Gulls Edged, 3-2, by IceHogs
AHL San Diego Gulls

Gulls Edged, 3-2, by IceHogs

Published on March 6, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls fell 3-2 to the Rockford IceHogs tonight at Pechanga Arena. The Gulls' record now stands at 24-18-8-4.

Sasha Pastujov scored his 13th goal and earned his 27th assist of the season, giving him points in back-to-back games (1-2=3). Pastujov leads San Diego skaters with 13-27@ points.

Sam Colangelo netted his ninth goal of the season, his fifth on the power play. He co-leads Gulls skaters in PPG.

Matthew Phillips extended his team lead in assists with his 29th helper of the campaign. He has now recorded assists in three straight games (0-3=3). He ranks second among Gulls skaters in points (10-29=39).

Tristan Luneau tallied his 17th assist of the season to extend his point streak to three games (1-3=4).

Cal Burke picked up an assist, his sixth of the season.

Tomas Suchanek made 14 saves.

The Gulls face the IceHogs on home ice again tomorrow night (6 p.m. PST).

POSTGAME QUOTES

SAN DIEGO GULLS

Right wing Sasha Pastujov

On tonight's loss compared to last game vs. San Jose

I think we just upped our urgency on San Jose. We waited to go down 3-0 to kind of find our game. The big emphasis is to come out of the gate strong, and I thought we did but ultimately, it wasn't enough.

On the team missing Jan Mysak

Jan is the Swiss Army knife. He does a lot of good things for us. We've certainly missed him. I mean, almost immediately the day he went out since then, yeah, we've been missing him, for sure. But you know, at the same time, we have plenty of capable guys in our locker room and plenty of guys stepping up and filling in his role well. We got a great, great team, and ultimately, we should be still finding results. But yeah, we definitely miss Jan and can't wait for him to be back.

On how important special teams are for the end of the season

Special teams is huge. Our kill was solid and special teams is everything, especially come playoff time. It can dictate a series or a game, and we put a huge emphasis on it. It's good to see the power play starting to click, but there's more to be had. We had a four-on-three with a power play late. We got one, but we're always striving for more.

On tomorrow night's game

I think it's for lack of better term, a must win in our eyes. We're sick of losing. It's been a tough little skid here, but it's better now than in a month come playoff time. So, I think we're really finding ourselves right now. I think through adversity you become stronger, you become a better team. Like I said, I think the timing is good before the playoffs, but at the same time, we got to find our game before playoffs and start to solidify a solid spot and really just start to get rolling here. So yeah, tomorrow night's huge, and I think we'll have a strong buy in for everyone.

Head coach Matt McIlvane

On tonight's loss to Rockford

I think when you look at the game as a whole, compared to San Jose, there's a lot better. Sometimes when you're that absent from a game, you have to take your medicine to the next one. The reality is that the body of work in the game was strong. The difference in the game is really three decision errors. It's an entry where we're a little overzealous. It's missing a high forward in the offensive zone, and a goalie play mistake on our power play. So, I mean we sort of let them back in and fed into their strengths. We get to see what kind of firepower they've got. So, body work is certainly better, still some cleanup to do.

On how the team can get back to winning ways at home

Well, right now we're focused on getting back to winning ways everywhere. I think to get there, you got to go and strip down and get into some parts of the game. We're building our game with this specific group that we've gotten. It felt like a step in the right direction today, but still, we end up short.

On what he wants to see from the group tomorrow

More urgency. We're an urgent group at the moment. We've got goals that we're trying to uphold, and there's plenty in the game that we can carry on with. Then we're looking for improvement, there's another step to take.

Check out the San Diego Gulls Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Hockey League Stories from March 6, 2026


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central