Lightning Ignites January With Electrifying San Jose Visit

The San Jose Barracuda ignited January with an electrifying 6-2 victory over the Tucson Roadrunners on Wednesday night at Tech CU Arena. The win marked the Barracuda’s fourth straight victory and extended their point streak to eight games (7-0-1). The Barracuda are now 20-12-2-1 this season, good for second place in the Pacific Division.

San Jose got off to a fast start, scoring twice in the first period. Max Veronneau opened the scoring just 2:14 into the game, and Sasha Chmelevski made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 12:37.

Tucson cut the lead to 2-1 with a goal from Mike Carcone early in the second period, but the Barracuda responded with three unanswered goals to take a commanding 5-1 lead. Andrew Agozzino scored at 7:29, Jeffrey Viel added a goal at 12:37, and Joachim Blichfeld made it 5-1 with a goal at 17:37.

The Roadrunners got one back on a power-play goal from Travis Boyd at 7:03 of the third period, but Nick Merkley sealed the victory with an empty-net goal at 18:40.

Aaron Dell made 26 saves for the Barracuda, while Ivan Prosvetov made 22 saves for the Roadrunners.

The Barracuda will be back in action on Friday night when they host the Colorado Eagles at Tech CU Arena.

Analysis

The Barracuda’s win over the Roadrunners was a dominant performance from start to finish. San Jose controlled the puck for much of the game and generated numerous scoring chances. The Barracuda also did a good job of limiting the Roadrunners’ chances, and Dell was solid in goal.

One of the most impressive things about the Barracuda’s performance was their ability to score on the power play. San Jose went 2-for-4 on the power play, which is a significant improvement over their recent struggles on the man advantage.

The Barracuda are now playing with a lot of confidence, and they are starting to look like a team that could make a deep playoff run. San Jose has a lot of depth and experience, and they are starting to gel as a unit.

Quotes

“I thought we played a really good game tonight,” said Barracuda head coach Roy Sommer. “We were physical, we were disciplined, and we generated a lot of scoring chances. I’m really happy with the way we played.”

“I thought we had a great start to the game,” said Barracuda forward Sasha Chmelevski. “We were able to get pucks deep and create some good scoring chances. We also did a good job of killing penalties, which was big for us.”

“I thought we played a solid game,” said Roadrunners head coach Steve Potvin. “We didn’t get the result we wanted, but I thought we competed hard. We just need to find a way to score more goals.”

“I thought we had a good start to the game,” said Roadrunners forward Mike Carcone. “We were able to get some pucks deep and create some good scoring chances. But we didn’t capitalize on our chances, and San Jose did. They’re a good team, and they made us pay for our mistakes.”

Conclusion

The Barracuda are off to a great start to the season, and they are starting to look like a team that could make a deep playoff run. San Jose has a lot of depth and experience, and they are starting to gel as a unit. The Barracuda will be a tough team to beat in the Pacific Division this season.