ASKAROV BLANKS FIREBIRDS 1-0 ON TEDDY BEAR TOSS NIGHT
Dec 7, 2024San Jose, CA – Yaroslav Askarov made 36 stops en-route to his third shutout of the year and 12th of his AHL career as the San Jose Barracuda (12-6-0-1) upended the Coachella Valley Firebirds (11-6-1-2), 1-0, on Saturday night at sold-out Tech CU Arena for Teddy Bear Toss Night presented by Kaiser Permanente.
After the win, the Barracuda are 2-0 versus the Firebirds and have points in their last five (4-0-0-1).
During a seven-minute span in the first, the Barracuda outshot the Firebirds 11-1, and at 17:26 Lucas Vanroboys (5) steered in the puck from the crease to initiate the Teddy Bear Toss.
In the second, the Barracuda took three minors that led to power plays for the Firebirds and were outshot 14-7 but held their 1-0 through 40 minutes.
In the final frame, San Jose took a penalty at 16:34 and the Firebirds elected to pull their starting goaltender Ales Stezka to make it a six-on-four. During the two minutes Coachella Valley put three shots on net, but Askarov remained perfect and the Barracuda managed to hold onto the 1-0 win.
The Barracuda return to the ice on Sunday afternoon (3 p.m.) for the second of back-to-back versus the Firebirds at Tech CU Arena. For tickets and more information, go to sjbarracuda.com/ticket.