Gulls Look to Extend Road Success in Abbotsford Series

Jan 24, 2026

By Ashley Rubin/SanDiegoGulls.com 

The San Diego Gulls are set to start their back-to-back series against the Abbotsford Canucks tonight at Rogers Forum (7 p.m. PST; TV: AHLTV on FloHockey; Radio: Gulls Audio Network). 

San Diego and Abbotsford recently met with a two-game series on Jan. 14 and Jan. 16 where each team walked away with a win. Abbotsford took game one 5-3 while San Diego took game two 1-0.  

The Canucks have since gone 1-2-0-0 in their past three contests. The team remains in the tenth-place spot of the Pacific Division but only fall five points short of climbing up a spot. 

"Abbotsford’s a team on the climb," head coach Matt McIlvane said. "I know where they're at in the standings, but every time I look at them, I see the defending champions. There are the makings of that in that team, so that's the way we've got to prepare."   

This weekend continues a four-game road trip for the Gulls. Following their sweep over the Tucson Roadrunners, San Diego holds a 10-4-4-0 record on the road. The team’s overall record stands at 18-12-6-2 with 44 points, keeping them in a playoff position currently.  

With both victories over the Roadrunners, the Gulls accomplished their first back-to-back series sweep of the season. San Diego put up a total eight goals over the two games and are now undefeated against Tucson in their four contests played this season.  

San Diego’s success was supported by Calle Clang who started in both matchups. The goaltender has found wins in his past three games straight and holds a total of nine this season. He is two victories short of beating his AHL career high of 11 he logged last season. Clang’s 2.23 GAA ranks sixth amongst all AHL qualified goalies while his .913 SV% ranks 11th. 

"I looked him in the eyes after the game, and I just want to see what he looked like," McIlvane said. "He looked fresh enough and I asked him how did he feel? He said he didn't have a ton of high-danger looks and wasn't scrambling. Sometimes you look at him and it's like, yeah, he can't go again. But this was an opportunity to try it."

The Gulls and Canucks will get right back at it tomorrow night for their sixth of eight total matchups this season (4 p.m. PST).