San Jose, CA – The San Jose Barracuda (39-27-2-2) fell 4–1 to the Coachella Valley Firebirds (40-24-6-0) at Tech CU Arena on Tuesday night. With the loss, the Barracuda have now dropped five straight games and nine of their last ten.
Coachella Valley jumped out to a quick lead in the opening period, scoring twice in a span of 51 seconds. Logan Morrison (28) opened the scoring at 5:21, and John Hayden (13) followed at 6:12 to give the Firebirds a 2–0 advantage heading into the intermission.
After a scoreless second period in which San Jose outshot Coachella Valley 14–9, the Barracuda broke through early in the third. Quentin Musty (20) capitalized on a five-on-three power play at 3:10, finishing a feed from Filip Bystedt to cut the deficit to one. However, the Firebirds responded late in the frame as Cooper Marody (11, 12) restored the two-goal cushion at 12:33 before adding his second of the night at 14:48 to put the game out of reach.
The Barracuda outshot the Firebirds 35–31, but Logan Terness turned aside 34 shots to earn his first AHL win. Laurent Brossoit made 27 saves on 31 shots in the loss. San Jose went 1-for-3 on the power play, while Coachella Valley was held scoreless on two opportunities.
