Firebirds snap three-game losing streak with convincing 3-1 win over Gulls
It's as if Coachella Valley Firebirds head coach Dan Bylsma spoke Wednesday's 3-1 victory over the San Diego Gulls into existence last weekend.
Bylsma had said, following a loss last Saturday, that the Firebirds had just played one of their best games of the year in nearly doubling the number of shots as their opponent, the Bakersfield Condors. He added that Coachella Valley would be tough to beat if they continue to play that way.
That proved to be just the case in Wednesday's win in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,087 inside Acrisure Arena.
The Firebirds (15-9-2-0) scored early, on a goal by rookie forward Shane Wright, and then held onto the lead while allowing the Gulls just 21 shots in the game. Coachella Valley fired off 43 shots in the game, which was competitive throughout yet felt like the Firebirds still won rather decisively.
"Scoring any goal early in the game is always huge for momentum and we just kind of built on it from there," Wright said. "So, it was a great job today playing the o-zone and keeping the puck out of our end."
The Firebirds had two or three other particularly good looks at the net in the first period. Two of them clanked off the cross bar and another required a diving save by Gulls goaltender Tomas Suchanek to keep it out of the net.
"I think the recipe is the last two games," Bylsma said. "You just keep putting volume (shots), keep having opportunities and putting the other team in trouble with how you play and where you play and eventually they're going to go in."
Coachella Valley will now head to Tucson to finish out the month Friday against the Roadrunners.
The win, in the final home game of 2023, came following three days off on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The Firebirds did not practice on those days and looked fresh as a result, but it also left a lot of uncertainty as to what fans could expect. Bylsma told players to expect an ugly game, but it was much more succinct than even the previous three, which ended in Firebirds' losses.
"Just getting those three days to reset and relax with family, you need that sometimes," Firebirds forward Logan Morrison said. "We came out tonight fresh and had a good game."
The win gives the Firebirds their fifth home win of the season. It's significant, as Coachella Valley had won just four of their first 13 home games this season prior to Wednesday.
The Gulls' lone goal in the final two minutes of the game ruined what would have been rookie netminder Ales Stezka's first career American Hockey League shutout.
The goals
1-0, Firebirds: Wright broke the scoreless tie with a power play goal at the 5:48 mark into the first period. Logan Morrison and Connor Carrick assisted. The goal was Wright's 10th of the season. Only Max McCormick (11) has more among Firebirds' players this season.
Coachella Valley was 0-for-4 on the power play in its previous game, on Dec. 23, and 1-for-11 in the four games prior to Wednesday.
2-0: While off balance and falling to the ice, Firebirds forward Marián Studenič flung the puck into the net at the 17:29 mark of the second period to give Coachella Valley a two-goal cushion heading into the second intermission. Ville Petman and John Hayden assisted. The goal was the eighth of the season for Studenič.
3-0: Rookie forward Ryan Winterton added a third Firebirds goal for good measure, with Morrison and Tyler Robertson assisting on the play, at the 5:52 mark into the third. With the Gulls' forecheck pressuring the Firebirds all evening, Winterton's fifth goal of the season came in front of the net, with little defensive resistance.
3-1: Chase De Leo scored with 1:11 remaining in the game to prevent the Gulls from being shut out.
Firebirds' player of the game
Stezka. Aside from allowing just a single goal, the rookie goalie made at least three saves that kept the Gulls from tying the score between the early part of the first period and the latter part of the second. Had one of them gone in, the game would have likely been much more tense for Coachella Valley.
"He didn't get a ton of work tonight," Bylsma said, "but on the first period , in particular, there were two or three opportunities that they did get and he's been showing up as a guy who'll make the big save at the right time, and he did make a couple when the game was in question."
The game also marked consecutive games where Stezka has played especially well. He recorded 18 saves Saturday in a 2-1 loss to the Condors, keeping the Firebirds in a game when they struggled to score despite 38 shots.
Next game
Puck drop for Friday's game in Tucson is 6 p.m. PT, and the game will be televised on AHLTV.
Coachella Valley will then travel to Calgary for two games against the Wranglers before returning home for a pair of home games on Jan. 6 and 7 against the Abbotsford Canucks.
Andrew John covers the Coachella Valley Firebirds for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Firebirds snap losing streak with 3-1 win over Gulls
