Gulls Drop Preseason Game at Ontario
Published on October 5, 2025 under American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release
The San Diego Gulls fell to the Ontario Reign 3-2 Sunday afternoon at Toyota Arena in their lone preseason contest
Sasha Pastujov opened the scoring for the Gulls with a goal 1:32 into the game.
Jan Mysak scored a third period goal and earned an assist on Pastujov's opening goal (1-1=2).
Will Francis earned an assist.
Tomas Suchanek stopped 12-of-14 shots in his first AHL action since the 2023-24 season. Suchanek missed the entirety of the 2024-25 AHL season due to a torn ACL.
Vyachelav Buteyets stopped 13-of-14 shots.
The Gulls make their 2025-26 regular season debut on Friday, Oct. 10 on the road against the Coachella Valley Firebirds at Acrisure Arena (7 p.m. PDT).
POSTGAME QUOTES
SAN DIEGO GULLS
Left wing Sasha Pastujov
On tonight's preseason contest vs. Ontario
Certainly good to play some external competition and get the legs under us for a full game. Think there's plenty good to take away tonight, and it was nice to play again.
On his chemistry with Jan Mysak
That first one just Jan with support through the neutral zone and luckily the puck just fell back to me, and I got it off quick. And then on the second one, Jan, great, great defensive play and just to get going up ice. I just joined him, a bit of a decoy and he trusts his shot.
On what the team is looking to accomplish in a preseason game
I think just first and foremost, getting our legs under us. You can practice all you want, but a game's a different environment, as well as just building habits right from the get go. I think Matt [McIlvane] has really nailed that on the head. Just every play, every guy, every time you know we're doing the right things. And I think we did.
On starting the regular season hot
I think we want to get off to a fast start. Obviously, the last couple years, we haven't and it's a huge focal point this year. Although it's preseason, I think a lot of guys have a bad taste in their mouths right now. Anytime you compete, you want to win. We're going to take that, fuel us and get our full lineup, and hit the ground running.
Head coach Matt McIlvane
On tonight's preseason contest vs. Ontario
What the approach was is, 'let's play some guys that are looking for an opportunity.' So, let's see what depth of our organization looks like as far as what could end up in the [ECHL] And then there's other guys that haven't played any preseason games yet, or other guys that we're trying to get going with some chemistry with their line mates. So all that decision making goes into the lineup and then we just watch, and we see it. The big takeaways are that for a first preseason game, for a lot of guys, there was a lot of good structure, I thought, to stand on. Certainly not a perfect game, but there were a lot of little things that we were looking for that we were able to execute upon. So, from that point, you certainly feel good about it.
On Jan Mysak and Sashsa Pastujov's chemistry
They played off each other pretty well. They're dangerous. And they felt like they were in the offensive zone a lot of shifts. When they were in the d-zone, they transitioned very quickly out of it. We'll certainly look to build on that and find the right winger to complement them. But we know that those guys have great chemistry together. So, they showed well.
On the goaltenders
It's a hard first chance to give up for [Tomas Suchanek], give up an outside break on a power play. It's not the one that we want to give up first for him. But he settled into the game and thought up until the very end, he fought off everything. When [Vyacheslav Buteyets] got in there, felt like he had a lot more shots from distance. But he was a solid presence for us. Felt like he was a calm presence.
On Nikolas Brouillard
[Brouillard] helps the puck move in, for sure. That's his expertise, is getting pucks and moving them up. He's tenacious and he's got an edge to his game as well. He certainly helped us move pucks up today.
On getting ready for the regular season
We gave up two goals on arrival, sort of. So that's the first thing that's coming to mind right now. What will be fun is to get our group in place this week as the last pieces from Anaheim [arrive], as we start planning moving forward and see what this group can look like, and we insert all the pieces into our lineup. I think there's great structure that the Ducks have that we can stand on. And I think that we're just trying to put those pieces into place and get off to a great start.
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