Photo: @sjbarracuda

By Alexandra Evans

ONTARIO, CA—After a cross-country road trip, the Barracuda traveled to sunny Southern California to face the Ontario Reign, the AHL affiliate of the LA Kings (the Sharks’ cross-state rival). Unfortunately, the Cuda were not able to reign over them (pun intended), falling 4-2.

The loss could have been way worse, as the Cuda managed to come back despite the Reign’s three goals in the first period alone. A sibling rivalry also occurred in Ontario tonight; brothers Johnny (elder) and Michael Brodzinski (younger) were drafted by Los Angeles and San Jose, respectively, in 2013, and faced one another this evening.

The first 20 minutes were very quiet on San Jose’s end. Ontario rookie Matt Luff sniped the first goal of the game (and the first of Ontario’s three in this period) at 8:08. Johnny Brodzinski notched two at 17:03 and 19:13. The night had something big in store for him, which he would not discover (or, rather, earn) until the third period.

Alexander True provided the Cuda with some relief when he scored on the power play 8:41 into the second period; Cavan Fitzgerald and Danny O’Regan assisted the goal.

Brandon Mashinter returned to the ice tonight after sustaining an upper body injury during the team’s road trip. He brought the lead down to one when he scored at the 11:06 mark, giving San Jose even more hope and relief. However, Johnny Brodzinski led the Reign to their 4-2 victory with an empty-netted hat trick goal at the 19:08 mark. San Jose’s starting goalie Antoine Bibeau was pulled from the net and subbed with a skater. Brodzinski’s hat trick was the fourth in Ontario Reign history.

Bibeau failed to stop three shots out of 33, taking the loss, while Jack Campbell, Ontario’s starting net minder, stopped 22 shots out of 24.

The Cuda are back at the tank this Sunday, November 5. They will take on the Texas Stars, to whom they lost 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday, October 28.