The minor-league American Hockey League primarily serves as a developmental league for the National Hockey League, and that development can come with various ups and downs.
For the San Diego Gulls, the process can resemble last weekend’s series at first-place Colorado.
On Friday, the Gulls came back from a two-goal second-period deficit to pull out a 5-4 shootout victory.
A day later, the Gulls were blitzed for five second-period goals in a 6-0 loss.
It was the team’s worst defeat of the season.
“We talked about the resiliency (Friday night), the good that came out from that,” assistant coach Mike Babcock said after Saturday’s loss. ”Then obviously, just the details and again, we had one bad period in the second. So, we got to find a way to grab that, clean some things up there, and then we’ll get on with it.”
The Gulls (15-10-6-2, 38 points) will try to carry lessons learned into a three-game homestand that includes games against Abbotsford on both Wednesday and Friday nights followed by Saturday’s tilt against Coachella Valley.
With 39 games remaining, the Gulls sit sixth in the jam-packed 10-team AHL Pacific Conference standings with one point separating fifth-place Calgary and ninth-place Tucson.
With goalkeeper Valle Husso still up with the Anaheim Ducks, recent ECHL call-up Vyacheslav Buteyets will get chances to develop his game as he shares duties with primary netminder Calle Clang. The 23-year old native of Chelyabinsk, Russia was taken in the sixth round of the 2022 draft by the Ducks.
On the season, the Gulls are 3-0 against 10th-place Abbotsford (11-19-3-3, 28 points) and 1-4 against seventh-place Coachella Valley (17-12-4, 38 points).
G League’s Clippers hit the road
The Clippers (4-5) of the G League continue a road swing Thursday at the South Bay Lakers (4-3) and Friday at the Windy City Bulls (4-5).
On Monday and Wednesday, the Clippers will cross the border for a set against the Mexico City Capitanes (8-2). Both games will stream via ESPN+.
Mojo play 2
The San Diego Mojo (0-2) of Major League Volleyball will look for their first win Thursday at Dallas (0-1) before returning to Viejas Arena to host Atlanta (1-1) Sunday at 4 p.m.
Sunday’s match will be televised locally on KUSI.
Sockers head to Milwaukee
The San Diego Sockers of the MASL (5-2-1, 16 points) visit Milwaukee (5-1-2, 16 points) on Sunday. San Diego has won four of its last five.
Forward Charlie Gonzalez was named MASL Offensive Player of the Week after scoring three goals with an assist in wins at Baltimore and Utica.
Seals visit Vancouver
The San Diego Seals (1-3) of the National Lacrosse League will try to snap a two-game skid Friday night at Vancouver (3-1).
San Diego is coming off a 12-7 home loss to Toronto. The Seals have been outscored 55-41 so far this season despite outshooting opponents in all four games.