Gulls' Perfect Power Play Fuels 5-4 Comeback Over IceHogs at BMO Center

Trailing 3-1 after the opening period, the San Diego Gulls rallied behind a spotless power play to beat the Rockford IceHogs 5-4 Saturday night at the BMO Center. San Diego finished 3-for-3 with the man advantage and answered every Rockford strike en route to the comeback.

Rockford built a 3-1 lead in the first period, but Sasha Pastujov struck on the power play and Ryan Carpenter added a late first-period goal to cut the deficit to one. Stian Solberg then tied the game early in the second period, keeping the contest level at 3-3 before the third period reset the back-and-forth battle.

The third period saw Rockford regain the lead, but Pastujov delivered again on the power play to knot the game at 4. Pastujov finished with two power-play goals, accounting for all three of the Gulls’ special-teams scores and highlighting San Diego’s 3-for-3 efficiency on the night.

Stian Solberg completed the comeback with his second goal of the game at 12:31 of the third period, giving the Gulls their first lead of the night at 5-4. Solberg’s pair of goals provided the decisive margin after San Diego had trailed early and repeatedly responded to Rockford’s scoring.

San Diego’s penalty kill matched the power play’s impact; the Gulls killed all three Rockford power-play opportunities, denying the IceHogs any payoff on extended ice time. The combination of a perfect power play and a flawless penalty kill swung special teams decisively in San Diego’s favor and proved the difference in a one-goal game.

Key contributors were clear: Sasha Pastujov with two power-play goals, Stian Solberg with a two-goal night including the 12:31 third-period go-ahead tally, and Ryan Carpenter’s late first-period goal that kept the Gulls within striking distance after the first. Those individual performances, paired with the 3-for-3 power-play night and three successful penalty kills, explain how a 3-1 hole turned into a 5-4 victory.

The team’s official recap was posted to the San Diego Gulls’ YouTube channel on Feb. 22, 2026, following the Feb. 21 game; at the time of capture the channel had 4,010 subscribers and the recap video showed 192 views. Full boxscore details such as Rockford’s first-period scorers, exact goal times beyond Solberg’s 12:31, goalie statistics and attendance were not included in the team recap and will require the official AHL gamebook to confirm.