Gulls Seek Redemption Over IceHogs
Mar 7, 2026By Ashley Rubin/SanDiegoGulls.com
The San Diego Gulls will complete their four-game season series with the Rockford IceHogs tonight at Pechanga Arena San Diego (6 p.m. PST; TV: AHLTV on FloHockey; Radio: Gulls Audio Network).
San Diego and Rockford went head-to-head last night with Rockford walking away with the victory. The Gulls are now 6-2-1-0 against the IceHogs this season and look to add another win to that record tonight. The team holds an overall record of 24-17-8-4 and find it essential to walk away with some points tonight to stay in the playoff race.
"I think it's for lack of a better term, a must win in our eyes," Sasha Pastujov said. "You know, we're sick of losing. It's been a tough little skid here, but it's better now than in a month come playoff time. So, I think we're really finding ourselves right now. I think through adversity you become stronger, you become a better team. Like I said, I think the timing is good before the playoffs, but at the same time, we got to find our game before playoffs and start to solidify a solid spot and really just start to get rolling here. So yeah, tomorrow night's huge, and I think we'll have a strong buy in for everyone."
Last night Pastujov added two points to his team-leading point count with a goal and assist. The forward totals 13-27=40 points this season. Sam Colangelo scored his fifth powerplay goal of the season which ties Pastujov for most scored by all Gulls skaters. Tristan Luneau, Cal Burke, and Matthew Phillips each tallied assists. Tomas Suchanek guarded the net for the third game in a row, stopping 14-of-17 shots.
"More urgency," head coach Matt McIlvane said. "We’re an urgent group at the moment, we've got goals that we're trying to uphold, and there's plenty in the game that we can carry on with. Then we're looking for improvement, there's another step to take."
Despite the loss the Gulls did pull off a perfect penalty kill, going 4-for-4. The team also outshot Rockford 30 shots to 17 shots but unfortunately could not get the extra one through.
Second games of back-to-back series have not been the strongest for San Diego this season. The team has posted a 4-7-3-1 record in the category with a 4-7-2-1 record of those on a Saturday. The Gulls are determined to improve the record and walk away with two points tonight.
San Diego will next head back to San Jose to look for redemption against the Barracuda at Tech CU Arena on Wednesday Mar. 11 (7 p.m. PST).