Gulls Win Over Eagles, 2-1
AHL San Diego Gulls

Gulls Win Over Eagles, 2-1

Published on March 14, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
San Diego Gulls News Release


The San Diego Gulls took down the Colorado Eagles 2-1 Saturday night at Pechanga Arena. The Gulls' record now stands at 26-20-8-4.

Tristan Luneau extended his point streak to seven games with his second straight multi-point effort, collecting his seventh goal and 22nd assist of the season (1-1=2). He has tallied 3-8=11 points in that span. Since the All-Star Break (Feb. 13), Luneau leads all AHL blueliners in points (3-12=15) and ranks tied for seventh among all AHL skaters. He also ranks second among AHL defensemen in assists in that span.

Nikita Nesterenko scored his fourth goal and tallied his fifth assist for his second multi-point game of the season (1-1=2).

Sam Colangelo earned his 14th assist of the season, giving him 9-13=22 points.

Coulson Pitre picked up an assist, his second of the campaign.

Tomas Suchanek stopped 28-of-29 shots to earn his third victory of the season.

The Gulls and Eagles head to Blue Arena for another back-to-back set following tonight, beginning on Tuesday (6:05 p.m. PDT).

POSTGAME QUOTES

SAN DIEGO GULLS

Defenseman Tristan Luneau

On the difference tonight compared to last night

Honestly, [Tomas Suchanek] has been incredible tonight. He bailed us out a bunch of times. It was really a playoff effort. We talked about it a lot in the room, just showing up every game like it's the playoffs and getting ready for that. Those are opportunities and I feel like we did that tonight.

On entering the third period tied

Just dig deep. Get through that penalty kill and then get back to our game as quick as possible was the message we brought in the room.

On the message on the bench in the final minutes

Just stay on top of everything. Don't give these guys any free opportunities to get some free looks at us and just play hard for the rest of the game.

On the upcoming games against Colorado

Going to try to build on that performance. Clean up some things in our game and just be ready for two big battles.

Goaltender Tomas Suchanek

On what went into the win tonight

I would say everything. The guys played amazing. They played amazing yesterday and today too. I think it was a big time win for all of us. We needed to prove ourselves and that we can win, and we did it today against a very good team. The guys played awesome.

On the full team effort tonight

Starting from the D-zone, everybody was doing their job. They were blocking the shots. The forwards were doing what they were supposed to do. Then I was just hoping we're going to put at least one in that third period, and they did, and I was so happy. It was my job to not let any other goals and we luckily did it.

On the crowd at Pechanga Arena

It's amazing. The fans were awesome and we wanted to win that for them too because they were very big support throughout the whole game, and we just wanted to bring the win for them.

Head coach Matt McIlvane

On tonight's game compared to last night's game

I don't even know that we needed to respond. I think we played well last night. You look at the scoreboard, it indicates otherwise, but we did a lot of little things that set up our game for tonight, so we didn't have to rework our whole performance. I thought that the guys were very focused for the whole game today. Maybe it wasn't as clean because of the back-to-back, but there was a lot to feel good about in this game.

On the message going into the third period

Well, message even starting the game was, let's get inside. So, we got rewarded for that with great net front presence by [Nikita] Nesterenko and Sam [Colangelo]. Then you go into the third period, and you're on the kill. Our penalty kill has been strong the whole season and we've got a lot of confidence in the group that's going to go out and have the ability to get the job done, and we certainly did.

On how the team closed the game out

Our goalie was great. I think that there was a lot of mature effort. I think that the [Nathan] Gaucher line was extremely reliable for us. Our D-men were great as far as grabbing sticks and blocking some shots. So, it was a team effort to get that win.

On Tomas Suchanek's performance tonight

It was calm. He was compact with his game, and he sort of let it come to him. I thought he showed a real solid performance today.

On heading to Colorado for two games

Get a little rest right now. It's not an easy place to play, but it's not the time of year where you really care about where. You're just excited to have the opportunity to compete against a great team, so we'll be looking forward to that.

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American Hockey League Stories from March 14, 2026


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