by Jerry Feitelberg

photo credit: San Jose Barracuda

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Barracuda routed the Stockton Heat Tuesday night at the SAP Center. The Barracuda dominated play all night long and continued their mastery over the Heat. The final score was 7-1.The Barracuda own a 7-0-1-1 record against Stockton and have three more games with them before the end of the season. The Barracuda’s record improves to 24-18-6-3 while Stockton drops to 23-22-1-2.

The San Jose Barracuda played a  strong first period against the Stockton Heat. The Barracuda took a 1-0 lead with less than three minutes played in the first period. Captain Bryan Lerg scored his fourteenth goal of the year. The puck went behind the net, and a Lerg received a great pass from Barclay Goodrow. Lerg was in the slot, and he blasted it by Heat goalie Kevin Poulin for the score. Goodrow and John McCarthy assisted. The Barracuda added a second goal at the 7:03 mark of the first period. The Barracuda was on a power play, and left-winger John McCarthy scored on a rebound. Assists went to Lerg and Joakim Ryan. The Barracuda had two more power plays in the period, but they could not score. They attacked the net, but the Heat goalie kept them off the board. The Barracuda had an 11-5 advantage in the shots on goal department. San Jose in the lead 2-0 after one period.

The Barracuda continued to play well in the second period. They scored two goals in the period to take a 4-0 lead until late in the period when the Heat scored to make it a 4-1 game. The Barracuda’s Jeremy Langlois scored a shorthanded goal with 5:49 played to give the ‘Cuda a 3-0 advantage. Langlois streaked down the right side of the rink then cut in front of Poulin and beat him with a wicked backhanded shot. The assist went to Michael Healy.Nikolai Goldobin made it 4-0 when he scored on a five on three man advantage. Defenseman Karl Stollery made a great pass from behind the net to set up the goal for Goldobin. It was the twelfth tally of the year for the twenty-year-old rookie, who was the first draft choice of the San Jose Sharks. Assists went to Stollery and Lerg. Lerg has a goal and two assists so far. The Heat’s Hunter Shinkaruk scored on a power play with just 3:14 left in the period. It was his first goal of the year as a member of the Heat and his twenty-second of the season.

The Barracuda’s Nikolai Goldobin scored his second goal of the night with 9:05 played in the third period. The Barracuda were on a power play and were forcing play in front of the Heat’s net. Poulin blocked a couple of shots but the rebound found its way to Goldobin’s stick, and he put it in for the score.The Barracuda scored their sixth goal of the night when Michael Haley beat Poulin for the score. Karl Stollery made a great pass to Haley, who was in perfect position in front of the net. The blowout continued when Ryan Carpenter scored the Barracuda’s seventh goal of the game.The goal came with a little over three minutes left to play.

Attendance wasn’t announced but it was a very sparse crowd.