2025-2026 Game 72: San Diego Gulls vs Coachella Valley Firebirds

San Diego, California. In their final regular season game before they traveled to Colorado for their daunting first round match-up with the Colorado Eagles the Gulls hoped to end the season on a high in front of their fans on fan appreciation night.

I had expected a more “playoff ready” lineup to end the season as a final tune-up before the play-offs but Coach McIlvane surprised me by playing Traff, Pettersson and Pitre once more after the Gulls had lost the last two games with a less experienced line-up.

Once again the top two lines stayed the same but the third line consisted of Nesterenko, Mysak and Burke. While the fourth line featured Coulson Pitre, Lucas Pettersson and Herman Traff.

Calle Clang was given the start – his first in three games and Tomas Suchanek backed up.

Drew Elliott, Judd Caulfield, Nathan Gaucher, Nico Myatovic, Roland McKeown and Damian Clara were the healthy scratches.

First Period:

The first five minutes were relatively calm with both teams playing tentatively to avoid mistakes as players were essentially trying to audition for more ice time come the post-season.

The neutral zone battle was suddenly shattered when Konnor Smith rode his man into a direct collision with Calle Clang that saw the Gulls number one goaltender somersault end over end. He was seen to by the trainers and eventually taken from the game – hopefully as a precaution. Tomas Suchanek came on in relief and had to be sharp as he was tested early on the very next shift.

With Konnor Smith seemingly taking offense to being largely responsible for the Clang injury he proceeded to run over any and all Firebirds players in sight. Taking himself out of the play on one such hit and putting his untested goaltender under pressure as a result.

The physicality continued to pick up and the ice began to open as a result. The tit for tat stick work continued until the Firebirds were called for an infraction as Sasha Pastujov was cross-checked without the puck.

The first unit didn’t take long to get the party started as Ryan Carpenter smartly one-touched a Matthew Phillips pass from behind the red line to a waiting and open Sam Colangelo. His one time blast going top corner before Firebirds goaltender Kokko could get set. 1-0 Gulls.

San Diego held their own on the expected push back and swiftly turned momentum back in their own direction as they continued to roll lines. The fourth line were clearly a liability in their own zone but Herman Traff showed a glimpse of his hands as he made a nice inside outside move on a partial break. The top line continued that momentum and a nice zone entry from Sasha Pastujov backed up the Firebirds defense – allowing a hand-off to Ryan Carptner who in turn handed off to Justin Bailey who used the time and space given to him to measure, fake a pass then beat Kokko with a quick snap shot. 2-0 Gulls.

The Gulls forward momentum was briefly halted by a very light interference call to Nik Brouillard and the undermanned San Diego defense could not cope with the barrage of shots from the Firebirds as they were able to get one back. 2-1 Gulls.

San Diego taking a 2-1 lead into the first intermission despite trailing in shots 11-7. The shot map showing the Gulls defense allowing too many high danger looks and Suchanek proving the difference on the period.

Second Period: San Diego Gulls 2 – Coachella Valley Firebirds 1

It was a horrific start to the second as the Firebirds instantly tied the game up on a goal that both Suchanek and the Gulls defense would love to have back. A seemingly harmless dump-in by the Firebirds was stopped by Suchaneks blocker but he lost track of it as it fell to his feet. The Gulls back-checkers were too slow to track it and the Firebirds Jacob Melanson pounced. 2-2 tie game.

San Diego did not let the goal get to them and they pressed the attack. Sam Colangelo earning a Power Play as he was tripped coming through the neutral zone on a borderline knee-to-knee hit. The Gulls man advantage was largely frustrated by an overly aggressive Firebirds penalty kill but the first unit did manage to get some good looks once they got set.

Coachella Valley took momentum after the kill and trapped back to back San Diego squads in their own zone, first the fourth line and then the first line before breaking through on an inevitable goal as the Gulls failed to get a decent break-out under the relentless fore-check. 3-2 Firebirds.

After the next TV time-out the Firebirds continued their dominance and the Gulls second period collapse was in full effect as Coachella Valley struck again via a point shot that beat Suchanek through layers of traffic. 4-2 Firebirds.

The Gulls finally found some life and started to put some back to back sustained pressure in the Firebirds zone. Cal Burke made a case to stay in the post-season line-up as he took on the entire Coachella Valley team in their zone, relieving one defender of his stick then slipping into space with some deft stick work before feeding the puck back to an open Matt Basgall. The standout NCAA defender winding a blast that beat Kokko for his first professional goal. 4-3 Firebirds.

Konnor Smith continued his bad night as he was beat wide on a rush and then was called for cross-checking as he bowled over a Firebird at the side of the net in an effort to get the puck back. This time the Gulls penalty kill managed to erase the majority of the infraction and even had the makings of a short handed break but the Firebirds tied up Ryan Carpenter before he could feed a streaking Justin Bailey.

The Gulls surrendering their lead on their usual second period collapse but getting at least one back to give hope for a third period come-back.

Shots were 13-8 Firebirds and 24-15 Coachella Valley overall. The shot map really spoke for itself.

Third Period: Coachella Valley Firebirds 4 – San Diego Gulls 3

San Diego were the better team through the first five minutes and could count themselves extremely unlucky to have not come up with a game tying goal as Cal Burke was denied by a last minute stick save in front from Kakko and then ringed the puck off the post moments later.

Coachella Valley fought back and once again Konnor Smith proved a liability as he wrapped up his man down low but did not do much more than allow him to move the puck round to allow his team to get set in the Gulls zone.

Just when it felt like the Firebirds were settling into a rhythm that would spell a frustrating end to the Gulls regular season a nice zone setup led to Stian Solberg finding just enough room to wire a shot that beat Kokko through traffic. 4-4 tie game.

The goal was Solbergs 12th – tying him with Brandon Montour and Olen Zellweger for most by a rookie defencemen.

Matthew Phillips was seen to be in pain as he was felled by an incredibly dirty knee on knee hit by the player benches. The call was made after he eventually managed to get to his feet and the Gulls went to the Power Play.

The first unit again looked dangerous thanks in large part to the presence of Tristan Luneau but they could not convert and play returned to five on five with just over three minutes left.

San Diego pulled Suchanek with a minute left and despite having numbers in their zone the Firebirds were too quick to get to loose pucks and eventually iced it into the empty net. 6-4 Firebirds.

The Gulls dropping their final regular season game to limp into the playoffs on a 0-3 slide.

Post Game Notes:

Ideal Playoff Line-Up

The good news is – the Gulls probably would have won this game had they iced their full strength squad.
I was very surprised we did not see the clear-cut eventual play-off line-up in this final tune-up before the very short three game series to start the first round.
Missing from the line-up tonight was Judd Caulfield, Nathan Gaucher, Nico Myatovic and Roland McKeown and I think you can assume all of the above will be in the line-up for the first game against the Eagles in Colorado. Essentially the entire fourth line will be swapped out for Caulfield, Gaucher and Myatovic while McKeown will come in for Smith. Ideally I’d love Hinds back but this as close as it could be to the best possible line-up the Gulls could ice. The only player coming out that I might not be sure about is Cal Burke – who is playing out of his mind lately.

Defensive Details x 2

I was ready to lambast Konnor Smith for being a big part of the reason the Gulls lost but it was actually the Luneau-Kinal pairing that was on ice for the most goals against at five on five. Luneau is an all important part of the team and his absence while up the Ducks has been felt all over the line-up but was most evident on the Power Play. Like Hinds has he has proven he is ready for the NHL once the Ducks can make room for him and I guess that means we will see a fresh-faced Taren Smith attempting to step into the very big shoes left by Luneau next season.

Smith on the other hand – I don’t know what else to say. He was routinely beat wide and always a step behind to a loose puck. The Ducks have already signed him to an ELC but I really can’t see him getting a sniff of the NHL and would prefer he was not anywhere near the Gulls squad next season just because he is such a liability. Don’t get me wrong – his hitting game is the kind that can turn a game as it kind of did for the Gulls in the first period but it also takes him out of the play and causes some out-numbered opportunities that generally end up in the San Diego net.

Matt Basgall is the kind of player that should have an ELC. He and Solberg were the Gulls best pairing – with a +3 and a goal each. He is someone I would LOVE to see on the Gulls next year because he is just so solid in his own zone.

The Other New Guys

Given this is probably our last look at Traff and Pettersson for this season – I liked how they had already gotten better since the last time I had seen them play. They did have some bad defensive miscues in their own zone but that feels like a “still learning the system” issue. Traff showed some very nice hands on a partial break inside-outside move that almost see him go on the Firebirds net by himself. Pettersson was a bit of a spark plug and again showed some Antoine Morand traits with his support and transitional play through the neutral zone. I am excited to see them join the squad next season and it likely means the Ducks and Gulls will need to make some changes in the off-season to create room.