One of the unique aspects of the AHL regular season is that divisional opponents face one another so often, there are precious few secrets when the Calder Cup playoffs roll around.
Such is the case for the San Diego Gulls as they prepare to face the Bakersfield Condors in Game 1 of the best-of-seven Pacific Division finals tonight at Bakersfield’s Rabobank Arena.
The Gulls, who advanced by taking three out of four games from San Jose in the first-round, went 6-3-0-1 against Bakersfield during the regular season.
That included three wins at Rabobank, where the Gulls will need to snag at least one victory to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in club history.
Bakersfield won the Pacific Division regular season title, led the AHL in scoring at 3.56 goals per game and allowed the fewest goals (186) in the league.
Condors goalie Shane Starrett is among the AHL’s best and the men in front of him killed off 17 of 19 power play chances by Colorado in a first-round victory.
“They weren’t the best team in the division by accident,” Gulls coach Dallas Eakins said. “They’re a team that can keep the puck out of the net. Their goalie has been a real strong, strong presence for them this year, right at the top of the league. Their special teams can hurt you, they can score. They’re a snake with many heads. So we’re going to have to play an extremely disciplined game. I’m not talking just about not taking penalties, managing the puck, doing our best to give them nothing. We certainly have our hands full here.”
The Gulls likely will counter Starrett with goalie Jeff Glass, who went 3-1 with a 2.32 goals-against average and .917 save percentage in the series win over San Jose.
San Diego also enters the series with a deep and balanced lineup that helped outscore San Jose 15-9.
Sam Carrick had a career season and put up six points in the first round, Chase De Leo scored a goal in all four games and Jacob Larsson led all AHL defensemen in first-round plus-minus (plus 6).
The Gulls established a single-season franchise mark by scoring 236 goals while icing 15 different rookies and seeing 24 players skate for the Gulls and the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks.
Several players, including talented rookie forward Max Jones, had the advantage of a few extra days to heal from nagging injuries. The Gulls closed the series against San Jose with a 5-2 win on April 24.
Being fresh and getting off to a fast start will be critical against the Condors, who closed their series against Colorado with a 5-2 win on April 27.
The Gulls, who have 13 players making their Calder Cup debut this spring, earned some precious extra time.
“It’s always nice,” Jones said of the time off. “Right now, for me, just to get some rest and try to heal some of the minor bumps and bruises is nice. For everyone actually. At the same time, you kind of want to keep cruising, keep that same mentality and keep your game going. You usually just want to keep playing, but you find that meat in the middle there in most situations and you have to make the best of it.”
Carter is a freelance writer.
