PREVIEW: Gulls, Wranglers Meet In Sunday Night Showdown
Mar 26, 2023By AJ Manderichio/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls and Calgary Wranglers close a weekend series tonight at Scotiabank Saddledome (6 p.m. PDT; TV: AHL TV; RADIO: Gulls Audio Network).
San Diego enters tonight searching to snap a five-game losing skid – and a nine-game pointless streak – against Calgary American Hockey League affiliates. The Wranglers won all five previous contests, including a 6-0 victory on Friday. Connor Zary (2-1=3) and Dryden Hunt (0-3=3) posted three-point performances and Matthew Phillips (1-1=2), Jeremy Poirier (2-0=2) and Emilio Pettersen each posted two-point games. Dustin Wolf collected the shutout – his third against the Gulls this season – making 30 saves.
"Well, I'll tell you what, that's good hockey club," Gulls head coach Roy Sommer said after the game on Friday. "They're right up there with Coachella and if we don't have 18 skaters that bring their A game, that's what's going to happen. When you do get past them or they do have a breakdown, then you got to run into (Wranglers goaltender Dustin) Wolf, which, I saw him all last year and you can see why he was the goalie of the year last year. He makes you make saves look easy. I mean, we had a lot of good looks and he was on top of it. What can you say? The guy's competitive and probably should be in the NHL right now."
San Diego is also battling a four-game losing skid, with Friday’s setback officially eliminating the team from playoff contention. It snaps a run of four straight postseason berths for the Gulls, which includes three appearances in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
"For us, I think just have a short memory," Gulls forward David Cotton said following the loss. "Take what we need out of that game, flush it out, look forward to Sunday. Just stay hard, get pucks on net, just try and get havoc around it. You just got to keep with it; you can't get down on yourself."
Special teams will play a large role in the Sunday showdown. During Friday night’s game, San Diego couldn’t score on an early 5-on-3 power-play attempt and finished scoreless on six man-advantage chances. Calgary opened the scoring on a Matthew Phillips power-play goal and generated several good opportunities across its four opportunities.
"You have to stay out the box," Sommer said. "We talked about that today. We didn't want to see their power play – it’s too effective. The other thing is they've got a really good hockey team. You have to stay close - you really can't open it up against them. If you get in a shootout against them, we're not going to win that battle. You know, we just don't have the firepower they do over there. Like I said at the start of this conversation, if everyone's not bringing their A game - which we didn't have again tonight - it was similar that Coachella game. Although, we had a little more compete in us but if you don't bring your A game against them, it's going to be a long night."
The Wranglers entered the weekend sitting atop the AHL standings. They’re in a heated battle with another Pacific Division foe, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, to maintain their top spot. Calgary leads the Firebirds by four points but has two more games played.