Tried as hard as they could the San Jose Barracuda were just blitzed by the Coachella Valley Firebirds at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert on Thu Feb 15, 2024 (San Jose Barracuda photo)

Photo courtesy of San Jose Barracuda.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

The Barracuda on a roll looked to keep the good times going as they took on Coachella Valley.

For San Jose Magnus Chrona was in goal while for the Firebirds Chris Driedger got the start.

It was a slow start offensively for both teams as a goal wasn’t put on the board until 15:24 in when Kole Lind got Coachella Valley the lead.

Right after the goal San Jose found themselves down a man as Artem Guryev was given a match penalty for a hit to the head. Ozzy Wiesblatt would sit in the box to serve the penalty.

Heading into the middle frame the Firebirds were on the power play but were unable to capitalize.

There was no scoring in the second though San Jose would take two penalties and the Firebirds one.

After an extended period of no goals the third period got the offense going quickly as Max McCormick scored his 20th of the season less than two minutes in.

Later in the period the Barracuda pulled their goalie while on the power play but the Firebirds scored two empty net goals to put the game fully away. The two goal scorers were Ryan Winterton and Marian Studenic.

There were some extra circulars after the goals as Scott Sabourin and and McCormick got into it. Overall on the night San Jose took 37 penalty minutes.

With the loss San Jose falls to 16-23-8 while the Firebirds continue their dominance improving to 28-12-4.

The shots at the end of this game favored the Firebirds 32-25 while both teams failed to score on the power play going a combined 0/6.

The playmaker of the night was Andrew Poturalski who racked up two assists bringing his total assists up to 22.

The three stars of the game were: 1st: Chris Driedger 2nd: Kole Lind 3rd: Max McCormick

The Barracuda will look to bounce back against the Condors as they continue their road trip on Saturday at 7 p.m.