PREVIEW: Gulls Open Back-To-Back Weekend Series With Calgary Tonight
Apr 7, 2023By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls play their penultimate home game of the 2022-23 regular season tonight, hosting the Calgary Wranglers at Pechanga Arena San Diego (7 p.m. PDT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
"We're playing Calgary, one of the top teams in the league, coming up here," Gulls assistant coach Jason Clarke said. "I can tell you right now we're going to come out firing on all cylinders on Friday and Saturday for our fans. They've been real loyal to us; they've stuck by us in a pretty difficult year, at times, and we'll play hard for them this weekend."
The Gulls are looking for to break a nine-game pointless streak against Calgary Flames American Hockey League affiliates, a streak that stretches between the now-defunct Stockton Heat and the Wranglers. San Diego lost all six games they’ve played against the Wranglers this season (0-6-0-0) and were outscored 33-7 through those contests.
Despite not earning a win in their most recent series with the Wranglers – a weekend set on Mar. 24 and 26 – the Gulls felt they put their best foot forward and gave Calgary a true test.
"That was the whole team bought in; played hard, played heavy," Gulls forward Justin Kirkland said. "Like you said, they're a good team. They're quite offensive, so finding a way to, you know, play tight defensively and sort of frustrate them a little bit. Like you said, we did a good job when we were up there, and now we have to do it two more times."
A key point of emphasis for San Diego is puck possession.
"I think the big thing against them is you have to manage the puck at both blue lines," Clarke said. "I think if you do that, you're going to give yourself an opportunity to win some games against this team. You know, they're really disciplined at both lines; they play a real disciplined wedge at the offensive line coming out. You know, at the offensive line for us, it's like they have real tight gaps and a lot of back pressure. I think if we manage the puck at both blue lines, I think we'll be good."
The Gulls enter tonight after a 6-3 loss to the San Jose Barracuda on Wednesday night. Dylan Sikura matched an AHL career high with three assists while Benoit-Olivier Groulx earned 1-1=2 points, his third multi-point performance in the last five games. The offensive production wasn’t enough to overcome a desperate San Jose team; as Ozzy Weisblatt’s hat trick helped them stay in the Pacific Division playoff race.
"I don't think any of us were happy with how the game went on our end," Kirkland said. "Execution, and I thought we got outworked a little bit. It's kind of behind us now. We've got two good games against a really good opponent in Calgary this weekend. You take away a few good things from last game we did and the focus is right on to Calgary tomorrow and Saturday. It'll be a good test and we got to be ready to go."
Calgary enters tonight in a heated battle for the top spot in the AHL and the Western Conference. They lead division foes Coachella Valley by two points, and each have five regular-season games remaining. The Wranglers are riding an impressive, league-leading 12-game point streak (11-0-0-1), a stretch that includes a 3-1 win over the Firebirds in their final regular-season meeting on Wednesday.
The team is led by a one-two punch of top prospects Matthew Phillips and Dustin Wolf. Phillips entered today leading the AHL in goals (34) and sitting fourth with 34-39=73 points. His seven-game point streak is tied for the second-longest active point streak in the league. Wolf is one of the star netminders in the AHL, finishing Apr. 6 leading the AHL in wins (40), save percentage (.932%) and shutouts (7). In addition, he sits second in the league with a 2.08 goals-against average.
Kirkland believes a desperate Gulls team – the one who hit the ice in Calgary and grabbed a win over Iowa recently – can give Calgary a run for its money.
"It's playing hard," Kirkland said. "We have four games left, there's nothing to save it for. So yeah, playing hard, in your face style of hockey, competing hard. At the end of the day, a lot of times it’s the team that works the hardest that wins. If we can do that this weekend, then we'll be alright."