Gulls Stand Strong, Win at San Jose
Published on December 11, 2025 under American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release
The San Diego Gulls grab two big road points tonight defeating the San Jose Barracuda 3-1 from Tech CU Arena. The Gulls now stand with a 9-6-6-0 record on the season and have earned standings points in eight of their last 10 games (5-2-3-0).
Judd Caulfield opened the scoring for San Diego tonight netting his eighth goal of the season. He scored his ninth with an empty-net tally for his second career two-goal AHL effort. Caulfield has 2-4=6 points in his last six games.
Justin Bailey scored his ninth goal of the campaign. His nine goals rank second among San Diego skaters while his five game-winning goals are good for second most in the AHL.
Sasha Pastujov collected his 12th assist of the campaign and has recorded 1-2=3 points in his last two games. His 6-12=18 points co-lead all Gulls skaters.
Ryan Carpenter added his 10th assist of the year while Sam Colangelo registered his first of the season.
Calle Clang backstopped the Gulls to a second consecutive victory where he allowed just one goal, stopping 32-of-33 shots tonight.
The Gulls return home for a pair of games this Friday (7 p.m. PST) and Saturday (6 p.m. PST) night against the Henderson Silver Knights.
POSTGAME QUOTES
SAN DIEGO GULLS
Right wing Judd Caulfield
On tonight's win over San Jose
I thought it showed great maturity from the team throughout the game, because they definitely had pushes at the start of the first and throughout the second period there, but I thought we handled those extremely well. We gave up a few good chances, but [Calle Clang] was there to shut them down. So that was great to see. He's been lights out for us since coming back. It's just fun to see him do so well.
On what's clicking for him this season
I think it's just things have been clicking, obviously, for the whole team too. We just have a great team. We're meshing really well. We started off all right, but these last few games, we've really been taking strides and showing what we can do when we play together as a team. And it's just been really fun, like just hanging around the locker room, being around the guys, like it's a lot of fun. Even these road trips, we spend a lot of time with the guys. So just been great. We have a great group, and we're excited to see what we can do the rest of the way here.
On swinging the momentum in close games
I think we just can't go into a shell. We know we got to stick to our game plan. When we had our pushes, we just got to keep that going into the third period. We can't let them have their push and just kind of back off. You just got to stay foot on the gas and play our style of hockey, playing hard to play against, play physical and just making their defenseman turn and not making it easy for them. Make them go 200-feet.
On facing Henderson three times in five days starting Friday
We definitely owe Henderson a little bit. We have struggled with them earlier in the season. We got one win against them. But yeah, we definitely owe them, and we know it's going to be a hard-fought game. They're a similar team to us. They like to play physical, and it's scrappy, so it's going to be fun games over at Pechanga, and we're excited for them.
Head coach Matt McIlvane
On the team's performance tonight against San Jose
San Jose is a good team. Coming into this game, in the last 10, they were the hottest in our division. We knew they were coming off of a loss, and we knew there was going to be a big push. To be able to start like we did and get on the board first, that's big. Then a really fast start in the second period. I think our second period was a little slow from there until we got the big fights with Nathan [Gaucher] and Noah [Warren] stepping up for the team. It really rallied everybody. It was a gutty and gritty third period. To be able to keep the one on the board and close the door, it's a big win for us.
On Calle Clang's performance tonight
I thought he was too busy tonight, that's what I thought. When we look at this there's opportunities to be cleaner in areas but it's a team sport and when one area fails if the other can pick it up, that's why we need great goaltending like Calle was able to provide tonight. We know what he's capable of and were happy to see him.
On the message going into the third period tonight
Our message was we were just here and we know we're okay. Our last game we went into the third with a one goal lead and it ended up 5-1. It's a work in progress for us learning about winning and learning about holding on to games and how can you push and where you have to cut plays off. I thought it was another great sign of growth today.
On Judd Caulfield
He's connecting more plays. He's always worked and he's always competed. Now he's still an animal but he's connecting more plays. The obvious part is the goals but he's keeping more plays alive and finding hard plays so he's a valuable asset for our team.
On the upcoming three games against Henderson
Henderson is a strong team. They're so good in transition and they've got so much speed on the rush. They're one of the top breakout teams in the league right now. It's an opponent that we've seen quite a bit this season already. We're very familiar with them and we know we're going to have our hands full, but we'll be excited to play them.
American Hockey League Stories from December 11, 2025
- Silver Knights Exorcise Demons at Dignity Health Arena, Winning 5-2 - Henderson Silver Knights
- Gulls Stand Strong, Win at San Jose - San Diego Gulls
- Condors Drop Home Game to Knights - Bakersfield Condors
- Griffins Grab Ninth-Straight Win, Defeat Milwaukee 6-4 - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Rockford Outlasts Iowa in 4-3 Decision - Iowa Wild
- Special Teams Shine in Blowout Win over Belleville - Rochester Americans
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