Firebirds second period blitz dooms Barracuda in 6-3 win

SAN JOSE — Young teams must learn to take care of the puck when protecting a lead.

The San Jose Barracuda's poor puck management late in the second period allowed the Coachella Valley Firebirds to account for five unanswered goals as the visiting team overcame a two-goal deficit to win 6-3 on Wednesday evening at Tech CU Arena.

San Jose has dropped two games in a row. Coachella Valley won for the first time this season.

"I thought we were too causal with the puck through the neutral zone," said Cuda head coach John McCarthy. "And the game turned against us."

Coachella Valley (1-2-1) drew first blood at the halfway mark of the first period with a power play goal. Logan Morrison found Oscar Fisker Molgaard who outwaited Cuda goalie Jakub Skarek before ripping a wrist shot to the far side of the net for his first goal of the season at the 10:29 mark.

San Jose (1-2-0) had two power play opportunities in the opening 20 minutes but failed to cash in on both chances. Firebirds goalie Nikke Kokko helped keep the Cuda off of the scoreboard as he made 11 saves.

The Barracuda evened the game early in the second period with an even strength goal. Cole Clayton sent a pass around the Firebirds net out to Anthony Vincent along the goal line. Vincent looked up and fired a quick shot on the net that deflected off of Kokko for his first goal of the season at the 4:33 mark. Zack Ostapchuk recorded the secondary assist.

San Jose gained its first lead with a pretty tick-tac-toe of a goal near the halfway mark of the middle frame. Colin White’s back pass found Cam Lund at the top of the faceoff circle. Lund gave it up to Lucas Carlsson in the right slot and the left-handed defenseman beat Kokko with a wrist shot for his first goal of the season at the 8:56 mark.

The Cuda scored its third unanswered goal on the power play just under two minutes later. Filip Bystedt found his linemate Kasper Halttunen wide open in the slot and the Finnish winger blasted a one-timer past Kokko for his first goal of the season at the 10:51 mark. White picked up his second helper of the game with the secondary assist.

The Firebirds cut their deficit to a one goal thanks to a failed clearance out of their own zone by the Barracuda. Morrison scored his first goal of the season 51 seconds later. David Goyette and Jagger Firkus recorded assists on the play.

Coachella Valley scored the equalizer at the 14:24 mark when Carson Rehkopf circled out from behind the Cuda net and found Mitchell Stephens alone in the slot and Stephens buried a one-timer past Skarek for his first goal of the season.

Firkus regained the lead for the Firebirds exactly a minute later after a faceoff inside the Cuda zone, Firkus marched in all alone on Skarek and beat him to the near side for his first goal of the season and Coachella Valley’s third unanswered at the 15:24 mark.

Kaden Hammell gave the Firebirds an insurance goal at the halfway mark of the third period. Hammell collected the puck near the red line, made a move around a Cuda defender along the right boards before skating in and beating Skarek through the five-hole for his first goal of the season at the 10:28 mark.

Morrison scored his second goal of the game with an empty netter with 44 seconds remaining in the game to close out the scoring.

Kokko finished the game stopping 24 of the 27 shots he faced in earning his first win of the season. Skarek made 28 saves on 33 shots in the losing effort.

"That's the frustrating part. It was a winnable game. We were up 3-1 and then (we) don't take care of the puck, forechecking, shift length, take penalties, undisciplined play. We lose the game," McCarthy summed up.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 1-for-5 on the power play. Coachella Valley was 1-for-7.

San Jose continues its three-game homestand with a weekend series with the Milwaukee Admirals on Friday October 24th at 7:00pm at Tech CU Arena.