by Ana Kieu

photo by sjbarracuda.com: The San Jose Barracuda and San Antonio Rampage dueled it out for a second match in the two game series in AHL action at SAP Center in San Jose on Sunday afternoon

SAN JOSE–After a narrow, nail-biting loss on Saturday, the San Jose Barracuda were looking to rebound against the San Antonio Rampage. In the Sunday afternoon thriller at SAP Center the Barracuda got a two goal win over the San Antonio Rampage 3-1.

Yesterday, the Barracuda (3-2-1) was dominant in the second period, but the Rampage (4-7) found its groove on the power play, going 2-for-4 and scoring another goal in the first just one second after a penalty to Mirco Mueller expired.

They reverted back to their white jerseys in the second game of the weekend series. Also, Jonathon Martin and Harrison Ruopp were back in the lineup, which was a plus because the Barracuda received some much-needed size.

Head coach Roy Sommer has emphasized a team approach towards capitalizing on the man advantage, which occurred in the first period.

However, there was an interesting turn in events. The Barracuda killed off a Timo Meier penalty then went back on the power play after Alex Bezile took a slashing penalty at 11:46. Kevin Labanc scored a power-play goal, giving San Jose a 1-0 lead midway through the first.

Things have definitely settled down today. The Barracuda went to the locker room with a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. They held a 9-6 edge in shots on goal.

The lead was doubled by Rourke Chartier, who got the fans on their feet with a snap shot to the stick side. The Barracuda was up 2-0 at 11:56. In the process, Nikolay Goldobin picked up his second assist, bringing his season total to 10 points (two goals, eight assists).

The kid line of Goldobin, Chartier and Labanc showed signs that would justify what a young, budding offense looked like. They combined for four points (two goals, two assists).

Shots were even at 12 apiece, but the Barracuda had a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes.

Just 10 seconds into the Tim Heed slashing penalty, the Rampage ruined Armalis’ shutout bid. Mike Sislo scored a quick 5-on-3 goal to cut the Barracuda lead in half at 12:58.

Armalis made it clear that he wasn’t too upset by Sislo.

“It’s not a pleasant sensation,” Armalis said with a chuckle. “Obviously, you want to have a shutout every game, but you can’t get it. As long as you get the win, I’m satisfied.”

Following the first Rampage goal of the game, Sommer juggled the defensive pairings a bit.

Daniel O’Regan added an empty-net goal to extend the Barracuda lead to 3-1 with 1:30 left in regulation.

The Barracuda settled for a split this weekend against the Rampage with a 3-1 win at SAP Center.

Mantas Armalis made 26 saves for the San Jose victory. Nathan Lieuwen made 13 saves in a losing effort for San Antonio.

When asked after the game if the kid line has to make any changes before the upcoming road trip, Labanc said, “No, I don’t think so. I think our line has been really good. We’ve been working hard, we’ve been limiting our mistakes since our first game of the season. I just think we’ll stick to our directions and keep doing what we’re doing.”

Sommer started off his press conference by recounting the tough loss yesterday. The 59-year-old went on to say that Goldobin was impressive with 10 points so far this season.

Sommer would later confirm that the only defensive pairing change that he made was moving Jevpalovs up and moved Meier down with Carpenter and Goodrow.

The Barracuda embark on a six-game road trip against Pacific Division teams starting with the Texas Stars at Cedar Park Center on Friday. Game time is set for 7:30 pm CST.