San Jose Barracuda vs Tuscon Roadrunners on Saturday March 15th at Tucson Convention Center Arena (via Will MacNeil)

By Madison Montez

Coming into Saturday night’s game, the Barracuda looked to get back in the win column coming off of a 5-4 overtime against the Abbotsford Canucks on March 8th. In the loss, Jimmy Schuldt, Pavol Regenda, and Colin White all registered goals. Getting back in the win column the Barracuda were able to do some rebounding with some aggressive offense with a 6-3 win over the Tucson Roadrunners on Saturday night.

San Jose played without the hot streak of Thomas Bordeleau. Bordeleau was in warm-ups but had an aggravated lower body. The Barracuda will be playing without one of their top five goal scorers.

Carl Berglund, who was acquired via the Jake Walman trade, drew in making his San Jose debut. Previous to this, Berglund was with the Bakersfield Condors where he had two goals and ten assists through 45 games played.

Tucson opened up the scoring at 7:30 of the first period. Curtis Douglas extended his goal streak to three, scoring his sixth of the season. Ryan McGregor and Max Szuber registering the assists. The Roadrunners extended their lead at 10:04 when their captain Agozzino scored his 15th of the season. Robbie Russo and Sammy Walker registering the assists.

On an Andrew Poturalski tripping penalty, the fifth ranked power-play team were given their second opportunity. Andrew Agozzino scored his 6th power-play goal of the season, his second goal of the night. Kailer Yamamoto and Max Szuber registering the assists. Agozzino and Szuber both with their second points of the night.

San Jose didn’t back down without putting up a fight. Colin White scored early at 1:35 of the second. Danil Guschin and Pavol Regenda registering the assists. White extending his point streak to two, Guschin extending his point streak to three and Regenda extending his point streak to two.

Tucson extended their lead again when Andrew Agozzino completed the hat-trick, scoring his third goal, also his second power play goal of the night. With the Agozzino hat-trick, San Jose has now given up five hat-tricks this season. Max Szuber and Ben McCartney registering the assists. Szuber assisted on three of Tucson’s four goals.

San Jose showed life when they scored their 51st power-play of the season, remaining the top ranked power-play team in the division. Andrew Poturalski scored his tenth power-play goal of the season. Not only does Poturalski lead the AHL in points but he now has set a franchise record for points in a single season (62). Danil Guschin and Luca Cagnoni registering the assists. Guschin with his second point of the night.

Cutting back into Tucson’s lead, San Jose scored their second power-play goal of the night scored by Rem Pitlick. Danil Guschin and Luca Cagnoni registering the assists. Guschin’s third assist and Cagnoni’s second of the night.

With 44.1 seconds left, Yamamoto sealed the win for the Roadrunners scoring an empty net goal.

20 seconds later, Ben McCartney scored another empty net goal to make it a 6-3 final.

THREE STARS OF THE GAME:

• 1. Andrew Agozzino
• 2. Max Szuber
• 3. Curtis Douglas

The Barracuda will be back in action tomorrow against the Roadrunners once again. San Jose is now 1-2-0 against Tuscon this season.