Photo courtesy of San Jose Barracuda Twitter. Barracuda forward Jasper Weatherby battles on the face-off against a Firebirds player.
By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)
In their second game in a row against the Firebirds the Barracuda were down 2-0 but came back only to lose in the shootout by a final of 3-2.
Early on in the game both teams took roughing penalties resulting in a four-on-four with Coachella Valley maintaining most of the possession.
No goals were scored during the two minutes however, on a rush going back the other way Cameron Hughes slid the puck across to a streaking Jesper Froden who scored on a wide open net.
With game 1-0 the Firebirds continued to press at one point in the period out shooting the Barracuda 12-2.
On the 13th shot of that period for Coachella Valley Kole Lind on a nice feed from Brogan Rafferty one timed that shot home to make it 2-0.
While the scoring ended there in the first the shots continued to pile on as by the end of the first the shots favored the Firebirds 18-6.
After the first which saw Coachella Valley dominate the second period got off to a much slower start. With each team only getting a few shots.
At the 14:10 mark the Barracuda were given a chance to comeback as Lind took a slashing penalty. San Jose’s power play though was unsuccessful which that ended up being their last power play of the game.
Less than five minutes after the PP unit got off the ice Adam Raska fired a shot from the point that was tipped by Luke Johnson making it a one goal game. It was Johnson’s seventh goal of the season and that late in the period it seemed to give San Jose a little bit of life.
The Barracuda did not end the period on a great note though as Will Riedell and Montana Onyebuchi took penalties just a little bit apart.
Heading into the third on a five-on-three San Jose needed a big kill and got just that as the Firebirds walked away empty handed.
The rest of the third similar to the second was a close checking game with not a ton of opportunities either way.
Jasper Weatherby did take a cross-checking penalty but once again the penalty kill came up big keeping it a one goal game.
With the score still close and San Jose needing a goal Aaron Dell was pulled with just 1:30 left in the game.
30 seconds later Thomas Bordeleau one timed a shot pass across to Danil Gushchin who slid in back door and deflected the pass in off of his skate and scored tying the game up at two.
In dramatic fashion the Barracuda had tied and officially forced the game into overtime.
The overtime period much like the rest of the game was close with a total of two shots taken by each team.
Neither of those shots ended up going in meaning a shootout was next.
The shootout was even more drama filled with both teams goalies standing on their heads and making save after save.
It took until the seventh round before finally Lind scored putting the pressure on San Jose.
William Eklund shot next and was stopped by Joey Daccord who emphatically celebrated as Coachella Valley had won the game 3-2.
The shots at the end of the game were 36-22 in favor of the Firebirds.
The three stars of the game were: 1st: Kole Lind 2nd: Jesper Froden 3rd: Joey Daccord
San Jose’s next game will be on the road this time in San Diego on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
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