sjbarracuda.com photo: San Antonio Rampage goaltender Spencer Martin (30) and defenceman Josh Anderson (25), the San Jose Barracuda forward Flip Sandberg (43) jockey for position during Saturday afternoon’s matinee at SAP Center in San Jose in AHL action

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE–Trying to rebound after an embarrassing home opener, the penalty kill woes continued for the San Jose Barracuda as the San Antonio Rampage scored a power play goal late in the third period for a 3-2 victory at SAP Center. It was the Barracuda’s second straight loss.

Andrew Agozzino scored the game winning goal for the Rampage with a 1:49 remaining in the third period on a power play goal for his second goal of the season. He knocked home a rebound from the right side of the net on a show by Jordan Schmaltz. San Jose’s Julius Bergman was a victim of a holding penalty with 3:12 left in the third period.

San Jose took control of the game in the 1st period when Alex True scored his first goal of the season on nice feed from Adam Helewka up the middle and beat goalie Spencer Martin top self. Marcus Sorensen got the secondary assist at 4:44 of the first period.

The Barracuda had a chance to increase their lead when Rampage defenseman David Warsofsky was in the sin bin for holding but Sorensen wasn’t able to put home an empty net chance after receiving the puck on a deflection in front of the net.

Just when it look like the Barracuda were going to escape the first period with a 1-0 lead, Rocco Grimaldi evened the scored at one with his first goal of the season when he was able to cash in on a 2-on-1 break when his linemate Andrew Agozzino fed him a cross ice pass that Grimaldi buried into the net beating Barracuda goalie Antoine Bibeau just six second before the end of the second period. Bibeau received the start after coming in to relieve starting goaltender Troy Grosenick the evening before.

Bibeau, who finished the game with 35 saves on 38 shots, stopped a point blank chance off a shot from Rampage forward Reid Petryk four and a half minutes into the second period after a shot from the point found the tape of Petryk.

The Barracuda missed out on a great opportunity to regain the lead when Nicholas Meloche went off for high sticking Brandon Mashinter that earned Meloche a four minute penalty. And 31 seconds later they had a 5-on-3 for almost a full two minutes when defenseman Duncan Siemens for slashing. The closest the came to scoring was when Julius Bergman hit a post with a slapshot from the point. The Barracuda only generated one shot on the entire power play opportunity.

“When you have a 5-on-3, 80 percent of the time you probably should score on those,” said forward Adam Helewka. “Yeah that was a key part of the game.”

The Barracuda regained the lead with 1:48 left in the 2nd period on a power play goal when Filip Sandberg tipped in a Bergman shot from the right point for his first goal of the season. Sandberg was in perfect position to tip home the puck as he was camped out in front of Martin. Meloche was in the sin bin after taking a slashing penalty.

Joe Colborne tied the game with his first goal of the season on the power play at 11:32 of the third/ period when he tipped in a shot from the point by Schmaltz. Sorensen’s holding penalty put the Rampage on the power play.

NOTES: Things got chippy in the third period when separate hits by Sorensen and Rampage’s Chris Butler created some shoving and pussy between the two teams.  No fights broke out and matching minors for roughing were distributed to San Jose’s Colby McAuley and San Antonio’s Felix Girard.

San Jose was out shot 38-18. They went 1/6 on the power play while San Antonio was 2/4.

NEXT UP: The San Jose Barracuda host the Stockton Heat on Wednesday 10/18 at 7pm at SAP Center.