Nesterenko Dazzles with OT Winner in Ontario

Feb 8, 2025

By Samantha Mason/SanDiegoGulls.com 

The San Diego Gulls are leaving Ontario victorious after taking a 5-4 overtime victory over the Reign Saturday night. 

Nikita Nesterenko sealed the victory, scoring the game-winning goal, his sixth of the season. 

"I tried to build as much speed as I could, and then I saw an opening just try to get into the middle," said Nesterenko. "Feels good. It's nice. Points of back-to-back, and then you got Sunday off, and [you] get a win, makes it more enjoyable. So yeah, I felt good."

Justin Bailey wowed the crowd with the first goal of the night, scored just 30 seconds into the contest, unassisted. This is Bailey’s first multi-point game with the Gulls so far this season.  

Ontario tied the contest to open the second period and quickly netted one more.  Jan Mysak brought the score back up to a tie with a goal assisted by Sasha Pastujov and Carson Meyer. This point continues Pastujov’s record-setting point streak to 13 games, this marking his 31st point of the season. 

San Diego got another on a power play, scored by Ryan Carpenter with an assist from Tristan Luneau and Mysak. Luneau ended the night with an AHL career-tying three assists in the contest. 

With 28 seconds left on the clock, Sam Colangelo tied the game 4-4 to force overtime. 

This is the second night in a row in overtime for the Gulls.  

Tonight is the first of four away games for the Gulls, where they will play a four-game series on the road.  

"We had a great start," said head coach Matt McIlvane. "Can't start any better than that goal on the first shift, and I think from there, we had a strong first period. We felt like we were carrying some of our momentum that we had from our game yesterday, which we were really pleased with…but we had a great goalie that kept us in it and gave us an opportunity." 

"We know every point matters this late in the season," said Nesterenko. "It's not going to happen in one or two games, but we're going to keep climbing, getting one or two points and getting closer and closer to the playoffs. Coachella is one of the top teams. So is Ontario. So, you know, we get points here, but against the two top teams. So, we know we can play with those guys. We know we're right up there. So yeah, we feel good about our group." 

The Gulls are heading north to Abbotsford to meet with the Canucks twice this week, starting on Tuesday evening at 7 pm PST.