2025-2026 Game 25: San Diego Gulls at Calgary Wranglers

Calgary, Alberta. After having their point streak snapped by a regulation 1-0 loss to the Henderson Silver Knights, the San Diego Gulls headed north across the border to Calgary for a tough test against the Wranglers.

After the shutout loss the coaching staff elected to tweak the bottom two lines – swapping Yegor Sidorov to the third line and moving Nico Myatovic to the fourth line as well as bringing Travis Howe back in and taking out Cal Burke.

With Ville Husso returned to the Gulls just days before it was surprising that he was not given the start as he backed up Clang.

Cal Burke and Roman Kinal were the only healthy scratches.

First Period:

San Diego appeared to be playing a conservative stance – not forcing the issues early on and perhaps waiting for a Calgary mistake.

The Gulls were doing a fairly good job of preventing any shots through the first five minutes of play but when the Wranglers did eventually start throwing their first few chances on Clang they got one in as Lucas Ciona was allowed to turn and tee-up a hard and accurate wrist shot that beat Clang top corner. 1-0 Wranglers.

San Diego continued to deploy some largely uninspiring on-ice sequences until Justin Bailey drew a high sticking call as he attempted to rush the puck from his own zone. On the resulting man advantage draw in the Calgary zone, a face-off win by Tim Washe and shot immediately sent on net by Justin Bailey allowed Matthew Phillips to collect the rebound and tie things up against his old team. 1-1 tie game.

The Wranglers came back with a push and Calle Clang had to look good on two stops in close after a bad Gulls turnover but San Diego were awarded another Power Play as Judd Caulfield drew a holding call on one of his patented bull-rush runs.

The Power Play unit tried to replicate the Phillips goal by getting the puck to Bailey for a shot off the face-off but this time the rebound was directed to the side. San Diego could not really generate much else with the remaining two minutes with the man advantage and as play returned to five on five were sent a man short themselves as Tristan Luneau was called for holding.

The Gulls killed the minor without too much trouble and managed to find some more offense in the remaining time on the period – Nik Brouillard opting to send the one extra pass as he found himself coming down the slot in a wide open shooting lane. Unfortunately the pass hopped the stick of the waiting Washe at the side of the net.

The Gulls heading to the first intermission tied up at one but possibly regretting passing up some clear cut opportunities as they led in shots 15-10.

Second Period: San Diego Gulls 1 – Calgary Wranglers 1

San Diego enjoyed the majority of possession through the first five minutes of play, translating that into a further three chances on the Calgary net but again let one or two opportunities go begging as they went for the pass instead of the shot.

Just as I wrote that and with several minutes of not a whole lot of action at all a nice play started by Yegor Sidorov sending the puck to a soft area for Nik Brouillard to collect and spot a crashing Mathew Phillips at the far post. His perfect pass hitting off the former Wrangler for the Gulls lead and his second of the night. 2-1 Gulls.

Calgary hit right back, taking advantage of some poor man to man defense as their Captain turned up the right side boards and spotted Parker Bell sneaking behind his check. 2-2 tie game.

On the very next shift a shell-shocked Gulls squad could only watch as the Wranglers took the lead as they again out-worked San Diego in their own zone to find a man at the back door. 3-2 Wranglers.

It was non stop action for the next few minutes as a two many men minor assessed to Calgary gave the Gulls a chance to tie things back up and they looked very good with the man advantage, only first year pro Owen Say preventing them from getting their second Power Play goal of the game as he denied Matthew Phillips at the right side and then absolutely robbed Yegor Sidorov on the left.

The open flow continued for the remaining time in the period and a holding call gave the Gulls another Power Play in the final thirty seconds of the frame but they could not crack an equaliser with the time remaining.

The Gulls down by one heading into the second intermission despite out-shooting their opponent 19-9 on the frame and 34-19 overall. The shot map showing they were well and truly getting “goalie’d”.

Third Period: Calgary Wranglers 3 – San Diego Gulls 2

Starting the third with just over a minute remaining in their man advantage carrying over from the second, the Gulls could never really get set but did manage to get some good looks in the Calgary zone after play returned to five on five. Mathew Phillips again at the center of all the action and unlucky to get denied in close.

The Wranglers spun things the other way and on one goal mouth scramble drew a tripping call as Nathan Gaucher was caught with his stick between the legs of Wranglers player trying to get back out to the front of the net. San Diego killed the minor and even saw a grade A shorthanded chance go begging as Judd Caulfield intercepted a pass to start a three on one rush but he forced the pass rather then going for the shot and the chance was snuffed out.

San Diego were awarded a Power Play chance as Mathew Phillips was man-handled to the ice by Martin Frk and right off the face-off the Gulls came close on a goal mouth scramble but the net was dislodged in the flurry and play was stopped.

On the very next puck drop the Gulls would not be denied as Jan Mysak finished off a beautiful passing zone-entry play, getting his stick to a shot-pass at the back-door to make it a 3-3 tie game and yet another goal on the man advantage for San Diego. 3-3 tie game.

An ill timed and ill advised high sticking call to Yegor Sidorov provided some final few minutes of adversity as the Gulls headed to the penalty kill with four and a half minutes remaining in the period.

San Diego looked the better team on the penalty kill and created perhaps the best opportunity of the two minute sequence as Tristan Luneau sent Tim Washe ahead on a shorthanded break, the Gulls face-off ace powering his way through three Calgary checkers on his way to the net where his backhand opportunity was narrowly turned aside.

The back and forth exchange of Power Plays continued all the way into the final minute as a Gulls Power Play awarded when Nico Myatovic had his stick slashed out of his hands was cut short by Sasha Pastujov as he was called for tripping. The four on four taking us into the end of regulation and giving the Wranglers a minute of the man advantage to start the extra session.

Overtime;

After winning the face-off the Wranglers spent the entire minute of their four on three man advantage in the San Diego zone but the Gulls did a great job of closing space quickly and taking away lanes in the triangle. As they killed the penalty a beautiful setup by Ryan Carpenter to a streaking Mathew Phillips almost saw the game winner come off his stick on a nice move but he was tripped in the process to give the Gulls a Power Play of their own in the extra session.

San Diego were unable to do much with their own man advantage but as play returned to even strength a Gulls offensive zone face-off win allowed Tristan Luneau to find time and space to walk the blue line – pick a spot and wire an absolute laser to hit the top of the Wranglers net. 4-3 Gulls win.

Post Game Notes:

Shots On Net

You may have noticed me mention it more than a few times in this recap but it has been a frustrating element of the Gulls lack of production lately. Clear cut chances are being ignored as players look for the extra pass. There isn’t much else to say other than that. Just throw the puck on net. Even if the pass looks the better option at least a shot could generate a rebound or create some other outcome other than a turnover. It’s simple hockey. When you aren’t scoring, you have to go back to it.

That said – holy cow the Gulls put 50 shots on net in this game. Compared to Calgarys 28.

But I still stand by my thoughts on this – they need to take the shot on more of those clear cut opportunities.

Gratuitous Tristan Luneau Update

This is for the Ducks fans looking at Luneaus numbers and wondering what is going on with him. Here is the answer. Nothing. He is fine. Better than fine. He is a one man zone entry machine. As I have written previously and ad-nauseam – his contributions don’t always show on the scoresheet but he is by far and away the Gulls best defender. He showed that again in tonight’s game, switching things up and seeing an open lane to take the puck into the offensive zone himself on the Power Play he did just that, taking it all the way to the net and creating a chance as the follow up attackers attempted to get at the rebound. He is also incredibly unselfish – always looking to set-up team-mates; as on one one-timer he created for Nathan Gaucher midway through the third.

Please stop worrying about Luneau, he is not going backwards in his development, he is refining his game and is so good defensively that it sometimes looks like he isn’t even trying out there when he diffuses dangerous scoring opportunities.

I wrote these first two post game notes during the second intermission so it is only fitting that Luneau ended up scoring the game winner in overtime. See?! See?! LUNEAU IS FINE GUYS STOP WORRYING

Standings Update

This win gives the Gulls 29 points and brings them to 11-7-6-1 on the year. They break free of the three way tie they currently have with Bakersfield and Henderson to take sole possession of sixth place but Bakersfield could change that as they are currently leading the Firebirds as of writing this. San Diego desperately needed a win here and getting another on Sunday would be a great early Christmas present to set them up for their end of month contests against Bakersfield, Abbotsford and Tucson. More importantly the Gulls put some pucks in the net again – several players got back on the scoresheet; including Jan Mysak, Matthew Phillips and Tim Washe. Heavy hitters like Yegor Sidorov, Sashas Pastujov and Sam Colangelo are still trying to find it but it’s not panic stations yet.