The Coachella Valley Firebirds picked up a 4-1 win over the San Jose Barracuda on Wednesday night at Acrisure Arena. Cameron Hughes scored a pair of goals, including one of two shorthanded tallies on the night, to help the Firebirds keep their lead in the Pacific Division standings in front of 9,013 Firebirds’ faithful.
The Firebirds netted the game’s opening goal at 13:52 of the first period. Kole Lind finished off a quick pass from Logan Morrison to put Coachella Valley on the board on the powerplay. Andrew Poturalski fed Morrison the initial pass to record the secondary assist.
Coachella Valley found themselves on the penalty kill twice in the second period and struck shorthanded on each opportunity. Marian Studenic sprung into the offensive an odd-man rush with Ryan Winterton got the puck back to make it a 2-0 game. Cameron Hughes followed up 1:54 later with his 15th of the season on shorthanded breakaway giving the Firebirds a 3-0 lead. Coachella Valley has scored 10 shorthanded goals this season, the fourth most in the AHL.
San Jose snuck a puck past Chris Driedger, who finished the game with 29 saves, just 25 seconds into the third period but Coachella Valley responded quickly. Hughes wristed a shot past Georgi Romanov to make it 4-1. Ville Ottavainen and Ryan Winterton earned the assists on the Hughes goal at 4:39.
The victory moves Coachella Valley’s record to 31-13-5-2 and earns them their 69th point of the season. The Firebirds finished 1-for-4 on the powerplay and the penalty kill went 2-for-2 with two shorthanded tallies.
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