The Firebirds will now be off for a week on a postseason bye before starting the Calder Cup Playoffs.
History nearly repeated itself Sunday inside Acrisure Arena.
And it would have been unbelievable if it had.
But a day after the Coachella Valley Firebirds overcame a three-goal deficit to beat the Gulls in San Diego, the Firebirds were unable to do it again despite a 3-goal third period rally in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Gulls in the regular season finale for both teams.
As the top seed in the American Hockey League’s Western Conference, the Firebirds will now face the lowest seeded team in the conference in the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs. That will be either the Abbotsford Canucks, the Colorado Eagles, the Bakersfield Condors or the Calgary Wranglers.
The Firebirds (46-15-6-5) had already secured a first-round bye in the postseason and home ice until at least the Calder Cup Finals, if they make it that far. But they still made an effort to win Sunday’s game, especially after the first period.
While they could not cut the deficit in the second period, the Firebirds outshot the Gulls 18-3 in the period, and that gave Coachella Valley momentum going into the third.
“A lot of how we want to play was in the second period,” Firebirds head coach Dan Bylsma said.
Trailing 3-0, Andrew Poturalski scored one minute and 20 seconds into the third period to awaken the sold-out crowd of 10,087. Then, a minute and 34 seconds later, fans shot out of their seats again when Logan Morrison scored to cut the deficit once more.
Later in the period, Firebirds forward John Hayden tied the game with a short-handed goal that eventually sent the game to overtime.
“We’re all competitors in there,” Poturalski said of the Firebirds’ locker room. “I think we took the game over there the second two periods. Obviously, we didn’t get the win but I think we proved to ourselves, as we have in the past, that we’re never out of a game and if we just keep playing our game and play relentless like that, teams are eventually going to break.”
Fewer than 24 hours earlier, in San Diego, the Firebirds were likewise down 3-0. In that game, they came back to beat the Gulls in overtime on a goal by Marián Studenič. On Sunday, with the game again heading to overtime following a 3-goal Firebirds rally, it felt as though fate had intervened once again.
But instead of the Firebirds delivering an unlikely dose of déjà vu, it was the Gulls who emerged victorious. Coachella Valley was outshot 5-2 in…
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