2025-2026 Game 02: San Diego Gulls vs Henderson Silver Knights

San Diego, California. Coming home from a statement victory over their newest division rival the San Diego Gulls hoped to keep the wins coming as they welcomed in the Silver Knights to Pechanga Arena for the home opener and debut of their ten year anniversary third jersey. The Silver Knights having already played three games to the Gulls just one – going 1-2-0 in that span but getting a 2-0 shut out win over Ontario in their most recent mactch-up just the night before.

The recent recall of Ian Moore to Anaheim meant Nik Brouillard was able to drop back his natural position – paired with Noah Warren. The spot opened up at forward was filled by Owen Lindmark who drew in to center the fourth line and moved Cal Burke to the wing.

All other forward lines and defensive pairings remained the same from the previous season opening win over Coachella Valley.

Ville Husso once again got the start in net with Calle Clang backing up.

Nathan Gaucher and Coulson Pitre were the only injuries with Drew Elliott, Ryan Lautenbach, Konnor Smith and Jeremie Biakabutuka the scratches.

First Period:

The home opener jitters got the better of the Gulls to start as their clean, crisp breakout and perfect execution was anything but through the first three minutes of play until the top line got some zone time and generated some chances through feeding Nico Myatovic in the low slot. The fourth line carried forward that momentum and drew a call after back to back shots from Noah Warren at the point saw Travis Howe getting his helmet ripped off in a scrum in front.

The first unit looked the better of the two – creating back to back high danger chances that were only stopped by some desperation saves from Silver Knights goaltender Jesper Vikman.

As play returned to five on five the Silver Knights caught San Diego sleeping as a delayed call on Stian Solberg seemed to sow confusion in the Gulls defensive zone and a drive to the crease was slipped by Husso. 1-0 Silver Knights.

Justin Bailey was given a high sticking call off a face-off where it was shown on the replay that he was responding to a high stick inflicted on him first but the Gulls made up for the Officials unfair indiscretion by drawing a call on the very next play as Nico Myatovic was denied on a three on one break.

San Diego looked as shaky as they did at the start of the period as time approached the final five minutes of play with Henderson finding time and space to enter their zone with ease while catching Gulls players unsure of themselves down low.

Just as the Gulls appeared to be putting together some positive play in the Henderson zone a Silver Knights counter attack ended up in their own net as some poor defensive play and very lackluster back-checking from Matthew Phillips and Nik Brouillard allowed the Silver Knights Tanner Laczynski to drive the crease and send a high snap shot that ricocheted in over Husso’s shoulder. 2-0 Silver Knights.

The Gulls tried to hit back but lacked the same clean execution from their previous win as they let several chances go begging to close out the final two minutes of play.

The visitors taking the 2-0 lead into the first intermission despite San Diego leading in shots 9-5, with the shot map showing exactly why the Gulls home opener party was being crashed.

Second Period: Henderson Silver Knights 2 – San Diego Gulls 0

Starting the second with as quoted from the broadcast “a push” the Gulls controlled play for the first two minutes until eventually drawing a call as Judd Caulfield was slashed in front of the Silver Knights net.

On the resulting Power Play the first unit controlled off the face-off and created space for Tristan Luneau to walk the line and send a low wrist shot that bounced through multiple layers of traffic to get the Gulls on the board. 2-1 Silver Knights.

The Gull almost made it a tied game on the very next shift but some desperation defense from Henderson kept their slim hold of the lead.

The pace picked up and the ice started to heavily tilt in the Gulls favour but still lacked the clean execution that saw them pot goals with ease in the season opener.

As time approached the midway point of the period with play largely back and forth a nice power move by Judd Caulfield to drive to the front of the net and one time a pass made it 2-2. 2-2 tie game.

Teams exchanged penalties for the next few minutes with the San Diego defense continuing to look some-what shaky – particularly on net drives and the Silver Knights retook the lead as again the Gulls allowed too much time and space in the mid-slot area. 3-2 Henderson.

Play was hectic for the final six or seven minutes of play in the period with San Diego getting their chances until the Captain – Ryan Carpenter evened things up once again as he was beautifully set up by Noah Warren after Cal Burke just missed wide on a tip in front mere seconds earlier. 3-3 tie game.

San Diego obtained possession off the draw following the goal and conservatively saw out the remaining 39 seconds of the period to take the tie into the second intermission. Shots were 12-10 San Diego on the frame and 21-15 overall with the shot map showing the Gulls forcing their way back into the game but still allowing far too much in front of their own net.

Third Period: San Diego Gulls 3 – Henderson Silver Knights 3

Time absolutely flew by on the first six minutes of action with a controversial Power Play awarded to Henderson that the Gulls killed and then looked the better team as they controlled play looking to get their first lead of the game.

Momentum quickly switched and a Henderson foray into the Gulls zone saw a tired line hemmed in for extended time before the Silver Knights ultimately retook the lead as a blast from the high slot beat Husso through traffic. 4-3 Silver Knights.

San Diego continued to push to get another equaliser while the Silver Knights clung to a conservative road-game style and largely kept the Gulls to the perimeter for every chance they were able to create for the next few minutes of play.

With eight minutes left in the period ex-Gulls Captain Jaycob Megna was called for kneeing to send the Gulls to the Power Play. It took some precious time to get set and the second unit managed to see out the remaining time with two chances in close but the score remained 4-3 as time approached the five minutes left mark.

Henderson continued to play the perfect road game, keeping play in the San Diego zone as often as they could and boxing out in front of their net whenever the Gulls managed to gain their zone.

The Gulls pulled Husso with two minutes left in the period and through a cycle and scramble play set up Matthew Phillips in front but he was slashed before he could finish. On the resulting six on four the Silver Knights managed to frustrate the Gulls through the neutral zone until when the Gulls eventually did gain the zone Nik Brouillard emphatically signaled the puck had gone out which the Officials huddled before deciding it was not out on the full.

San Diego tried desperately to throw pucks at the net for the remaining 43 seconds of the period but could not get another past the Silver Knights net-minder as they dropped their home opener once again to fall to 1-1-0 to start the season.

Post Game Notes:

Inconsistent Play

Hopefully this can just be put down to home opener jitters but the play style that I mentioned last week was a bare shadow of itself tonight. The Gulls still seemed to be applying the three man fore-check but the gaps between support players were too great and personnel were too slow and or lazy to their assigned positions. Breakout’s were too slow overall and allowed the Silver Knights to get in and force turnovers. Stian Solberg is also going through some growing pains – he was on the ice for two of the Silver Knights even strength goals and was a different defensive partner for each. The Gulls really did miss the steadying presence of Ian Moore out there today.

Whimsical Thinking

Just a stray thought as I watched Tristan Luneau start and lead his own breakout and zone-entry during a second period Power Play – what happens when the Ducks finally make room for their star prospect defender? I wasn’t expecting him to be with the Gulls this year anyway but losing him will certainly hurt a lot given how special he is. Has the Ducks pipeline set up the timing right so that the likes of Tarin Smith can step right in and provide that steady puck rushing ability next year? Not based off how he looked at the most recent rookie tournament – the kid is talented and of a very similar pedigree to Luneau but expectations will need to be tempered I feel.

Very Early Standings and Stats

Through a week of action the Pacific Division has a mix of varying games played by its ten teams so although the Colorado Eagles and Abbotsford Canucks currently lead the division in points (no surprises there) the Gulls are actually near the top of the division by points percentage having only played two games and secured two points thus far.

Noah Warren is your early season surprise – currently a point per game player with two assists through two games and he has looked good doing it. His primary assist on Ryan Carpenters goal today was insanely good.

Picking up another point each in this game both Matthew Phillips and Sasha Pastujov remain the scoring leaders for the team with three points in two games each while Jan Mysak was not himself at all and could not crack the scoresheet in tonight’s action.