San Jose Barracuda vs Tucson Roadrunners on Friday January 16th at Tucson Convention Center Arena (via tucson roadrunners/flickr)

By Madison Montez

The San Jose Barracuda lost by a two goal margin to the Tucson Roadrunners at the Tucson Convention Center 4-2 on Friday night.

In the first period after a goal was overturned, the Roadrunners were the first to get on the board. Miko Matikka, who scored his third of the season, gave his team the first lead of the night. With three seconds left on their first powerplay opportunity, Kaper Halttunen scored his fourth powerplay goal to tie the game at one to one.

In second period action, Egor Afanasyev winning a puck battle in the offensive zone, set up Ethan Cardwell to help the Barracuda take their first lead of the game, two to one. Cardwell with his seventh of the season. Ricocheting off the shot by Cameron Hebig, Tucson tied the game at two to two in the second period.

In the third period the Roadrunners offense beating Carriere on the far side, Austin Poganski scored his ninth of the season to give Tucson the lead for the second time this game. Ben McCartney put the cherry on top, scoring an empty net goal with 1 minute and 30 seconds left.

After the first period of play, Tucson outshot San Jose 7-6. After the second period of play, San Jose took the lead and outshot Tucson 12-9. And to end the game, both teams shot an even nine shots.

Special Teams:

Both teams had early chances to show their special teams, San Jose taking advantage of their first powerplay opportunity. Coming into Friday night’s game, San Jose came in second on the powerplay and second to last on the penalty kill. For Tucson, they came into Friday night’s game, seventh on the powerplay and sixth on the penalty kill. San Jose went 1 for 4 while Tucson went 0 for 1.

Goalies:

For San Jose, Gabriel Carriere got the start and for Tucson, Matthew Villalta got the start. Making 21 saves on 24 shots, Carriere recorded the loss, his record now moves to 9-7-3-1. Making 25 saves on 27 shots Villalta recorded the, his record now moves to 12-5-0-1.

THREE STARS OF THE GAME:

1. Austin Poganski
2. Cameron Hebig
3. Miko Matikka

The Barracuda will be back in action Saturday, wrapping up a two game series against this Tucson team with a 7:00pm PT faceoff. The next time these two teams will face off is in March.