Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — The two worst two scoring teams in the AHL put on a fireworks show on Friday evening at the SAP Center. Led by captain John McCarthy’s first ever career hat trick, as well as the franchise’s first, the San Jose Barracuda (25-22-3-3) dominated the Cleveland Monsters (20-30-4-3) in a 6-2 victory. Coming into the game, San Jose had scored a league worst 128 goals while Cleveland only had 138.

The Monsters would draw first blood early in the first period when Nathan Gerbe was able to score his second goal of the season at the 4:47 mark. Sam Vigneault carried the puck into the Cuda zone and passed the puck over to Gerbe who fired a shot from the left point that slid past the five-hole of a screened Antoine Bibeau (17-11-2) for a 1-0 lead.

The power play would be good to San Jose on this night. The Cuda tied the game up on their first power play opportunity when Jacob Middelton needled a pass to Brandon Mashinter who, in a spin-o-rama motion, made a behind the back pass to a wide-open Adam Helewka, who buried the puck past Monsters goalie Matiss Kivlenieks (11-17-2) for his eighth goal of the season at the 9:18 mark of the first period.

Just under three minutes later, the Cuda would strike again on the power play when McCarthy was the fortunate recipient of a Rourke Chartier shot that deflected right to McCarthy after hitting Kivlenieks. McCarthy snapped the puck in the back of the net for his eighth goal of the season at the 12:10 mark. It was McCarthy’s first goal since coming back from the Olympics in South Korea.

“It’s been kind of a thorn in our side all year,” said head coach Roy Sommer on his team’s power play futility. “They kind go in waves, the power play (goals). It’s like the Sharks, I thought their power plays looked real good. They hadn’t scored in 10 games (until last game). They weren’t getting any bounces. We had a couple of bounces tonight.”

The lead wouldn’t last longer than 41 seconds when the Monsters were able to take advantage of a bad clearing attempt that resulted in a turnover to Brady Austin, who immediately fired the puck that hit Bibeau resulting in a big rebound that found the stick of Justin Scott, who buried the puck past Bibeau for his fifth goal of the season.

McCarthy gave the lead back to the Cuda early in the second period with his second goal of the evening. Rudolfs Balcers raced down the left wing and was able to make a spectacular pass between two Monster defenders from just behind the net over to a wide-open McCarthy, who was left all alone in the middle of the slot to snap the pack over the right shoulder of Kivlenieks for his ninth goal of the season at the 3:28 mark.

“One of our strengths is our speed,” said McCarthy. “Every game we’re looking to drive wide (along the boards) and generate chances that way. For whatever reason, we had more success with it tonight. So it was good to see.”

Cleveland had a chace to get back in the game when they started the third period on the power play that carried over from the second period. Terry Broadhurst walked in all alone and deked out Bibeau only to have his back hand attempt sail over the net early.

The Cuda took control of the game with two goals in 50 seconds. Their fourth goal of the game was a result of a battle along the right boards by won by Alexander True. He fed the puck over to McCarthy, who quickly fired a pass over to Balcers in the right slot and snapped home a shot past Kivlenieks for his team leading 15th goal of the season at the 4:40 mark.

Sam Warning skated down the right boards making a pretty cross-ice feed through the crease to a wide open Brandon Mashinter who fired it into an empty net for his eighth goal of the season at the 5:30 mark for a 5-2 lead.

“It was great to see,” said Mashinter regarding his team’s offensive outburst. “We haven’t had one of those in a long time. For me to get that (the goal) it was a huge monkey off my back.”

The Cuda finished out the scoring when McCarthy won a clean face off and sent the puck back to the point where defenseman Zach Frye, who was making his debut with the Cuda, wristed a shot that McCarthy positioned himself perfectly in the middle of slot to tip the puck past for Kivlenieks to complete hat trick. His 10th goal came at the 14:58 mark.

Bibeau, who didn’t allow another goal in the final 47:09 of the game, made 30 saves on 32 shots for the victory. Kivlenieks suffered the defeat making 32 saves on 38 shots.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 2/3 on the power play and perfect on the penalty kill with Cleveland going 0/4.

Frye, who just signed out of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks this week, scored 11 goals and a career high 34 points his senior season for the Nooks. Helweka suffered a lower body injury with over 12 minutes remaining in the third period. He was injured on a hit along the boards. He left the game under his own power. He is listed as questionable for tomorrow’s game. Colby McAuley and Garret Cockerill spared off with each other early in the third period after McAuley took exception to Cockerill’s high hit near the boards on Chartier.

The announced attendance was 3,684.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda conclude their four-game homestand on the back end of their weekend series against Cleveland on Saturday at 5:30 pm PT.