Gulls Dominate Barracuda at Home

Feb 16, 2025

By Samantha Mason/SanDiegoGulls.com 

The San Diego Gulls put on a spectacular performance for America’s Finest Fans tonight, defeating the San Jose Barracuda 4-2. 

Last night, San Diego beat the Coachella Valley Firebirds for the first time this season. As they promised, the Gulls showed up ready for the challenge against San Jose.  

Roland McKeown opened the scoring for San Diego during the first frame. Assisted by Dillon Heatherington and Ryan Carpenter, it marks his ninth goal and 23rd point of the season. With three assists, Carpenter tied his AHL career-high for helpers in a single game. 

Tonight also saw a standout performance from goaltender Oscar Dansk, who saved 25 out of 27 shots and picked up an assist. 

"These games down the stretch are super important for us, and we've been trying to take them one day at a time," said Carpenter. "But I thought we responded in the second and third, and special teams came up big too, and Dansk. He made some really big time saves, and we needed them to... it was nice to respond and come out of the win."

Justin Bailey tied it back up at 2-2 on the power play, scoring his second goal in just as many games. Bailey earned another power play goal to open the third period. This is his first multi-goal game of the season.  

With Nathan Gaucher netting one more with less than five seconds left in the contest, the San Diego Gulls are victorious 4-2. With a crowd of almost 12,000 fans tonight, the excitement was palpable. 

"When the game broke at the end there with the empty net, and I think [Sam Colangelo] made a little play over to Nathan,” said head coach Matt McIlvane. "You could just hear the roar, and it's about as loud as I've heard this building. There were moments early in the season with some comebacks where it was it was equally as loud. Our fans make our environment so fun to play in." 

The Gulls return to Pechanga Arena this Wednesday, where they will once again challenge the Abbotsford Canucks (7 pm PST).