After netting 21 out of a possible 24 points in a 12-game stretch, the San Diego Gulls looked to continue their climb up the American Hockey League’s Pacific Division standings. That is until they ran into the Colorado Eagles during last weekend’s two-game series at Pechanga Arena San Diego.
The Eagles, the best defensive team in the division, defeated the red-hot Gulls by scores of 3-1 and 3-0 to halt the San Diego club’s ascent and hand it a setback in the quest to qualify for the upcoming Calder Cup playoffs.
The Gulls entered the series against Colorado five standings points from the final playoff berth in the division. They entered this week’s three-game road-swing nine points off the pace coupled with a pair of wins by the Tucson Roadrunners.
The top seven teams in the division qualify for the playoffs. Tucson currently holds down seventh place, followed four points back by the Bakersfield Condors. The Gulls (54 points) and Henderson Silver Knights (52 points) bring up the rear in the 10-team division.
San Diego was scheduled to play in San Jose on Wednesday before visiting the Silver Knights in their Nevada home Friday and Saturday. Every point now is imperative to grab.
The playoff race has really started to heat up at both ends of the division standings. Five teams entered the week separated by seven points, led by the Eagles (34-15-5- 3) with 76 points and followed by the Ontario Reign (34-10-3-1, 72 points), Coachella Valley Firebirds (32-20-2-5, 71 points), Abbotsford Canucks (33-23-2-1, 69 points) and Calgary Wranglers (31-22-4- 3, 69 points).
Eight teams in the division have winning records.
Coachella Valley finished as the division’s top team last sea¬son and Calgary two seasons ago. The Firebirds have met the Hershey Bears in the last two Calder Cup Finals as the Western Conference representative.
The Gulls have 14 games left of their regular season schedule, including an upcoming four-game homestand against the sixth place San Jose Barracuda (Wednesday, March 26), Tucson (Friday, March 28), Calgary (Sat-urday, March 9) and Abbotsford (April 2). The Gulls also have an arduous four-game road swing to Iowa, Bakersfield and Coachella Valley (April 4-13).
Those games should go a long way to determining the Gulls’ postseason fortunes.
San Diego hosts Coachella Valley April 19 to close out the regular season.
The Gulls, who cobbled together a seven-game winning streak during February, swept home-and-home matchups against Ontario (3-2 in overtime on March 7 and 5-3 at home on March 8) to show they can compete with the division’s elite teams.
Two-time defending Calder Cup champion Hershey became the first AHL team to officially clinch a playoff berth. The Bears (27-15- 4-1) entered the week atop the Atlantic Division standings with 80 points. Other division leaders include the Laval Rocket (39-16- 2-1) with 81 points in the North Division and the Milwaukee Admirals (31-19–6) with 72 points in the Central Division.
All the division races are tight near the top. Hershey leads the Atlantic Division by six points over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, seven points over the Providence Bruins and eight points over the Charlotte Checkers. The Rocket is five points ahead of the Rochester Americans in the North Division while Milwaukee is one point ahead of the Texas Stars and two points ahead of the Grand Rapids Griffins.
It’s too early to call a winner in any of the division races, though the Eagles seem primed to enter their name among playoff qualifiers soon.
As for the Gulls? It’s not over yet.
“Colorado is a great team,” San Diego head coach Matt McIlvane underscored. “Top to bottom, their depth is excellent. They’ve had guys in and out of the lineup in the past couple days that are also difference makers on their team. They also play with great players with really strong structure as well. It’s a total package. They’re at the top of the division for a reason.”
“We competed hard,” Gulls defenseman Roland McKeown said. “Just fell a little short.”
The Eagles opened Friday’s game with the first five shots, but the Gulls responded with the game’s first goal as Ryan Carpenter netted his 18 goal of the season at 8:08 off passes from McKeown (his 20th assist of the season) and Justin Bailey (his 15th). Carpenter whipped in the puck with a powerful stroke to finish a rush down the ice against the flow of play.
Carpenter leads active Gulls with his 18 goals while his 41 points rank second on the team.
The Eagles leveled the score, 1-1, at 11:53 when Jayson Megna found himself alone in front of San Diego starter Oscar Dansk. Megna banked a shot off the post to net the equalizer
The Eagles struck for two rapid-fire goals to start the third period. Megna scored on a breakaway at 3:08, followed by a goal from Chris Wagner at 3:39. The goals came 31 seconds apart.
The hosts pulled Dansk with 2:00 to play in favor of an extra attacker but could not capitalize.
Saturday’s rematch was highlighted by a masterful defensive display as Colorado goaltender Adam Scheel pitched a 15-save shutout. The Eagles held the Gulls to single-digit shots in each period: five shots in the first period, four shots in the second period and six shots in the third period.
Colorado piled up 34 shots with Dansk making 31 saves. It’s the ninth time Dansk has stopped at least 30 shots this season.
Jacob McDonald broke a scoreless tie with 11.5 seconds to play in the opening period on a deflection in front of the net and Magna scored on a penalty shot at 8:55 of the second period, his 14th goal of the season.
Chris Wagner closed out scoring with an empty net goal at 18:47 of the third period. Megna had three goals in the two games.
