Gulls Drop Two Points to Firebirds
Oct 21, 2026By Ashley Rubin/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls fell to the Coachella Valley Firebirds tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego, 3-2.
Coachella Valley pulled off a late comeback after San Diego held a lead through the first 58 minutes of the game. Coachella Valley’s J.R. Avon found the back of the net twice in those final two minutes to give the Firebirds the win.
Despite falling behind a majority of the night, the Firebirds outshot the Gulls 31-20. The game was fairly clean with just two penalties called on each side. Neither team was able to capitalize on the power play meaning both were perfect on the kill.
Laurent Brossoit protected the net in his 200th career AHL game tonight. The goaltender saved 28-of-31 shots tonight and has now posted a career record of 93-81-18.
For the seventh time this season, San Diego was on the scoreboard first. Captain Ryan Carpenter tipped the puck in to find his second goal and fourth point of the season 8:39 into the opening frame to start the scoring. Stian Solberg tallied the lone assist on the goal, bringing him to 2-5=7 points which ranks second amongst all Gulls skaters.
The Gulls increased their lead shortly after, with Matthew Phillips finding the back of the net just 30 seconds later. Phillips co-leads all Gulls skaters in goals with four and has tallied six total points. Anton Wahlberg was the only helper on the goal, bringing his team-leading point total to 1-7=8. Wahlberg has tallied a point in all but one game skated as a Gull so far.
San Diego will continue their four-game homestand and look for redemption on Saturday Oct. 24 as they host the San Jose Barracuda at Pechanga Arena San Diego (6 p.m. PDT).