Gaucher Hat Trick Leads Gulls to Victory
Mar 22, 2026By Ashley Rubin/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls added two more points to their record as they defeated the Calgary Wranglers tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego, 5-4.
It was a monumental night for Nathan Gaucher as he recorded his first career AHL hat trick. The forward opened the scoring in the first, netted one in the second, and then put one more through on the empty net in the third. Gaucher is the first Gulls skater to record a hat trick this season and he has recorded a new career-high 12 goals scored in a single season.
"Our line has been playing really well," Gaucher said. "There are games where we get rewarded offensively and tonight’s one of those. We put the hard work in every day, and one of those games will go in for us. So, it's good one of those days was today."
The second goal was tapped in by Ryan Carpenter just one minute after Gaucher netted his first. Carpenter has netted 16 goals this season, standing just five short from matching his career high 21. The captain ranks third amongst all Gulls skaters in points this season with 38 logged.
Cal Burke kept the offensive production going as he found his first power play goal of the season. The goal gave San Diego a 4-0 lead in the second and marks Burke’s third of the season. Burke has found 2-1=3 points in his past two contests.
Justin Bailey and Tyson Hinds recorded AHL career milestones tonight. Bailey skated in his 500th AHL career game and tallied an assist for himself. The forward has posted 174-138=312 points in his career. Hinds skated in his 200th AHL career game and also tallied an assist. The defenseman has posted 10-25=45 points since entering the league in 2023.
The Gulls were once again perfect on the penalty kill, going 3-for-3 tonight. This included killing off a five-minute major and game misconduct that was given to Sam Colangelo in the first period for cross checking. The Gulls rank second amongst the AHL on the penalty kill, posting an 85.2% success rate.
Calle Clang was between the pipes tonight, recording his 15th win of the season as he saved 19 shots.
Tristan Luneau and Sasha Pastujov ended the night with a pair of assists each while Stian Solberg, Roland McKeown, Nikita Nesterenko, and Nikolas Brouillard each tallied one.
"I think there's plenty from this game to keep and build on," head coach Matt McIlvane said. "I liked a lot of our offensive zone play. I thought we hunted pucks well and we played most of the game above them. We're continuing to build our game to put an exclamation point on the season."
San Diego will next head up to Abbotsford to play a back-to-back series with the Canucks starting Saturday, Mar. 28 at Rogers Forum (7 p.m. PDT).