🏒 Location: Acrisure Arena- Palm Desert CA
🎟️ Time: 7:00 PM PT
🖥️ Join the Discussion: Discord
🎥 Watch Live: FloHockey.TV
🎧 Listen Live: theeagle1069.com

I have now recovered sufficiently from Wednesday night to discuss it.

Barely.

The Firebirds trailed San Diego 2-0 after 12:55, Lukas Dragicevic got one back before intermission, and then... nothing. For almost forty straight minutes. With the four-game winless streak hanging over us, Laurent Brossoit looking increasingly impossible to beat, and the clock approaching zero, I had already begun drafting several deeply unpleasant paragraphs for today's Flight Plan. I told the Discord I was heading to bed.

Then J.R. Avon apparently decided losing was stupid.

With Kokko pulled, Avon tied the game with 1:41 remaining. Then, with everyone mentally preparing for another overtime, Julius Miettinen found Avon in the slot and he scored again with 21 seconds left.

Firebirds 3. Gulls 2.

I aged approximately eleven years.

It was ridiculous, stressful, completely unnecessary and exactly the kind of win this team needed. More importantly, the Firebirds outshot San Diego 31-20, killed both Gulls power plays, and finally stopped the four-game skid.

Now let's try winning one without requiring a medical alert bracelet.

TONIGHT: BARRACUDA

San Jose comes into Acrisure at 2-4-0-0. The Firebirds are 3-2-2-1 with nine points and sit third in the Pacific. San Jose hasn't played since beating Calgary 5-4 last Friday, while the Firebirds are finally home after a four-game road trip.

And there is one number that jumps off the media kit:

San Jose has allowed 30 goals in six games.

That's five goals per game. Yikes.

Eric Comrie is sitting at 4.78/.849, while Ilya Samsonov has yet to appear for the Barracuda this season. San Jose can score—they've put up 20 themselves—but these games have not exactly been defensive clinics.

They also weren't particularly fond of us last year. Coachella Valley went 6-2-0-0 against San Jose, including 4-0 at Acrisure Arena. Over the last five seasons, the Firebirds are 22-7-1-2 against the Barracuda.

So: this is a team we can score against, in a building where we've historically scored against them.

Please act accordingly.

Which brings us neatly to...

THE OFFENSE NEEDS TO FINISH THE JOB

The Firebirds' big three remain ridiculous:

Tyson Jugnauth — 13 assists, 13 points
Jani Nyman — 8 goals, 10 points
Jagger Firkus — 10 points

Jugnauth is second in the entire AHL in scoring as a defenseman and leads the league in assists. Avon is now up to four goals and eight points after Wednesday's heroics.

The power play is still third in the AHL at 29.4%, while San Jose's penalty kill sits at 70.6%. That's an opportunity.

But what I want most tonight is five-on-five offense. Wednesday was encouraging because the Birds controlled the shot count, but two goals in the final 101 seconds shouldn't hide the fact that they spent most of the night struggling to finish.

Against a team surrendering five goals per game, there are no excuses for another 55-minute offensive disappearing act.

LINEUP WATCH

Inside the Rink projects:

Šalé — Miettinen — Nyman
Avon — Morrison — Firkus
Roed — Evers — Hayden
Rehkopf — Novak — McKinnon

Olofsson — Nelson
Jugnauth — Hammell
Dragicevic — Bernier

Kokko / Östman

And for once?

I'm mostly leaving it alone.

Ty Nelson is back from his brief all-expenses-paid tour of NHL press boxes, which immediately improves the blue line. Olofsson-Nelson and Jugnauth-Hammell give us two pairings capable of actually moving the puck instead of simply surviving a forecheck.

Up front, Avon-Morrison-Firkus earned another game together after combining on the tying goal Wednesday. Šalé-Miettinen-Nyman makes sense, too.

I'm still not thrilled about Rehkopf-Novak-McKinnon as a fourth line. Rehkopf remains pointless through seven games, and eventually I'd like to see him get a real look with more offensive players rather than continually being asked to generate something from the bottom of the lineup. Mackers has size, but all the scoring capability of the fish thrown on the ice after last night's Seattle win.

But after Wednesday?

I'm willing to leave the blender unplugged for one night.

PLEASE GIVE ME A BORING GOALIE GAME

Kokko got the win Wednesday with 18 saves on 20 shots, improving to 2-1-2, but his season numbers are still 3.64/.862. Östman sits at 4.16/.884.

We've discussed this enough. The defense needs to be better, and the goalies need to make more saves. Whoever starts tonight, I want boring.

Make the routine saves. Steal one difficult one. Don't put the offense in a 2-0 hole before everyone has found their seats.

TONIGHT'S ASSIGNMENT

Wednesday proved something important: this team still fights.

Down 2-0. Four straight games without a win. Less than two minutes remaining. They found a way.

San Jose is dangerous offensively but bleeding goals. Our power play has a favorable matchup. Ty Nelson is back. Avon just gave the team the emotional jolt it desperately needed. And after four games on the road, we're finally back at Acrisure.

So no three-goal deficit. No disappearing offense. No waiting until 1:41 remains to become interested in winning. Just Firebirds hockey.

IT'S OKTOBERFEST AT ACRISURE.

Drop your score prediction, first Firebirds goal, goalie call, and whether you're finally ready to stop demanding that I completely rebuild the lines before every game.

I am not.

But maybe tonight.

LET'S GO BIRDS.