Gulls Blanked by Firebirds, 4-0
AHL San Diego Gulls

Gulls Blanked by Firebirds, 4-0

Published on January 18, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls fell 4-0 to the Coachella Valley Firebirds Saturday night at Pechanga Arena San Diego. The Gulls now sit with a 16-12-6-2 record.

Tomas Suchanek made 24 saves.

The Gulls will enter the second half of their 2025-26 AHL season Tuesday against the Tucson Roadrunners at Tucson Convention Center Arena (5:30 p.m. PST).

POSTGAME QUOTES

SAN DIEGO GULLS

Left wing Nico Myatovic

On tonight's game

Anytime Coachella comes into our barn, we got to come up and be ready to play. I think we fall short of that tonight. That's happened the past few games against these guys. So, we just got to hit the drawing board and be ready for next time.

On what the group has done so far this season

I think even looking back to last year, we've made just big improvements in all areas. As a group, collectively, we've come a lot closer. So, there's lots to build on going into the second half as we make a push here.

On the upcoming road trip

Matt [McIlvane] just kind of said the other day, these points were huge leading up to all-star break. This is kind of like a big push here before the big break. So, we got to treat this as a business trip, as we're gone for eight days, and look to get as many points as we can.

Head coach Matt McIlvane

On tonight's game

When you play three games in four nights and back-to-back, the big key is the way that you play with the puck and that you set yourself up for success. I don't know that we did that enough in the game today or that we were clean enough with it. Things like line changes become paramount, so you're not setting up the next line to scramble, and that was an issue in the game today. But, yeah, not good enough.

On what he's seen from the team as they reach the halfway point of the season

Certainly seen what we're capable of. You know that our highest end is very high and the part that we've got overcome in the back half of the season is what it looks like when we're not off or when we're not on. The variance is too big, and that's going to be our challenge.

On the upcoming road trip

Highly competitive opponent that's running really hot right now. They're one of the hotter teams in our division in the last 10 and you know, good chance for us to regroup, reset, recover, and then it's going to be a fight.

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American Hockey League Stories from January 18, 2026


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