off the board with an incredible glove save on Reid Duke with 7:16 remaining in the period. With the Silver Knights on the power play, Duke drove through the notch and collected the rebound with a shot in front. He tried to sneak up the side of the shooting glove, but Dostal took his chance, ripping the puck in the air before falling into his crease and covering the puck. He stopped all 15 shots he faced in the first period.

The Czech Republic native is 13-10-0 with two shutouts, a 2.64 goals-against-average (GAA) and 0.915 save percentage (SV%). Since Jan. 7, Dostal has gone 8-4-0 with two shutouts, a 2.32 goals-against average and .932 save percentage to lead all goaltenders in the American Hockey League. (min. 500 minutes played) in SV%, while ranking tied for third in shutouts, fifth in GAA and tied for 11th in wins. In three starts against Henderson, the San Diego goaltender is 3-0-0 with a 1.67 GAA and 0.940% SV.