San Jose Barracuda forward Anthony Vincent and Tucson forward Kevin Rooney tussle during a brawl in the first period at Tech CU Arean as the Roadrunners defeated the Barracuda 4-1 on Saturday October 10, 2026. (San Jose Barracuda)
by Marko Ukalovic
SAN JOSE — The Tucson Roadrunners scored three goals in the second period to rout the the San Jose Barracuda 4-1 on Saturday evening at Tech CU Arena.
San Jose has lost three out of four to start the season. Tucson swept the weekend series and is even at 500 after losing their first two games of the season.
Tucson (2-2) broke through with the game’s first goal late in the first period. Ben McCartney sent a shot from the left boards that Cuda goalie Matt Davis initially stopped. Vadim Moroz pounced on the rebound and put home his second attempt from in front of the crease for his team leading third goal of the season at the 14:02 mark.
San Jose (1-3) had a good scoring chance late in the opening frame when Carson Wetsch cross iced a pass over to Patrick Giles on a two-on-one odd man break, but Giles shot was saved by Roadrunners goalie Jaxson Stauber who dove out with an outstretched save to keep the Cuda off of the board.
Anthony Vincent and Kevin Rooney got into a spirited scrap earlier in the period at the 7:03 mark.
The Roadrunners doubled its lead with a power play goal early in the second period. Caleb Desnoyers scored his second goal of the season when he skated in from the neutral zone down the right wing before firing a shot into the crease that through the five-hole of Davis at the 3:01 mark.
Tucson scored its third unanswered goal just over three minutes later. Former Cuda defenseman Montana Onyebuchi’s shot from the point had seeing eyes as snuck past Davis for his second goal of the season at the 6:33 mark. Desnoyers and Yegor Borikov received helpers on the play.
Borikov scored the third goal of the middle frame for Tucson when he scored a short-handed goal on a breakaway after a turnover by San Jose in the neutral zone. Borikov beat Davis to the glove side for his first goal of the season at the 11:58 mark.
San Jose’s power play was absolutely anemic on the evening. They squandered two different 5-on-3 power plays and did not score with the man advantage on its first nine chances.
Roland McKeown spoiled Stauber’s shutout bid with a power play goal, too little, too late with 1:31 remaining in the game. McKeown tipped in Wetsch’s shot from the point for his second goal of the season.
Stauber (1-1) stopped 35 of the 36 shots he faced to earn his first win of the season. Davis (1-1) made 25 saves on 29 shots in the losing effort.
GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 1-for-10 on the power play. Tucson went 1-for-4.
The Three Stars of the Game: 1) Desnoyers 2) Borikov 3) Stauber.
UP NEXT: San Jose hosts the Calgary Wranglers on Wednesday at 10:30am as part of the first Cuda Classroom of the season at Tech CU Arena.
