Gulls Continue Homestand with Barracuda Visit
Oct 24, 2026By Ashley Rubin/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls are looking to take the lead in an even season series as they host the San Jose Barracuda tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego (6 p.m. PDT; TV: AHLTV on FloHockey; Radio: Gulls Audio Network).
San Diego and San Jose previously met in a season opening back-to-back series from Oct. 3-4 at Tech CU Arena. The teams split the series with San Diego pulling off a 5-1 win in game one then falling 5-4 in an overtime loss in game two. That overtime winning goal for the Barracuda was scored by former Gulls assistant captain Roland McKeown. McKeown will make his first appearance back in San Diego since his departure tonight.
The Gulls are currently in the middle of their four-game homestand, with tonight’s match being game two. The team is looking to take advantage of the time at home in front of America’s Finest Fans. They have posted a 1-2-0-0 record at home so far and look to improve that in the upcoming schedule.
In their first eight games, San Diego has gone 3-4-1-0 with seven points, 21 goals for, 23 goals against, a 12.1% power play and 81.5% penalty kill. The Gulls are coming off a loss to the Coachella Valley Firebirds as they fell 3-2 to the team on Wednesday, Oct. 21.
Wednesday’s game saw team leaders Ryan Carpenter and Matthew Phillips find the back of the net. Captain Carpenter found his second goal of the season to start the scoring for the night. 30 seconds later Phillips found his fourth of the season which extends a goal streak of 2-0=2 found in two games for the assistant captain.
"Matthew knows everything about this league, and he pours his heart out every shift," head coach Dave Manson said. "He's got a nose for the net, and he's a very smart player. So, he has to keep doing what he's doing for us."
Following Wednesday’s late loss, the Gulls are more motivated to pick up two points tonight. Coachella Valley won the game in the final two minutes, lighting a fire under San Diego for tonight. The game will be the last before the team has a week off, making it important to go into the break off a win.
"I mean you definitely need to address how we can avoid that happening, but there's still some good things that we did, and lucky enough, we get a couple days to kind of reset and work on a few things and have another good effort for 60 on Saturday," Phillips said.
The Gulls will return for a Halloween matchup on Saturday, Oct. 31 in their second meeting with the Henderson Silver Knights back at Pechanga Arena San Diego (6 p.m. PDT).