Gulls Bounce back to Split with Abbotsford
February 13, 2025 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release
The San Diego Gulls responded to last night's defeat with a 4-1 victory over the Abbotsford Canucks tonight to close out their back-to-back series. San Diego has grabbed points in three of their four games since returning from All-Star break going 2-1-1 in that span with both wins coming on the road.
Sasha Pastujov scored the first two goals for the Gulls tonight. It's his third two-goal game of the season. Pastujov has points in 19 of his last 21 games (11-18)) and his 14-19=33 points lead all Gulls skaters.
Tristan Luneau registered his team-leading 22nd assist of the campaign. Luneau's 22 helpers lead all AHL rookie defensemen.
Judd Caulfield scored his fourth goal of the year late in the third period to give San Diego some insurance over Abbotsford.
Nathan Gaucher netted his fourth goal of the season with an empty net tally.
Ryan Carpenter extended his point streak to four games (2-2=4) with his 15th assist of the campaign.
Noah Warren added his third assist of the season.
Carson Meyer registered his 12th assist of the year to put him at the 20-point mark (8-12).
Oscar Dansk stopped 33-of-34 shots including all 18 he faced in the second period to secure his fifth win of the season.
The Gulls are set to return to Southern California to battle the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Saturday, Feb. 15 on the road and the San Jose Barracuda at home the following night.
POSTGAME QUOTES
SAN DIEGO GULLS
Head coach Matt McIlvane
On tonight's win over Abbotsford
We needed a desperate effort. We know we're playing against a very strong team, and Abbotsford is very stingy. They're not going to give us a lot, and we knew that we needed a big effort to respond. We were impressed by competitive parts of our game, but we knew we could play better than what we showed yesterday, and I thought the guys took some good steps today.
On Sasha Pastujov's two-goal game
It's another big night for him. He's a gifted kid that needs to keep having belief that he can keep finding ways to put pucks in the back of the net and create for our team. Really impressed with their effort. And I thought his whole line, I thought Jan [Mysak] and Carson [Meyer] both had very strong games as well. I love their competitiveness.
On Oscar Dansk's strong start
He's been great. Solid, rock solid. That's the kind of goaltending that we need from him. We need him to be that rock solid, steady, veteran goaltender for us. I think it's not easy to do what he did when he jumps into the game yesterday, but he was ready and when his number was called, he stepped right up for us.
On the special teams play
Keep building. It was a mess before, so we had a lot of work to do on it. And I think we're getting some bounces right now, but also we're getting closer to some structure that will be sustainable for us.
On the line of Judd Caulfield, Nathan Gaucher and Nikita Nesterenko
For me, that's an identity line for our team. We want to be really hard to play against, and I think they epitomize exactly what that is. It's also awesome when they can get rewarded. When Nesty's speed breaks like that, Judd drives through sticks to be able to bury that puck, that was big. And it's good on Nate [Gaucher] to get that empty netter for us.
Goaltender Oscar Dansk
On what it meant to help the team earn a split
We're a resilient group. I think we've shown over multiple games this season, and the will is there, and to be able to come back against a really good team like Abbotsford proves that. They're a fast skill team that loves to play in the o-zone and have active D. I thought we weathered a storm today and came back in the third and sealed the deal.
On stopping all 18 shots he faced in the second period
That's going to happen. There's a lot of good teams in this league and like I said, they're a good team over there. Sometimes we just got to weather the storm and play with patience, which I thought we did. And a lot of calm and some discipline. I think those are the some of the keys that we need. And think we showed that. It's not going be a perfect game, but we just kind of have to keep learning every game.
On San Diego scoring the insurance goal
It's always nice. It's fun to see the guys get some goals too.
On building off this result with two more games this week
Yeah, just think we put a focus on recovery. It's recovery and performance, recovery-performance. That's all it is and just staying focused and work when you do work and rest when you can.
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