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In three prior meetings this season against the San Jose Barracuda, the Gulls had picked up at least one standing point with a 2-0-1 record.
The teams met for the fourth time in the early part of the 2026-27 American Hockey League season on Wednesday amid a Veterans Day backdrop. The Gulls stayed true to form with a 4-1 victory and two valuable standings points — seven out of eight possible against the NHL San Jose Sharks’ top developmental team.
“I thought we played a really good 60 minutes,” Gulls assistant coach Kelly Buchberger said. “I thought the guys were engaged from the start of the game, and you know, the PK (penalty kill) was good. The power play got a goal, so all around we had great effort by everybody.
“I thought we played hard. We finished our checks when we needed to. When you’re chasing a win, you guys go out there try and change the tone of the game. But in the end, we were disciplined. We stayed to our structure of our game plan, and we won the game.”
The Gulls entered Wednesday’s game with a 5-5-3 record and 14 points — good for eighth place in the 10-team Pacific Division standings — while San Jose was 6-7-0 with 12 points in ninth place.
Damian Clara started for San Diego between the pipes while Eric Comrie started for San Jose.
The game faced off in front of a good-sized (6,323) Military Appreciation Night crowd.
The hosts took a 1-0 lead at 14:52 of the opening period as Anton Wahlberg scored his second goal of season, 12th point, with assists to Lucas Pettersson and Herman Traff.
Wahlberg, who has consistently produced points since the start of the season, skated along the dasher boards and slipped the puck in open space between Comrie and the goal line. The assist was the seventh for Pettersson and the second for Traff.
It was the beginning of a memorable night for the young 21-year-old Swede.
Shots for the first period were 10 for San Diego and seven for San Jose. The hosts did even better than that with a 16-3 edge in a scoreless second period for a 26-10 shot count through 40 minutes.
But Comrie kept his team within striking distance with 25 saves on those 26 shots.
But he couldn’t stop Wahlberg on a wicked power play shot 5:30 into the third period. Wahlberg found an empty side and ripped the puck home with a monstrous first-time shot. Matthew Phillips and Pettersson picked up assists.
It was the second goal of the game for Wahlberg and the second assist for Pettersson, who has also started to chalk up points.
The Cuda (6-8-0) got a chance to get one back with a power play at 6:53. But the hosts killed the penalty — their third in the game. The Cuda did eventually score but it was after the power play was over.
Alex Barre-Boulet scored at 11:16 to halve the San Jose deficit to 2-1. The goal was his third of the season. Assists went to Leo Sahlin (his fourth) and Cam Lund (his fifth). At this point the Cuda had out-shot the Gulls 7-5 to start the third period through they still trailed 31-17 overall.
The Gulls (6-5-3) stemmed any comeback, however.
The hosts made it 3-1 at 13:54 as James Hamblin picked an open corner with Comrie prone on the ice for his fourth goal of the season. A fight had started to develop just inside the blue line to take attention away from the ongoing play. Some in the building never saw the puck go into the net.
But it did. Jett Woo and Nathan Gaucher recorded the assists – the fourth for Woo and the third for Gaucher.
3-1 San Diego.
The Gulls added an empty net goal by Corey Schueneman at 15:51. Matt Basgall and team captain Ryan Carpenter dished out the assists on the game-clincher.
Final shots were 34-20 for the hosts.
Wahlberg earned first star honors with his first multi-goal effort of the season while Clara was the second star with 19 saves on 20 shots and Pettersson (two assists) picked up third star honors in the San Diego sweep.
Wahlberg leads the Gulls in overall scoring with 13 points (three goals, 10 assists). Pettersson has 11 points (three goals, eight assists). Traff has even started to contribute with one goal and two assists in 12 game appearances.
“I play with good linemates, and when that’s happening, you create good chances.” Wahlberg said. “Today I scored two goals, so happy with that. I had a little scoring drought so trying to keep building on it. Of course, it gives you confidence, so just keep building.
“I mean it’s always nice to play with Swedes. Now it happens there’s two Swedes, it’s great. We can speak our own language, and I think that’s good for us. It’s hard for the opponents to know what we’re saying out there. I feel like we have better chemistry, we had two practices together, we kind of know how we play and where we want to put the puck in. Felt good today. First game, just trying to keep building on it.
“You can’t get too high and too low when you win or lose, you just got to keep going. I think this team has good character. We always stay positive. The vibe has been we need to score more goals and get to the net. Most of the goals get scored in front of the net, so that was the main part. And I thought today scoring four goals, it’s absolutely good. As long as we win the games, it’s good. But the more goals, the better.
“I think the full team effort tonight. I thought we played good hockey for 60 minutes. We stuck together for 60 minutes, so that was good. And also, how we pressured the puck today. I thought we won a lot of battles, pressured the puck good. We’re trying to build on it. It’s going to be fun with two new games this weekend (Friday on Bakersfield and Saturday in San Jose). Trying to get two wins and climb in the standings.”
Clara pocked up his third win of the season while allowing one goal or less in his second consecutive appearance. In six games, he now has a 3-1-2 record with a 1.99 GAA and 0.929 save percentage — seventh overall in the league among qualified goaltenders.
“It’s always nice winning that last game at home and then going on the road makes it a lot more fun,” Buchberger said. “And hopefully, we get some confidence from this win and move on from there.”
