Fire and ice: Gulls score power-packed 2-0 win in home opener

The San Diego Gulls faced off the home portion of their 2026-27 American Hockey League campaign Saturday with a new laser show that can display moving objects on the ice, flame throwers and indoor fireworks.

Th first 7,000 fans through the Pechanga Arena San Diego turnstiles received a free Gulls Hawaiian shirt.

It was a festive atmosphere in front of an announced crowd of 10,019 and the hosts rewarded their faithful with a 2-0 shutout win that featured a power-packed ending.

Roger McQueen, the NHL parent Anaheim Ducks’ first-round draft pick (10th overall) in 2025, scored what proved to be game-winning goal with 2:52 to play and teammate Nico Myatovic tacked on an empty net goal with just 0.8 second remaining.

The sudden impact victory left fans dancing in the aisles.

“I though the boys played a really solid 60 minutes,” Gulls assistant coach Kelly Buchberger said. “The penalty kill was outstanding,a dn hey, any time you get a shutout, it’s a good win for the team.” 

The defensive nature of Saturday’s contest was not surprising after the Gulls came up short by a 6-3 score n Friday’s road game at Coachella Valley.  

The Gulls could not take advantage of two early power play opportunities against Henderson. They received a third man-power chance shortly after that. The Gulls got off more shots but the result was the same: 0-for-3.

The opening period ended with the hosts holding a 9-3 shot advantage in a generally show start for both teams. Damian Clara started for San Diego while Carl Lindbom was between the pipes for the Silver Knights, the AHL affiliate of the NHL Vegas Golden Knights.

The second period was also scoreless with the Silver Knights holding an 8-4 advantage in shots. Most of those shots came in the latter half of the period after another slow start. Clara made one good glove save on a Henderson breakaway.

Both teams were silent on the power play – five total, three for the Gulls and two for the Silver Knights.

Which team would break out in the third period or would it go to overtime?

The Gulls were awarded a power play at 7:04 as Jaycob Megna was charged with elbowing. It was the Gulls’ fourth man-advantage of the night. That was negated at 7:50 when the hosts took a penalty for hooking by Lucas Pettersson.

But the Silver Knights could do little with their short man-up. Seven power plays for the teams and nothing.

Make that eight power plays with nothing to show for it when Stian Solberg was charged for kneeing at 10:24.

The Gulls earned their fifth power play of the game at 12:45.  It didn’t matter.

An even strength goal would decide the outcome, plus an empty net goal to ice the 2-0 victory.

McQueen, 20, picked up his third goal in four games and fifth point at 17:08, assisted by Drew Ellioptt and Anton Wahlberg. The assist was the first of the season for Elliott, who appeared in 37 games with 28 points last season for the Gulls’ ECHL affiliate in Tulsa, and the fourth for Wahlberg, a second-round pick (39th overall) in the 2023 draft by the Buffalo Sabres.

The Silver Knights (1-2) pulled their goaltender with 2:35 to play and kept possession for most of the remaining time. The Gulls got two shots at the empty net but only the last one made it in. Clara held firm in the crease, denying Henderson on several good scoring chances.

He earned No. 1 star of the game with a 25-save shutout.

The Silver Knights out-shot the Gulls 25-21, including a 14-8 advantage in the third period when Clara played his best.

There were a total of nine power plays in the game, all stuffed by both goaltenders.

McQueen almost scored on the Gulls’ first rush down the ice at the empty net. Had he scored, he would have had two goals in the game. Instead, Myatovic got it at the 0.80 mark just before the final horn. He got hold of the loose puck at center ice and skated it toward the open net before finally depositing in between the pipes for the 2-0 final.

The goal was Mytovic’s second of the season. Captain Ryan Carpenter got credit for the assist, his second helper in the early campaign.

McQueen earned second star honors; Elliott was the third star.

The Gulls improved to 2-1-1 through four games. Henderson fell to 1-2. Entering Wednesday’s home game against the arch rival Ontario Reign, the Gulls stood just one standings point off the lead in the Pacific Division.

“It was a lot of fun,” Clara said. “Great atmosphere, especially when we scored, the arena was very loud. It’s only my second game here, so I hope there’s many more games that have (large and loud) attendance.”

The McQueen-Wahlberg-Elliott line received a lot of ice time. The game-winner was a career first for McQueen.

“Obviously, it gives us a lot of confidence that they trust in us,” McQueen said. “Being in an even score game there for a while it’s nice to have your coaches want you on the ice to try to get a goal for the guys, and also know you’re not going to let one up.

“One hundred percent of those games are hard to play. Obviously trying to get both ways — a goal and not letting one up, so just having a gauge on when to go and when not to go. They’re fun to play in, and those are the games you want to be on the ice.”

Clara said a defensive game is not easy in which to play.

“I think (Carl) Lindbom (19 saves on 20 shots) played a great, great game over there on the other side,” the San Diego netminder said. “You got to just hope for the bounce. It’s a game of hockey, it’s a game of chess sometimes, so you got to hope the bounce goes with you. And today, we had the luck on our side in that thing, but the team worked for luck, so it’s not given in turn.”

After scoring three goals in four games, McQueen was called up to the Ducks on Tuesday.

Ice chips
Carpenter scored his first goal of the season on Friday in his 800th career game (392 NHL, 408 AHL).

Coachella Valley erased a 1-0 Gulls first period lead with four goals in the second period, including two man-power tallies. The Firebirds scored twice more in the third period, capping the game with an empty net gols with 2:48 to play.

Cruz Lucius scored his first AHL goal in his professional debut. 

Matthew Phillips netted his second goal of the campaign.

Herman Traff tallied his first AHL point and assist.

Anton Wahlberg posted his third assist of the season, the most among Gulls skaters this season. He now has points in three consecutive games (1-3-4).

Yegor Sidorov earned his first assist of the season. 

Nico Myatovic and James Hamblin each collected their second assists of the season.

Laurent Brossoit stopped 24 of 30 shots.

Gulls start fast and end fast but fall 3-2 to arch rival Reign

The Gulls entered Wednesday’s game against the visiting Ontario Reign sans forward Roger McQueen, who had received a call-up to the NHL parent Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday. McQueen had faced off the Gulls’ AHL season with three goals in four games.

Sean Farrell, acquired during the offseason from the Montreal Canadiens organization, joined the forward line for Wednesday’s tilt against the arch rival Reign.

San Diego fans got their first look at new Gulls goaltender Laurent Brossoit, who won a Stanley Cup championship with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023. He had suited in two road games with a 1-1 record, 3.02 goals-against average and 0.898 save percentage.

Brossoit signed a free agent contract with the Ducks during the offseason after previously playing in the AHL for the Bakersfield Condors (most notably), Henderson Silver Knights, Rockford IceHogs and San Joe Barracuda.

Erik Portillo started for the Reign, which attracted a decent fan base to what for them was a road game.

The Gulls drew first blood at 7:33 as Matt Basgall picked up his first goal in a San Diego uniform, assisted by Lucas Pettersson and Anton Wahlberg. It was the fifth assist of the season for Wahlberg and the first for Pettersson.

The hosts didn’t appear to fare as well in the first fight of the game at 7:46 between Gulls newcomer Travis Mitchell and Ontario’s Jared Woolley. Both received five-minute majors. Mitchell was a late player move from Anaheim.

Midway though the opening period the teams were tied at seven shots apiece after a somewhat slow start.

The Gulls went on the power play for the first time on the night at 13:07 on a slashing penalty assigned to the Reign’s Taylor Ward. The hosts dinged the post in the opening seconds of the man-up situation but that was it.

Th Gulls went on the power play with 53.4 seconds remaining in the period but could not score, thus allowing the penalty to spill over to the second period.

Shots for the first period favored the hosts 10-8.

The Reign earned the top seed in last season’s Pacific Division playoffs while the Gulls were at the bottom at No. 7. The Gulls entered Wednesday’s game actually one standings point ahead of Ontario.

The Reign looked to move ahead of the Gulls in the standings after scoring three times in the second period to take a 3-1 lead. The home team got into penalty trouble by taking players off the ice.

Nathan Gaucher was sent to the sin bin three times in the period – once each for high sticking, roughing and slashing. Jett Woo and Ethan Procyszyn also took roughing penalties. There were several scrums scattered about, which wouldn’t be a San Diego-Ontario game without them.

Ward tied the game at 3:12 with a power play goal, assisted by Lane Pederson and Scott Perunovich. It was Ward’s third goal of the the season.

Jack Hughes scored his first goal of the season at 6:31. Joe Hicketts and Jack Millar drew the assists.

Koehn Ziermer scored at 14:44 on a breakout from the penalty box. Grant Slukynsky picked up his second assist of the season on Ziemer’s second goal of the season. Ziemer had been serving two minutes of a four-minor minor to Pederson. The penalty was over at 14:35 and Ziemer came out of the box and was hooked up with a pass from a teammate.

The Reign out-shot the Gulls 7-5 in the period for a 15-all standoff through 40 minutes. Ten different penalties were called in the period to disrupt play.

The visitors opened up a 5-1 shot advantage to start the third period before the Gulls cut it to 6-4.

San Diego was powerless with the man advantage for the fifth time in the game when Preunovich was sent off for tripping at 9:42.

The Gulls had two more power play chances before the game was over. The sixth opportunity didn’t produce anything but the seventh finally did as Yegor Sidorov scored his first goal of the season, assisted by Pettersson and Mathew Phillips. The problem was that the power play goal occurred with only 22.5 seconds to play.

3-2 Ontario.

The Gulls left their goaltender off the ice but there simply wasn’t enough time to muster the game-tying goal.

San Diego rebounded with a final 12-7 edge in shots in the period, out-shooting the Reign 23-16 over the balance of the period for a final 27-22 edge in shots in the game.

The Gulls kept the game close enough to mount a comeback. Portillo stopped a clean breakaway among his 25 saves. Brossoit was credited with 19 saves on 22 shots.

Wahlberg leads the Gulls with five assists. He’s collected an assist in all five games to start the season, notching six points (one goal, five assists.

Pettersson earned his first two career AHL points and assists.

“Yeah, we definitely picked it up,” Basgall said. “Second period, jsut so many penalties taken both ways, ruiined the flow of the game a little bit. Thought we had a great first period and picked up towards the end of the third. So, I think more of the story of that game is just stay out of the box in the second period. Keep it five on five. We like our five on five game.

“You’re essentially just giving away momentum to the other team (by taking penalties), and instead of being on the attack, you’re getting attacked the entire time.”  

The San Diego power play needs some work. The Gulls were 0-for-5 in Saturday’s home opener and 1-for-7 on Wednesday.

“I thought it was pretty evenly played game in the first,” San Diego head coach Dave Manson said. “They had some penalties, we built some momentum, knocked on the door a bit, but  couldn’t find the back of the net. Then the second period, we were in the penalty box and kind of zapped our momentum and kind of fan-fed  their offense. The third period, I thought our  game got back to where we wanted it. We were able to apply some pressure, get our legs going. We ran out of time. We had a lot of shots blocked and couldn’t find a way to get through.” 

Manson agreed the Gulls’ power play needs to start clicking after going 1-for-12 in the first two home games.

“You feel that power plays been knocking on the door, so it’s nice to see them get one, and hopefully, that lightens the pressure a bit,” he said. “But it’s something that you need rolling if you’re going to have some success in this league.

Defensemen stepping up to contribute to the offense is welcome, of course. 

“If you look at the teams in the league, it’s now part of the game,” Manson said. “It’s part of the rush, two d-men have to be up, and we want them to be three zone occupiers. Everybody likes to get their cookies. It’s important, they want that, and they got to be thanked.”

The Gulls (2-2-1) head to Tucson this weekend for two games (Friday and Saturday) to take on the Roadrunners (2-2) before hosting the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Wednesday, Oct. 21. The Gulls host San Jose on Saturday, Oct. 24, Henderson on Oct. 31 and Colorado on Nov. 1.

The early season division standings show the Calgary Wranglers (4-1) in first place with eight points, the Colorado Eagles (3-1), Coacherlla Valley (2-1-2) and Ontario (3-1) all tied with six points, the Gulls in fifth place with five points, Tucson, Bakersfield (2-2) and Henderson (2-2) all tied with four points, Abbotsford (1-2-0-1) with three points and San Jose (1-4) with two points.