Gulls Head North for Barracuda Battle
Mar 11, 2026By Ashley Rubin/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls are heading back North to San Jose for a rematch with the Barracuda tonight at Tech CU Arena (7 p.m. PST; TV: AHLTV on FloHockey; Radio: Gulls Audio Network).
San Diego and San Jose competed in the same building exactly one week ago. The Barracuda walked away with a 3-2 victory after the Gulls put up a two-goal rally just slightly too late. After being held scoreless through the first two periods, defensemen Tristan Luneau and Tyson Hinds found the back of the net to close that gap.
Since that meeting, the Barracuda has risen to the third-place spot in the Pacific Division with 72 points. The team has won their past three contests, posting an 8-1-1-0 record in their past 10 games. The Gulls were seeing some struggle recently, posting a 3-4-2-1 record in their past 10 contests. The team had been on a three-game losing streak prior to their victory over Rockford on Saturday night.
"It’s great for us to get back with a win," Judd Caulfield said. "It always gets a little confidence back in us. Last Wednesday and Saturday, we didn't really show up with our best performance. So, we know we got to go there this coming week and just give him a lot more of an effort."
The Gulls hosted the Rockford IceHogs for a back-to-back series this past weekend at Pechanga Arena San Diego. The Gulls fell in the first game of the weekend but walked away with a win in the second. Saturday’s game saw a strong special teams’ unit from San Diego as the team went 3-for-4 on the powerplay and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. Stian Solberg found himself a power-play goal while Ryan Carpenter found himself two just a minute and a half apart. Nikita Nesterenko opened the game with a shorthanded goal on a breakaway straight out of the penalty box. Coulson Pitre netted the game winner, and Nikolas Brouillard secured the insurance goal with an empty netter.
"It's great when the special teams can step up like that," Caulfield said. "For us to get four goals on special teams, you win a lot of games if you can get that much production. So yeah, the guys were urgent. Like you were saying earlier this urgency on the power play and penalty kill, we were winning pucks back, first unit did a great job getting pucks in, [Ryan] Carpenter was great. Fun just getting tips on pucks, not letting their goalie see anything, it's just great to see."
Every point matters for the Gulls right now as the Pacific Division playoff race gets tighter. The team was set back a bit during their losing streak but still holds a four-point lead over the Henderson Silver Knights and Tucson Roadrunners, who are tied for the seventh and final playoff spot. San Diego trails the fifth-place Coachella Valley Firebirds by three points and look to close that gap as the Firebirds are idle tonight.
Following this mid-week contest the Gulls will play a four-game series against the Colorado Eagles starting Friday, Mar. 13 at Pechanga Arena San Diego (7 p.m. PST).