San Jose Barracuda forward Quentin Musty (#13) celebrates his professional goal with his teammates during his team’s 7-6 win over the Bakersfield Condors at Tech CU Arena on Saturday OCT 11, 2025. (Brian Collett-Inside The Rink)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Barracuda used a balanced scoring attack with seven different goal scorers to defeat the Bakersfield Condors 7-6 in the team’s season opener on Saturday afternoon at Tech CU Arena.

San Jose opened the season with a win with 2024 NHL first round pick Quentin Musty scoring a goal in his AHL debut.

Bakersfield (0-1-0) drew first blood 39 seconds into the contest. Roby Järventie centered the puck over Viljami Marjala in between the faceoff circles. Marjala found Rem Pitlick with a backdoor pass as Pitlick tapped it home from the near corner past ‘Cuda goalie Jakub Skarek for his first goal of the season.

San Jose (1-0-0) evened the game at the 7:15 mark. A turnover in the neutral zone had Cam Lund find Filip Bystedt at the Condors blueline. Bystedt skated in and wired a wrist shot from the slot top shelf past Matt Tomkins for his first goal of the season.

The Barracuda gained its first lead of the season when Jake Furlong sent a shot from the point that was went off the skate of Jack Ostapchuk for his first goal of the season at the 11:43 mark.

The Condors tied it up with a power play goal just over three minutes later. Max Jones set up notorious ‘Cuda killer Seth Griffith along the slot. The veteran forward beat Skarek with a wrist shot for his first goal of the season at the 14:47 mark.

Bakersfield regained the lead on the next shift 19 seconds later. A giveaway by Pavol Regenda behind his own net let to Pitlick centering a pass over to Riley Stillman who beat Skarek with a one-timer to the right corner for his first goal of the season.

San Jose evened the game with 13 seconds left in the opening frame. Jimmy Huntington centered the puck out in front of the crease to Patrick Giles. Tomkins initially stopped Giles first shot attempt, but Giles cleaned up his own rebound with a shot through the five-hole for his first goal of the season. It was Huntington’s first point in a Barracuda sweater.

San Jose earned its second lead of the game with a 5-on-3 goal early in the second period. Igor Chernyshov centered the puck right into the crease from the left wing over to Quentin Musty who was parked out right in front. Musty tapped home the puck underneath Tomkins for his first professional career goal at the 3:10 mark. Cam Lund picked up the secondary assist.

Luca Cagnoni scored the ‘Cuda’s second power play goal of the period when he blasted a one-timer from the point past Tomkins for his first goal of the season at the 7:16 mark. Lund picked up his third helper of the game and Musty his first.

Huntington doubled the ‘Cuda’s lead with its fourth unanswered goal and third of the middle frame. Giles won a clean faceoff inside the Condor’s zone. Huntington picked up the puck and skated into the middle before riffling a wrist shot past Tomkins for his goal of the season at the 12:16 mark.

Bakersfield gained one back late in the period when Max Jones finished off of a two-on-one odd man rush for the Condors. Josh Samanski sent a cross-ice pass over to Jones who beat Skarek with a one timer to the near post for his first goal of the season at the 16:06 mark.

The Condors made it a one-goal game at the 18:11 mark when Pitlick centered the puck from behind the goal line out to Järventie who beat Skarek with a backhander to the near corner for his first goal of the season.

San Jose made it 7-5 seconds after its fifth power play opportunity ended to start the third period. Mattias Havelid earned his first point in a Barracuda uniform when his shot from the point was initially saved by Tomkins. Ethan Cardwell crashed the crease and cleaned up the rebound for his first goal of the season at the 1:42 mark.

Bakersfield once again made it a one goal game scoring for the second time on a 2-on-1 odd man rush. The difference this time was they were short-handed. Pitlick finished off a cross ice pass from Marjala for his first goal of the season at the 8:25 mark. It was Marjala’s third helper of the game.

Skarek finished with 27 saves on 33 shots to earn his first win of the season. Tomkins made 29 saves on 36 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose went 3-for-8 on the power play. Bakersfield was 1-for-2.

UP NEXT: San Jose travels down to Bakersfield to take on the Condors in their first road game of the season on Saturday October 18 at 7:00pm at Dignity Health Arena.