Gulls rout Abbotsford at Pechanga Arena to cap successful weekend

It took a bit of patience to turn a dominating performance into results, but in the end, the San Diego Gulls emerged with a 3-0 victory over the Abbotsford Canucks Sunday evening at Pechanga Arena.

Tim Washe, Judd Caulfied and Sam Colangelo scored, goalie Calle Clang earned the first shutout of his three-season AHL career in net and the Gulls finished with a whopping 42-15 edge in shots on goal.

The Gulls (13-8-6-1, 34 points) won for the third time in four games and moved to 2-0 against last-place Abbotsford (8-16-3-3, 22 points) on the season.

The Pacific Division rivals will meet six more times.

The Gulls controlled play from the opening puck drop, but the game remained scoreless after the first period despite San Diego holding a 15-6 edge in shots.

The Gulls finally broke through at 12:33 of the second period when rookie defenseman Washe stuffed a rebound of a Colangelo shot past Abbotsford goaltender Jifi Patera for Washe’s 12th tally of the season.

The hit of the night came roughly five minutes later.

With the puck deep in the San Diego zone and the Canucks threatening, Gulls defenseman Stan Stolberg crushed Nils Aman with a shoulder to the chest, leveling him.

The hit was legal, but Abbotsford’s Joseph Arnsten came after Stolberg from behind with a flurry of punches.

Stolberg fought back and Arnsten earned penalties for instigating, fighting and misconduct.

The Gulls were unable to cash in on the ensuing power play and carried the 1-0 lead into the third period when Caulfield finished a breakaway with a nifty in-and-out move before beating Patera glove side with a backhander at the 7:52 mark for Caulfield’s 10th goal of the season, making it 2-0 Gulls.

Colangelo capped scoring with an empty net goal at 17:45 of the third.

“You get the one on the power play and that gives everyone a bit of life,” Gulls coach Matt McIlvane said. “And that Caulfield goal was magical. That really put a spark into our team and the next couple of shifts were awesome … Gave the guys a bit of relief … A great team effort.”

The Gulls were coming off a 5-2 win at Bakersfield Friday night.

The most noteworthy components of that win were shorthanded goals scored by Carpenter and Nico Myotovic and Justin Bailey netting his club-record sixth game-winning goal of the season.

The Gulls continue a stretch against Pacific foes Wednesday at Tucson before returning to San Diego to host Coachella Valley Friday night.

“Winning’s fun,” Washe said. “We’re going to keep trying to do our best.”