Gulls Complete Third-Period Comeback to Beat Bakersfield

Dec 6, 2024

By Samantha Mason/SanDiegoGulls.com 

The Gulls reign victorious tonight after taking the win against the Bakersfield Condors, 5-3. 

The first goal of the game came from the Condors, who held the lead throughout the rest of the first period. The second period saw one goal from each team. Sasha Pastujov earned the first goal for the Gulls tonight. 

But it was the third period that had every Gulls’ fan on their feet. 

San Diego scored four of their five goals in the third period alone. Yegor Sidorov and Roland McKeown each scored within minutes of each other.  

Coulson Pitre netted the first goal of his AHL career, which proved to be the game-winner. 

Finally, Judd Caulfield closed out the night with an empty netter with less than a minute to spare, giving him his first goal of the season and an AHL career-high 1-2=3 points. 

"It's definitely weight off the shoulders and there was just a matter of time," said Caulfield. "We've all been playing well, and it's just something where we were just looking for that one bounce or that one little opening to find a goal…hopefully we can carry this one forward tomorrow." 

The Gulls have scored 24 goals in the third period alone this season. They’re making sure they bring the same momentum on the ice tomorrow. 

"I think that's confidence," McKeown said. "We've done it before…when you build that belief, and your comeback ability, you can prove it."

Tonight’s contest was the first of a four-game homestand for San Diego, and the third of eight games these two teams will play together during the 2024-25 season. 

"We were hard to play against today," head coach Matt McIlvane said. "The obvious part, I liked our start for the most part. There's a lot of good in the game. I thought that the second period, for me, was strong...and then, we were pretty confident in the third period that we were going to be able to come back. We've had a lot of goals that we've been saving up for a moment like this, and it was fun to watch the guys put them in the back of the net."

The San Diego Gulls play at home again tomorrow night against their SoCal rivals Ontario Reign (6 pm PST).