Loss Locks in Seven Seed for Playoffs
AHL San Diego Gulls

Loss Locks in Seven Seed for Playoffs

Published on April 16, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls fell 5-1 to the Tucson Roadrunners in their penultimate home game of the regular season tonight at Pechanga Arena. With tonight's loss, San Diego is now locked into the 7th seed in the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs for the Pacific Division.

Matthew Phillips scored his 1 6th goal of the season to move his point streak to five games (4-3=7). He co-leads Gulls skaters in assists and ranks second in points (16-35=51).

Stian Solberg collected his 11th assist of the season bringing his point total to 11-11=22. He ranks tied for 11th in rookie blueliner scoring.

Sam Colangelo picked up his 24th assist of the campaign. He has 1-6=7 points in his last five games and 11-24=35 for the year.

Damian Clara stopped 16-of-21 shots.

The Gulls head to Ontario on Friday night to take on the Reign for their final road contest of the regular season (7 p.m. PDT).

POSTGAME QUOTES

SAN DIEGO GULLS

Right wing Matthew Phillips

On tonight's game

We're all pretty disappointed in that game. I just think we were flat from the get-go. We didn't execute. We didn't really play fast. We just weren't really our identity today. And you know what? That's going to happen. Obviously, we're not happy about it, but all we can do is just correct that and have a good effort on Friday.

On having a 50-point season

We have a ton of good players here. I think collectively as a team, it's kind of taken us until maybe the last third of the year to click and find some good chemistry within our lineup. I think a lot of guys are feeling good about the game offensively. Falling into that category, the power play has been pretty consistent the second half of the season, so feeling better as the years going on.

On what the team will work on before the postseason

We just kind of need to get back to what has gotten us to this point to be in a playoff spot to be successful. It's not as simple as just wipe this one. But honestly, I think we kind of need to do that. We have two games left to get ready for the playoffs, and we're just looking forward to turning the page here and having a way better effort and more focused effort on Friday.

Assistant coach Michael Babcock

On what the team takes away from tonight's game

Well, I think you want to learn from every experience. We obviously weren't as good as we could be, for sure. We'll go back, we'll analyze and prioritize, and then we got to get right back on the horse going Friday. Quick turnaround, but that's our job again, analyze, prioritize, and we'll go from there.

On Matt McIlvane's extension

I'm a big fan of Matt. I'm really happy for him and his family. I can be empathetic with his family, just from my own experiences. Anytime that it's earned, you're really, really happy for people. So again, just happy for him and his family. And then, from what I've learned, he's been a pleasure to be around. Extremely detailed, good coach, good communicator. Nothing but good thing to say.

On what the group wants to do before the postseason

We just want to make sure that our habits are really good. A lot of our details in terms of just how we play structurally, what we can continue to hone in on, and how we play our Gulls brand of hockey, I think that's going to be really, really important. We're continuing to talk about thoughts and then we got two games to showcase it and fine tune it for next week.

Check out the San Diego Gulls Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from April 16, 2026


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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