Gulls Collect Point in OT Loss
January 6, 2025 - American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release
The San Diego Gulls fell 3-2 in overtime to the Coachella Valley Firebirds tonight at Acrisure Arena.
Sasha Pastujov netted his seventh goal of the season, giving him points in back-to-back contests (1-1=2) and in seven of his last eight games (4-5=9).
Sam Colangelo scored his 13th goal of the season, the most among all AHL rookies. He continues to lead Gulls skaters in goals and points (13-9=22).
Jan Mysak extended his AHL career-long point streak to four games with an assist. He has tallied 3-3=6 points in that span.
Roland McKeown earned his 11th assist of the season, his fifth in his last six games (0-5=5).
Yegor Sidorov tallied his 11th assist of the season to cross the 20-point mark (9-11). He ranks second among Gulls skaters in points.
Coulson Pitre also picked up an assist, his sixth of the campaign.
Calle Clang stopped 23 shots.
The Gulls will return to Pechanga Arena San Diego for a five-game homestand beginning Wednesday against the Iowa Wild (7 p.m. PST).
POSTGAME QUOTES
SAN DIEGO GULLS
Right wing Sasha Pastujov
On his third-period goal
Jan [Mysak] had good pursuit of the puck, and I trust Jan. A lot of trust in my line mates. And there, I trusted Jan to win the battle. And I saw the goalie. He was maybe cheating to the other side a little bit, so I just held the strong side post, and Jan made a great play, and all I had to do was put it in the open net. And, yeah, a lot of credit to Jan on just trusting him and to win that battle.
On what clicked between the second and third period
I think we found it within. Our leaders spoke up in the locker room, and we all kind of had a heart-to-heart with the team and said if we're going to come back, it's in here, and we just have to stick together. And it didn't come right away. We got, I think, two in the last six minutes, but just trusting each other, trusting that in that locker room, we had what it took to come back and we were fortunate to pot two there in the third and get a point to that.
On how to build off of tonight going into the five-game homestand
I think we just build off that third period. And just knowing we play like that, we'll have a chance every night. But I think more importantly is not waiting until the third period to get to that kind of dominant game. Being ready to go from the opening faceoff and sustain it over three periods will be huge.
Head coach Matt McIlvane
On tonight's overtime loss to Coachella Valley
We weren't proud of our effort in Ontario. We gave them far too much, and when we take a look deeper into the game, there was plenty of opportunity we felt for improvement. I thought the guys responded well to the challenge today. We were down until the wee moments of the game, but we had belief, and for the most part, the guys played the right way the whole game. And when you do that, eventually you get rewarded. And that's the lesson for us here today, is that if we can just give ourselves a shot by being competitive, playing the right way, eventually we can all last teams. And that's what it felt like happened today.
On what the message to the team was going into the third
Our message was that eight shots isn't going to get it done through two periods, and we had to find ways to get to the net. And sometimes the biggest skill is just finding the way to get it to the net. But we felt like if we could push, we could push into them, and we knew they were coming off of a back-to-back, and we took advantage of that. Once we started to get a little bit of momentum, it felt like we kept it, and we're able to sustain it and keep belief. The guys, they earned a point today.
On how to carry this momentum into the five-game homestand
We love playing in front of America's finest fans, and when we play to our identity, we can beat anybody, and we can certainly play with teams. And when we get away from it, it feels like it did in Ontario. Our formula is very clear for us. And when we stick to it, we got a chance in every game.
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