Gulls Shut Down Firebirds in Season Opener
Oct 10, 2025
By Ashley Rubin/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls kicked off the 2025-26 season tonight with a 5-0 victory over the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the first time in Gulls AHL history that San Diego has held their opponent scoreless in the opening game of the season
Goaltender Ville Husso was the star of the night, stopping all 26 shots for the season-opening shutout. Husso has marked back-to-back season-opening shutouts and now has 16 total AHL career shutouts, which ranks second among all active AHL goaltenders.
"It's a great start for sure, get the win right away, but there's still a lot of work ahead of us, and just got to keep building from that," Husso said. "Guys did great, really good job today. Just got to keep building and get better. That's the bottom line. And it's a long, long season, and we'll take the first win."
Ryan Carpenter opened the scoring with a goal in the first period. The goal was assisted by Nico Myatovic and Roland McKeown with only 22 seconds remaining in the period. The Gulls ended the opening frame with 18 shots on goal, compared to the Firebirds' five.
San Diego increased their lead in the second period with a goal by Tim Washe, his first professional goal. Travis Howe and Noah Warren were credited with assists, logging their first points of the season.
"It feels great," Washe said. "I was excited when I saw it go in. I had a good angle. I was right behind the net there. I thought Howie scored it too, but just tried getting it to him, and I was fortunate it went in."
The Gulls did not let up on the action in the second period with Judd Caulfield recording the team’s third goal of the game. McKeown logged his second assist of the game and Stian Solberg recorded his first.
Sasha Pastujov, Matthew Phillips, and Jan Mysak were a powerful trio in the third period. Pastujov opened the period with a goal assisted by Phillips and Mysak. Six minutes later, Phillips followed with a goal assisted by Pastujov and Mysak extending the Gulls lead to 5-0.
"Jan and Sasha have chemistry, and we knew that last year," head coach Matt Mcllvane said. "We learned it throughout the season and then you add a guy like Matthew Phillips, who's potentially the most dynamic of the group, and they just found something right away. It didn't take long for that to gel, and I can't wait to see that keep building."
The Gulls look to extend their success on Oct. 18 at Pechanga Arena San Diego where they will take on the Henderson Silver Knights (6 p.m. PDT; TV: AHLTV on FloHockey; Radio: Gulls Audio Network).