Gulls Sweep Roadrunners in Back-to-Back Series
Jan 21, 2026
By Ashley Rubin/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls remain undefeated against the Tucson Roadrunners as they swept the series tonight with a win at Tucson Convention Center, 5-3.
San Diego started off hot with a three-goal first period where the team outshot Tucson 19 to nine. Justin Bailey started the scoring off by finding the back of the net just one minute and 43 seconds into the frame. His team-leading goal count now rests at 14, beating out his 12 logged last season. Bailey later logged an assist, giving him his seventh multi-point game of the season and 300th career AHL point.
It was a big night for Cal Burke as he found his first goal of the season and first as a Gull. The forward has totaled 57-77=134 points in his AHL career and ended a 17-game point drought tonight. The momentum kept going as Jan Mysak brought the lead to 3-0 just three minutes and seven seconds after Burke added to the score.
Following Tucson’s comeback, Mysak found his second of the night to take back the lead in the third. This marks Mysak’s first multi-goal game and fifth multi-point game of the season.
Nikita Nesterenko found his second goal of the season and second point of the night to put the Gulls up two again. Nesterenko now holds goals in back-to-back games and 2-1=3 points in his past two contests with his added assist tonight.
"Response was in the third," head coach Matt McIlvane said. "I think the summary of the game as a whole, that's the way you want to start, as fast as we possibly can. Then what this game was going to do was to test some discipline and maturity from us. When you're protecting that kind of lead early, and I thought we got away from it, then the second period, we spent time watching, and we could see how dangerous Tucson is through transition. But then it sets up for a great, challenging third period to see how we're going to respond as a 60-minute game. We came out and responded the right way."
The net was once again protected by Calle Clang who marked his third straight win, stopping 27 of 30 shots faced. The goaltender is now averaging a 2.23 GAA and .912 SV% this season.
Sasha Pastujov’s assist tonight brings his leading point count to 9-20=29 and marks 1-4=5 points in his past five games. Noah Warren, Yegor Sidorov, Matthew Phillips, Ryan Carpenter, Nikolas Brouillard and Roland McKeown all also picked up assists to increase their totals.
The Gulls look to keep their momentum going as they next face the Abbotsford Canucks in another back-to-back series this weekend at Rogers Forum.
"It’s important to have a good recovery tomorrow, the next day, and then be ready for the game," Mysak said. "It's going to be a tough one too, so we're going to be ready."