Gulls still stirring pot for Calder Cup playoff berth

The San Diego Gulls entered the week with eight games remaining on their 2025-26 regular season American Hockey League schedule. The end goal, as in every season, is to secure a berth in the Calder Cup playoffs. As of yet, the Pacific Division team is still stirring the pot to make it happen.

The Gulls entered Wednesday’s home game against the Tucson Roadrunners holding a narrow one-point advantage over the Arizona team for the division’s seventh and final playoff berth.

It’s getting down to crunch time.

The Gulls received a reality check after dropping last weekend’s two-game set in Canada to the last place Abbotsford Canucks, incidentally last year’s Calder Cup champions. The Canucks, the AHL affiliate of the NHL Vancouver Canucks, topped the Gulls by scores of 5-2 and 5-3.

In the series opener, the Gulls (AHL affiliate of the NHL Anaheim Ducks) found themselves down 3-0 through two periods, bounced back with two goals to start the third period but surrendered two late goals, including an empty net goal, to snap a two-game winning streak.

In the latter game, the Canucks (24-36-3-3) snapped a 3-3 tie with two late goals. Sasha Pastujov keyed the visitors with two power play goals.

The Canucks rewarded their fans for a hugely disappointing campaign in the team’s final homestand of the season.

Tucson (30-24-9) has played one less game than San Diego (29-23-8-4), which could play a significant role in the final order of finish.

The top seven teams in the Pacific Division qualify for postseason play. The Ontario Reign (41-19-3-2) and Colorado Eagles (38-16-5-5) have both clinched playoff berths while separated by one point at the top of the standings. The next four teams were separated by three standings points: San Jose (38-21-2-2), Coachella Valley (27-21-5), Bakersfield (34-19-9-1) and Henderson (33-20-7-4).

The Gulls were 10 points behind San Jose, nine points behind Coachella Valley, eight points behind Coachella Valley and seven points behind Henderson.

The Gulls have a bit of work to do to climb farther up the division standings. The immediate plan of action is to hold onto seventh place.

The top finisher in the division receives a bye in the first round of the playoffs, meaning the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 finishers in the division standings get to host games in the first round.

The Gulls scored four key points in a home ice sweep of Bakersfield (7-4 on March 20) and Calgary (5-4 on March 22) to remain in the playoff chase.

The Pacific Division has been extremely competitive this season with the top two teams separated by one point, the top three teams separated by seven points, the top four teams separated by eight points and the next four teams separated by nine points.

Eight of the 10 teams in the division have winning records.

It’s not time to throw in the towel quite yet.

In the win over Bakersfield on Pride Night, the Gulls made it a festive evening by scoring four goals in the first period in a timely display of offense and went four-for-four on the penalty kill against a team ahead of them in the division standings.

The Gulls broke out to a 4-0 lead on Youth Sports Night against Calgary, added an empty net goal by Nathan Gaucher to complete his first career hat trick, then saw the Wranglers score with less than one second left to hold on for a 5-4 win.

Gaucher received a call-up to Anaheim later in the week.

San Diego is 5-5 in its last 10 games while Tucson is 6-3-1.

“We know we’ve got a really great opponent,” Gulls head coach Matt McIlvane said. “We’ll be very excited about this matchup. This certainly means a lot to our group, and we’ll be excited for it.”

McIlvane made no excuses for the series opener.

“We had an energy issue.,” he said. “I think that there were some competitive things, and I thought we were a little slow with our thinking and reading. They did a good job of pressuring, and I think that’s why we got behind.”

In the second game on Sunday:

Tristan Luneau pushed his point streak to four games (one goal, five assists) with his 28th assist of the season. He continues to lead all AHL defensemen and ranks tied for fifth among all AHL skaters in points since the All-Star Break (Feb. 13), posting five goals and 18 assists for 23 points. Luneau ranks 11th among AHL defensemen in scoring this season (nine goals, 28 assists, 37 points).

Ryan Carpenter tallied two assists, his second multi-assist effort of the season. He now has a 40-plus point campaign (16 goals, 24 assists) for the second year in a row and fourth time in his AHL career.

Gulls 3, Roadrunners 0
With one point separating the teams in the standings, Wednesday’s contest at Pechanga Arena was must-win for both squads.

The Gulls moved three standings points ahead of Tucson with the clutch victory. Thankfully for the hosts, it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke.

It was playoff-caliber hockey.

“We have a good hockey team, we’ve had our big moments this season,” Gulls head coach Matt McIlvane said. “We’re a team that shows it can respond.”

The Gulls drew first blood at 5:57 as Tyson Hinds punched in a deflected shot after a sustained Tucson possession. It was Hinds’ fifth goal of the season. Assists went to Cal Burke (his 11^th) and Tristan Luneau (his 29^th).

Each team had a power pay late in the period but neither converted as the hosts maintained their one-goal lead through 20 minutes. Shots through the opening period were 10-8 in favor of the Gulls.

The second period ended scoreless despite both teams possessing a power play, setting up a tense third period.

The hosts faced off the third period riding a power play that had lapsed over from the end of the second period with 1:55 remaining in the man-power advantage. The Gulls tallied the go-ahead marker at 2:32 just after the power play had ended. Jan Mysak notched his 10^th goal of the season, assisted by Nico Myatovic (his ninth) and Nikita Nesterenko (his ninth).

That left the Roadrunners the bulk of the period to mount a challenge but each time the Gulls defense and starting goaltender Calle Clang were up to the challenge. The San Diego offense also chipped in with several near-misses to keep the Arizonans on their heels at times.

The backbreaker came at 19:21 of the period on an empty net goal by Myatyovis, unassisted. The goal was Myatovic’s sixth of the season and capped the must-win for the Gulls.

Final shots were 28-27 for San Diego. Clang sewed up first star of the game honors with a 27-save shutout while Hinds received second star billing and Mysak the third star. The shutout was Clang’s thirds of the season to tie a club single-season record. He joins Ville Husso (2025-26), Tomas Suchanek (2023-24), Lukas Dostal (2022-23) and Reto Berra (2017-18).

Hinds set a new AHL career high with his fifth goal of the season.

Luneau extended his point and assist streak to five games (one goal, six assists), giving him points in 13 of his last 14 games (five goals, 15 assists, 20 points). He leads all AHL defensemen in points since the All-Star break (Feb. 13) with 5-19 24 points (five goals, 19 assists). Among AHL defensemen this season, he ranks tied for 10th in points (38 — nine goals, 29 assists) and 10th in assists.

Burke recorded an assist for the second consecutive game, his 11th of the season. He has earned five points (two goals, three assists) over his last five games.

Nesterenko earned his ninth assist of the season, giving him five points (one goal, four assisrs) in his last five games.

San Diego moved five points behind Henderson in the division standings, six points behind Bakersfield, seven points behind Coachella Valley and eight points behind San Jose.  The Gulls are 17 points behind first place Ontario and 16 points behind second place Colorado.

Colorado has an eight-point edge on San Jose. The Gulls have been eliminated from either first or second place in the division standings but not third place yet.

“It was a big one,” Clang underscored. “We haven’t played these kinds of games in a long time. So, for us as a group, it was really important to get a strong start. I think we really did that. I thought, honestly, the whole team was phenomenal out there today, and it was a really good team effort.

“I think our D-core made it really, really easy for me today. I saw most of the shots, and there was some huge block at the end there so credit to my teammates. I wouldn’t be able to do this without them. For myself, I thought I got back to my game a little bit hard. Last couple weeks, I have been in and out my own game. I haven’t really got the bounces either, so I felt today it was just back to basics. Try to stay calm, try to play as big as I could, making the pucks hit me and yeah, as I said, my D-core was awesome there.

“I think, like myself, getting back to the basics and for the team as well. I think this is the way we need to play down this last however many games are left, and then into playoffs, because it’s going to be tight games all the way in. So, I think just playing mature, getting pucks out. That simple stuff that’s not as simple all the time, I think we need to be really good at. I thought we were tonight.”

The Gulls host Bakersfield on Friday in another must-win game to prevent the Condors from pulling any further ahead in the division standings. Three road games follow – all against teams ahead of San Diego in the standings. The Gulls meet Bakersfield in three of their next four games.

Friday doubles as Mexican Heritage Night.

Every game is now huge for the Gulls – whether home or on the road.

“I think every game is a big game, so next game is going to be huge, too,” Hinds said. “I think as long as we keep playing like tonight, and keep playing hard and the Gulls way, I feel like we can beat any team here and get ready for the playoffs, for sure.

“It’s a big game. Every game is pretty big. Our last Friday home game and we want to give a good big show to our crowd here. They’ve supported us through everything all year long, so we’re going to be ready. We just need to play the same way we did tonight and pretty sure, we’ll be fine no matter who it is.”

“They’re as dynamic and explosive as anybody is offensively,” McIlvane remarked about Bakersfield. “They provide some unique challenges. We just saw them here recently. We know what to expect. We know they’re going to be a handful.”

“Hopefully it’s big crowd,” Clang said of the upcoming home ice clash against the Condors. “Usually, fans turn out on a Friday night, so I’m excited. It’s going to be rocking in here, and we’re going to get those two points and move on.”

And, hopefully, upward.