The San Jose Barracuda celebrate Thomas Bordeleau’s first period goal during their 4-3 win over the Colorado Eagles at Tech CU Arena on Sunday JAN 5, 2025. (San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Barracuda jumped out to an early lead and then held on for dear life as they defeated the Colorado Eagles 4-3 on Sunday afternoon at Tech CU Arena.

San Jose split the weekend series and has won two of its past three games. Colorado has lost for just the second time in their past seven games with the split.

San Jose (19-11-0-2-40 points) drew first blood in a three-goal first period. ‘Cuda captain Andrew Poturalski led a counterattack up the ice. Tristen Robin skated inside the Eagles zone where he found a trailing Justin Bailey in the middle of ice and Bailey beat Eagles goaltender Kevin Mandolese with a one-timer for his sixth goal of the season at the 8:30 mark.

The Barracuda doubled its lead just over three minutes later with an even strength goal. A shot from the point by Jimmy Schuldt was initially saved by Mandolese but Lucas Vanroboys, who crashed the net, cleaned up the rebound for his eighth goal of the season at the 11:37 mark.

70 seconds later, Thomas Bordeleau made a great individual effort to score the Barracuda’s third unanswered goal of the opening frame. Bordeleau pick pocketed the puck off of Jayson Megna at the Eagles blue line. Bordeleau skated down the left wing and blasted a slap shot to the far corner for an unassisted goal, his seventh of the season at the 12:47 mark.

Colorado (17-10-1-2-37 points) cut into San Jose’s lead early in the second period. A shot from the point by John Ludvig pinballed around in front of the crease. Maros Jedlicka poked home the rebound with a backhander past ‘Cuda goalie Georgi Romanov for his second goal of the season at the 3:15 mark.

The Eagles made it 3-2 with a four-on-four goal. Matthew Phillips skated down the right wing and centered a pass from behind the ‘Cuda net out to Jack Ahcan who buried a one-timer past Romanov for his third goal of the season at the 7:26 mark.

San Jose stole one back off a lucky bounce to regain its two-goal lead. Scott Sabourin sent a puck into the Eagles zone. Donovan Houle tried to center a pass out in front from behind the Eagles net. The puck deflected off the skate of Mark Seden and past Mandolese on the far side for Houle’s seventh goal of the season at the 13:21 mark. Jack Thompson was credited with the secondary assist.

“I saw I was actually just kind of trying to pass the puck to Sab (Scott Sabourin). So, I saw him driving to the net, tried to give him a pass, but (when you) gets pucks to the net good things happen. I got lucky there,” Houle said.

Colorado once again made it a one goal game with 22 seconds left in a wild middle frame. The Eagles had pressure inside the ‘Cuda zone when Ahcan fed a cross-ice pass over to Jacob MacDonald who slammed home a one-timer past Romanov for his ninth goal of the season.

San Jose were more focused and more disciplined on this afternoon staying out of the sin bin and limited Colorado’s opportunities both with the man advantage and even strength.

“I thought we did a nice job with the referees and staying off of them and letting them do their job. We also checked pretty well. We checked with our legs, we didn’t get ourselves, our sticks in a lot of feet. I think those two things put together equals, well we had a short penalty kill,” ‘Cuda head coach John McCarthy said.

The Eagles pulled Mandolese with just under three minutes remaining in the game for an extra attacker. However, Romanov and the ‘Cuda defense held down the fort and kept Colorado from scoring the equalizer as they escaped with two points on the afternoon.

Romanov (8-5-1) stopped 33 of the 36 shots he faced to earn his eighth win of the season. Mandolese (9-7-2) made 31 saves on 35 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 0-for-4 on the power play. Colorado went 0-for-1.

The Three Stars of the Game: 1) Houle 2) MacDonald 3) Bordeleau.

UP NEXT: San Jose hosts the Bakersfield Condors on Friday 1/10 at 7:30pm at Tech CU Arena.