Gulls Power Past Eagles in Shootout Win
Nov 1, 2026By Ashley Rubin/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls earned their first shootout victory of the season in their series opening game against the Colorado Eagles tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego, 3-2.
San Diego had the momentum a majority of the night, holding a 2-0 lead until the last four minutes of regulation. While Colorado was able to tie the game, the Gulls did not let their momentum up in overtime. San Diego put up a season-high three shots in the period and allowed just two against them.
Tomas Suchanek was the star of the night, saving 32-of-34 shots in his season debut to earn his first win. The goaltender refused any shot Colorado put on until they found some momentum on their final power play. Suchanek began the season in Tulsa where he logged a 1-1-0 record in two appearances. He has appeared in 45 total games for San Diego logging a 20-17-8 record with three shutouts, a 3.03 GAA, and .902 SV%.
"It's great for Suchy," goaltending coach Jeff Glass said. "I think he's worked hard. He's been through a lot, not just this year, but in the last couple years. Everybody knows about the injury, that's been well documented, and to come out today and play the way he did really shows the character he has, the fight, and I really hope it's just the start for him. I hope he finds a way to keep the momentum now and push forward and keep moving with this thing."
The game winner was found by captain Ryan Carpenter as he put a backhand shot through for the second and final shootout goal. This marks his first game-winner of the season and 15th of his career alongside his fifth career shootout goal.
"We played a pretty hard and full 60," Carpenter said. "They kind of weathered the storm, and I think that started in between the pipes with [Tomas] Suchanek. I thought we've gotten good goaltending all year. He really stepped up for us tonight in his first game with us, so that was huge. And a little bit of adversity, giving up two goals late like that, and it was nice to find a way to come up with two points."
Matthew Phillips was the first to find the back of the net, putting one through off a pass from Anton Wahlberg. This marks the fourth goal of Phillips’ that Wahlberg has tallied an assist on as the pair have been linemates a good chunk of the season. Phillips has now logged 5-3=8 total points this season while Wahlberg has found 1-10=11.
"We just got a pretty good forecheck there, and then [Anton] Wahlberg made a great play to drive the net and just tried to kind of find a little soft spot," Phillips said. "Wally made an awesome pass, so yeah, it was a big goal."
San Diego took a two-goal lead as Lucas Pettersson snuck one past Colorado’s Ilya Nabokov. Pettersson scored his first career AHL goal just last night, making this his second of both the season and his career. The Sweden native holds 1-7=8 points on the season which ranks tied for third amongst all Gulls skaters.
Another Gulls skater who holds eight points this season is Nico Myatovic. The winger has found five goals and three assists after tallying one on Pettersson’s goal. He was accompanied by Corey Schueneman who logged the other assist, marking his first assist and second point of the season.
San Diego will now head on the road for a back-to-back series with the Henderson Silver Knights at Lee’s Family Forum starting Friday. Nov. 6 (7 p.m. PST).