The San Diego Gulls bounced back from a tough overtime loss to the Henderson Silver Knights with a 3-1 victory Tuesday night at Pechanga Arena over the same team.
Jacob Perreault scored two goals, Alex Limoges snagged a late empty-netter and Lukas Dostal made 29 saves as the Gulls (24-25-2-1) responded with good hockey after Saturday night’s shootout loss at Henderson (25-23-2-1).
Perrault was the man of the night with his 11th and 12th goals of the season, but the story was Dostal, whose calm presence in net made up for some shaky third-period defense from his defensemen.
The Czech international, who made his NHL debut this season with the Anaheim Ducks, kept his cool during a key stretch of the third period when the Gulls clung to a precarious 2-1 lead, making several clutch saves.
The Gulls have won five of the last six games overall and have points in all six of those games, keeping the team firmly in the playoff race in the Pacific Division.
Rookie debut
Drew Helleson skated his first professional shift and immediately made things happen.
The kid from Farmington, Minn., did not score a goal with his initial dance as a Gull but he pressed the defense and made Henderson goalie Dillon Kelley stretch to make a save.
The Anaheim Ducks made a trade for Helleson last week and the kid, who played for the USA Olympic team last winter, looks like he belongs.
Helleson is a smooth skating, 6-foot-3 kid who can move the puck.
“He’s a talent but now we get to see him play as a pro,” said Gulls coach Joel Bouchard, who played at the AHL and NHL levels. “The real test is when you get on the ice and play against other pros. He’s going to be just fine. Let’s put him in an environment that creates success and see how it goes.”
Lucas speaks
Gulls forward Lucas Elvenes has a gift for gab and it shows up whenever he talks puck.
The Gulls entered Tuesday’s game coming off a 4-3 shootout loss at Henderson. Elvenes broke it down.
“I know how they are doing there with the penalty kill and all that playing here,” Elvenes said. “No, it’s good. If you’ve got confidence, it’s always going good and all that stuff and happy we scored. What is it? Three goals maybe? We’ve just got to keep that. Like, let’s go. Keep that going with the power play. And we’ll hopefully win games with that.”
Carter is a freelance writer.
