Gulls Gear Up for Battle Against Barracuda
Feb 18, 2026
By Ashley Rubin/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls look to get their momentum back and take a win over the San Jose Barracuda tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego (7 p.m. PST; TV: AHLTV on FloHockey; Radio: Gulls Audio Network).
San Diego and San Jose have previously met up four times this season. The Gulls are currently 2-0-1-1 against the Barracuda this season and 16-9-2-1 over the past five seasons. The last time the teams faced off was on Jan. 7 when the game was sent into a seven-man shootout. The Barracuda ultimately ended up with the win, but San Diego still walked away with a point.
San Jose is currently tied for the fourth place Pacific Division spot with 57 points. San Diego only trails the Barracuda by four points and has remained steadily in the sixth-place spot. The teams hold similar records with the Barracuda posting 27-15-1-2 while the Gulls have posted 22-15-6-3.
"I think we just expect a high pace game," Sam Colangelo said. "I know last year they were really good but this year they’re even better. They’re better defensively and are giving up a lot less. We’re going to try to put pucks in behind them, play a simple game, and I think we’ll have some success."
The Gulls have been on a successful run in their past five games. Prior to the All-Star break, San Diego beat out the Coachella Valley Firebirds, Ontario Reign, and Henderson Silver Knights. The team then went on to take a win over the offensive powerhouse Bakersfield Condors on Friday night but fell just short of pulling off a sweep with their loss on Saturday.
Despite the loss on Saturday, San Diego did not let up throughout the entirety of the game. The Gulls responded almost immediately to each of the Condors’ first three goals. Justin Bailey found his 16th goal of the season, increasing his team-leading goal count. Bailey is just three goals short of matching his total scored last season. Defenseman Stian Solberg also found the back of the net, logging his 12th point of the season. Judd Caulfield found the most success, netting two goals which marked his third multi-goal game of the season. The winger has now surpassed his total points logged last season with 28 and has found 4-3=7 points in his past five games.
"The guys were focused that’s for sure," head coach Matt McIlvane said. "There was a big will to be able to get our goal accomplished for the weekend. It’s not easy being off for that long and then coming out and being focused. Bakersfield’s got so much fire power and being able to stifle it for the first game and then we can see in the second game, we didn’t feel like we gave a ton, but how opportunistic that team is and how explosive they can be offensively. They certainly capitalized on stuff that we gave them, but I liked a lot of parts of our game and there’s great opportunities for learning."
San Diego has 26 games remaining in the regular season, 12 of those being on home-ice. The team is looking for a playoff push and hopes to make their first appearance in the playoffs since 2022.
"Points are at a premium this time this season, so we're making our push right now," Caulfield said. "Try to keep climbing in the standings right now, we're in a playoff spot, but we're not satisfied with being sixth in the division. We got to keep climbing, and obviously we want to hold the advantage and keep climbing and potentially get that playoff bye in that first round. That's our goal is just to keep winning games and keep stacking and get ready for that playoff style hockey, because we can't just be satisfied with being the middle of the pack. We want to be the best team in the division, and we got to start right now."
Following tonight, the Gulls will head over to Rockford for the first time since 2023-24 where they will play a back-to-back series against the IceHogs starting on Saturday, Feb. 21 at BMO Center.