Palm Desert, Ca. - The San Jose Barracuda (38-21-2-2) fired 37 shots on net Sunday afternoon but fell to the Coachella Valley Firebirds (37-21-5-0), 4–1, at Acrisure Arena.

With the win, Coachella Valley extended its overall winning streak to four games and completed a two-game sweep of the Barracuda, and are now within a point of San Jose in the Pacific Division.

The Firebirds opened the scoring late in the first period while shorthanded, as Mitchell Stephens (10) finished off a center ice pass from Lleyton Roed. Despite outshooting the Firebirds 12–9 in the opening frame, San Jose trailed after one.

The Barracuda answered in the second period when Colin White (16) buried a feed from Filip Bystedt at 8:36 to even the game, extending his goal streak to three and point streak to seven. Just 2:59 later, J.R. Avon (9) restored the Firebirds’ lead with what would stand as the game-winner, sending Coachella Valley into the third period up 2–1.

In the final frame, Jakov Novak (4) extended the lead at 5:20, with a backdoor tap in. San Jose pushed late and was awarded a penalty shot with under three minutes to play, but Egor Afanasyev was turned aside by Victor Östman. Roed (11) sealed the win with an empty-net goal at 19:54.

Jakub Skarek made 19 saves in the loss, while Östman stopped 36 of 37 shots to earn the win. San Jose went 0-for-5 on the power play, while Coachella Valley finished 0-for-1.

In the two games over the weekend, the Barracuda outshot the Firebirds 79-46 but were outscored 8-3.

The Barracuda return to Tech CU Arena on Tuesday (7 p.m.) to take on the Texas Stars and begin a four-game homestand. For tickets, visit SJBarracuda.com/tickets.