Preview: Gulls Share Spotlight with Stars in Mid-week Matchup
Nov 29, 2023By Morgan Korovec/SanDiegoGulls.com
Tonight, the rink is expected to shine bright as the San Diego Gulls find the light at the end of the tunnel and gear up to welcome the Texas Stars for a showdown at Pechanga Arena San Diego (7 p.m. PST).
After an exhilarating 3-1 victory, and their first on home ice, the Gulls finally cracked a harrowing 13-game skid last Saturday night, reawakening optimism in the eager stands of America’s finest fans.
"I feel like we had a lot of good jump on Saturday," said Judd Caulfield. "Friday we kind of went in there, we played a pretty good game, but you know, pretty is not always going to cut it… Coming into Saturday, we knew we had to get a win, and you could just tell, kind of coming into that game, that the vibes were high. Everyone was feeling good and just smiling and stuff at the rink. You could tell it was gonna be a good day."
In San Diego’s latest game, Caulfield helped the Gulls start on the right foot, putting the team up on the scoreboard with the first goal of the night.
"It’s gonna be great just moving forward, you know, getting that weight off our shoulders," Caulfield added. "I mean, losing 13 straight, I don’t think anyone in the locker room has ever done that. So, now we’ve got that weight off our shoulders, so moving forward we just gotta carry the momentum we created in the last game and just keep playing our brand of hockey and get some more wins."
San Diego is in good spirits, ready to reset and prepared to grab with both hands the opportunity that their next nights on the ice present.
Tonight, the challenge that awaits is a team with one of the highest scoring offenses in the league, top scorers, and a shining power play.
"You know, everyone always loves a challenge," Caulfield said. "The first thing is just stay out of the box, be disciplined, not give their power play or their top guys any chance to have that man advantage and then if we do get a man down, we have to all just do our roles, don’t have to go out of your way and do other people’s roles, just everyone focus on your own roles and you know, you trust the other guy that he’ll be doing his, and we’ll be just fine."
The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, will visit Pechanga Arena tonight, for their third game of a current five-game trip on the road. The team had been riding a six-game point streak, which was put to a halt in their most recent back-to-back contest, where the opponent’s victory was sealed with an empty-net goal.
For the Gulls in their latest back-to-back game, their own success was locked in by an empty-net goal scored by Josh Lopina.
"I think you could kind of see the smiles and the celebration and for sure, it’s been a long time coming," said head coach Matt McIlvane. "We’ve been taking forward strides to be able to get to that point and it could have come at any point in time during that stretch, but we knew we were getting better, sort of inevitable. For us now, it’s just one game and now we reset and move on to the next one."
The team’s recent victory marked not only a first home win and long-desired testament to their resilience, but also team captain Chase De Leo’s first game back, where he tallied his first point of the season. De Leo recorded the secondary assist on Robert Hagg’s first goal as a Gull in the second.
"He’s just got a great demeanor about him," McIlvane said of De Leo. "He’s an energetic person, he’s positive, he’s got a lot of experience in the league, and you know, he brings something to our bench and certainly on the ice as well."
Though remnants of their sweet success still rumble the walls of Pechanga Arena San Diego, the Gulls will look to remain present, maintain focus, and build upon newfound momentum in tonight’s faceoff.
"You’re preparing for a top team. Probably start with something like discipline, and to our game plan, also keeping ourselves out of the penalty box as much as possible. We know that they’re very potent in that area and you know, trying to do everything we can to fuel our offense and not theirs," McIlvane said.
After tonight’s contest, the Gulls will embark on a five-game road trip, kicking it off with the first weekend of December spent in Chicago for a back-to-back rematch with the Wolves on Saturday, Dec. 2 (5 p.m. PST) and Sunday, Dec. 3 (1 p.m. PST) before gearing up to face the Milwaukee Admirals and Rockford IceHogs.