Tucson, Ariz. – The San Jose Barracuda (23-34-10-4) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period on Friday night at the Tucson Convention Center but managed just 13 shots after that point and would fall 5-1 to the Tucson Roadrunners (43-23-3-2).

In the first, Tristen Robins won an end-board battle in the offensive zone and centered the puck to the middle of the ice just as Scott Sabourin (18) was entering the zone after a change and Sabourin managed to collect the puck and rip a shot past Matt Villalta from the high-slot at 15:36. The Barracuda would take that 1-0 lead into the intermission, outshooting the Roadrunners 7-4 in the period.

In the second, the Barracuda were called for hooking at 3:10, and on the game’s first power play, Aku Raty (15) managed to lift in a shot just under the bar at 3:42 to tie it at 1-1. The game would hit a boiling point when former Barracuda defenseman Montana Onyebuchi threw an open-ice hit on Kyle Rau at 9:37 which resulted in an interference penalty against the Roadrunner defenseman. Once Onyebuchi was out of the box, Sabourin went right after him, dropping the gloves and throwing multiple left-hands. Sabourin was given 17 minutes in penalties, including a game-misconduct.

In the third, tied at 1-1, the Roadrunners would score twice within a minute and runaway with a 5-1 win, their sixth in a row. First, Max Szuber (7) cleaned up a rebound and then Cameron Hebig (12) beat Chrona 53 seconds later. The Roadrunners would go up 4-1 with an empty-netter at 17:54 from Nathan Smith (12) and Ben McCartney (6) went upstairs on the backhand at 19:20 to complete the four-goal third.

BOX SCORE

The Barracuda close out the 2023-24 season on Saturday (7 p.m.) versus the Roadrunners at the Tucson Convention Center. For more information about season tickets for the 2024-25 campaign, the Barracuda’s 10th in franchise history, go to sjbarracuda.com.