Gulls Eye Redemption Against Firebirds
Nov 21, 2025
By Ashley Rubin/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls will play a back-to-back series this weekend starting off tonight when they take on the Coachella Valley Firebirds for the third time this season at Acrisure Arena (7 p.m. PT; TV: AHLTV on FloHockey; Radio: Gulls Audio Network).
The Gulls and Firebirds have each taken one of the previous matchups. The Gulls shutout the Firebirds in their opening game of the season while the Firebirds took one in overtime the last time the teams met. San Diego and Coachella Valley are currently tied in the Pacific Division with 16 points each. The Gulls record stands at 6-4-4-0 and the Firebirds stands at 7-5-2-0.
The Gulls have picked up eight points in their last nine games. The team’s last matchup was against the San Jose Barracuda on Wednesday night. Despite a tough fought game, San Diego fell just short of San Jose in overtime, 5-4.
Stian Solberg logged his first goal of the season 67 seconds into the first frame. Justin Bailey picked up his fifth goal in three games and eight total to start the second frame. Sasha Pastujov netted one to tie the game in the third, picking up his second point of the night following his assist on Bailey’s goal. Judd Caulfield scored the final goal for the Gulls, sending the game into overtime.
Matthew Phillips and Tim Washe both picked up points with assists. Phillips’ team-leading point record now sits at 3-13=16 and Washe’s sits closely behind at 7-7=14. Yegor Sidorov recorded a two-point night after helping out on both Pastujov and Caulfield’s goals. Ryan Carpenter and Jan Mysak also both logged a point for the night with an assist each.
"That's huge to come out of a game like that, where we know we weren't our best, but still come out with a point and to give ourselves a chance at two was really big for our group," Pastujov said. "If there's anything to take away from this game, it's that we did get a point. I believe we have points in eight out of our last nine games, something like that. So, we're playing in a lot of tight games and we should look to come out on top of ones like this."
San Diego will play game two of their back-to-back series this weekend tomorrow night against the Calgary Wranglers. The teams will meet up for the first time this season at Pechanga Arena San Diego (6 p.m. PT).