Photo courtesy of San Jose Barracuda. Nikita Okhotiuk warms up (taken on October 25th 2023).

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

SAN JOSE- The Barracuda battled the Firebirds on home ice and lost by a final of 5-4 in overtime.

In goal for the Barracuda was Georgi Romanov while for Coachella Valley Ales Stezka was in-between the pipes.

Breaking the ice in this one was Brandon Coe who scored on the power play just 1:32 into the game getting his fourth of the season.

It didn’t take long for San Jose to tack onto their lead as Patrick Bailey scored his fourth as well making it 2-0 less than five minutes in.

Coachella Valley would get a response from Kole Lind but Leon Gawanke scored for the Barracuda before the period ended making it 3-1.

At the end of the first the shots favored San Jose 14-5.

The second saw only the Firebirds score as Connor Carrick deposited the puck in the net at the 10:56 mark.

There was also two penalties in the period both against Coachella Valley though San Jose did not score on either.

The second ended with the shots in favor of San Jose still at 21-20.

In the third the Barracuda saw their lead evaporate as Ryan Winterton tied the game up at three. San Jose took the lead back less than five minutes later as Radim Simek scored his first of the campaign.

The Barracuda looked to hold on to their lead but were unable to as Andrew Poturalski scored on the power play forcing overtime.

In overtime Danil Gushchin took a high-sticking penalty and Coachella Valley took advantage as Shane Wright scored to end the game 5-4.

The power play for San Jose went 1/4 while Coachella Valley went 2/4.

The three stars of the game were: 1st: Shane Wright 2nd: Danil Gushchin 3rd: Henry Thrun

San Jose will look to snap their losing streak against the Wranglers on the road at 12 p.m. on Friday.