Gulls close season with best record since 2018-19, Bailey nets 25th goal

San Diego ended its regular season with a 6-4 loss to Coachella Valley on April 18, but the bigger story was the climb the Gulls made across 72 games. The club finished 33-27-8-4 with a .542 points percentage, its best full-season record since 2018-19 and a clear step forward for a team that had spent recent years looking for more stability.

Justin Bailey was at the center of that progress all night and all season. He scored at 15:27 of the first period with assists from Ryan Carpenter and Sasha Pastujov, then later picked up his 17th assist on Stian Solberg’s goal late in the third period. Bailey finished with 25 goals and 17 assists, led San Diego in goals, and closed with five goals and six points over the final six games, a strong finish that matched the team’s late push.

That push mattered because it carried San Diego back into the postseason. The Gulls clinched the Pacific Division’s final playoff berth on April 12 after a 7-3 win over Bakersfield and Tucson’s 3-2 overtime loss to Colorado, earning their first playoff appearance since 2022. For a franchise that has not won a playoff series since reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2019, the regular-season rebound was about more than just one good month. It pointed to a roster and structure that looked far more competitive than the one that went 26-35-10-1 last season and finished 28th in the AHL.

Matt McIlvane’s second season behind the bench was part of that change. San Diego moved with more consistency, generated more offense and spent the year looking more like a team with a direction instead of one simply trying to get through the schedule. The final score still belonged to Coachella Valley, a division rival that has become a constant postseason threat, but the Gulls finished with enough wins and enough traction to make the loss feel secondary.

The building reflected that shift too. The announced crowd of 12,920 was the club’s second sellout of the season, and it fit the broader picture of a franchise that has long drawn well at Pechanga Arena San Diego. Over its first four seasons, the Gulls welcomed more than 1.2 million fans and led the AHL in attendance for two straight years. On this night, the crowd saw a loss, but also a team that left the regular season with real proof of progress.