Photo courtesy of San Jose Barracuda. Barracuda forward Scott Reedy fights for possession of the puck.
By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)
San Jose on the road faced off against the Coachella Valley Firebirds who has had their number all year and tonight was no different as the Firebirds won 4-0.
Coachella Valley did not take long to find the back of the net as just 4:28 into the game Brogan Rafferty scored his fourth goal of the season. Both Ryker Evans and Max McCormick assisted on the goal.
Just a little under five minutes after the goal Adam Raska and Max McCormick dropped the gloves looking to give a spark to their respective teams.
After the fight San Jose took a holding penalty and the Firebirds punished them as former Barracuda Alexander True scored his fourth of the campaign. Cameron Hughes and Kole Lind assisted on the goal.
That ended up being all the scoring in the first with the shots at the end of the period favoring Coachella Valley at 17-8.
The second period started with a flurry of opportunities for San Jose but Joey Daccord turned aside eight straight shots to keep them off the board.
Daccord was rewarded for his effort as Cameron Hughes scored his fourth goal of the season to put the Firebirds up 3-0. Both True and Lind assisted on the goal.
San Jose was given a power play chance as Jesper Froden took a tripping penalty but their PP unit was unable to convert.
At the end of the second the shots in total now favored San Jose at 27-23.
The Barracuda started off the third period in not great fashion as 3:04 in Patrick Holway took a tripping penalty.
The Firebirds did not score on the power play but mere seconds later they did score five-on-five as Carsen Twarynski got his seventh goal on the year. Matt Tennyson and Luke Henman assisted on the goal.
In the third the Barracuda pushed for an answer but none was found as Daccord ended up shutting out San Jose making 39 saves on the night.
The shots in total at the end of the night did favor the Barracuda at 39-31.
The three stars of the game were 1st: Joey Daccord 2nd: Alexander True 3rd: Cameron Hughes
San Jose will look to bounce back Tuesday on the road against these same Firebirds at 7 p.m.
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