Photo courtesy of San Jose Barracuda. Adam Raska battles with a player on Coachella Valley on March 4th 2023.
By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)
On their second of back-to-backs San Jose dropped the game late in the third against the Firebirds by a final of 5-4.
Similar to their last game the Barracuda found themselves down early as Kyle Criscuolo got a penalty for hooking just 1:47 in. San Jose’s PK unit came up big and killed it off keeping the Firebirds off the scoreboard.
Later in the first Coachella Valley broke the ice as Kole Lind scored his 22nd goal of the season assisted by Max McCormick and Ryker Evans.
San Jose was given a chance to score on the power play and converted as Andrew Agozzino stuffed home his 20th goal of the season. That goal ended up being Agozzino’s 500th career point in the AHL.
The Barracuda wasted no time in extending their lead as just 13 seconds later Ozzy Wiesblatt scored on a rebound to make it 2-1.
Danil Gushchin took a high-sticking penalty 15:32 into the first and the Firebirds converted as Jeremy McKenna got his first goal of the season.
Coachella Valley continued their momentum as Alexander True scored getting his ninth goal of the season and making it 3-2.
At the end of the first the shots favored San Jose 16-13.
The second period saw a lot less offense with Coachella Valley taking two penalties and San Jose taking one.
On the one penalty that San Jose took Jeffrey Viel scored shorthanded on a beautiful play on the rush.
That goal ended up being the only goal of the period with the shots finishing in favor of San Jose at 35-24.
The third period saw a quick strike from San Jose’s offense as only 3:29 in Martin Kaut tipped home a shot from Artemi Kniazev making it 4-3.
The Firebirds found a response after the goal as Jimmy Schuldt scored his eight goal of the season to tie the game back up.
Late in the period the Firebirds pushed for a goal and got one as Tye Kartye scored his 17th goal of the season to break the tie.
San Jose pulled their goalie but could not find a response as the Firebirds held on to win 5-4.
The shots at the end of the game favored San Jose at 41-38.
The three stars of the game were: 1st: Tye Kartye 2nd: Andrew Agozzino 3rd: Ryker Evans
San Jose’s next game will be Wednesday at 7 p.m. against the Ontario Reign on the road.
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