Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By: Ana Kieu

On Cleveland Barons night, the San Jose Barracuda took a step back in Sunday’s game versus the Colorado Eagles and paid tribute to the former NHL team, the Cleveland Barons, who played in the league from 1976-78. Due to the throwback situation, former San Jose Sharks stars Jonathan Cheechoo and Douglas Murray were at the SAP Center to sign autographs until 4:45 pm.

Anyhow, the Cuda’s starting lineup consisted of Lukas Radil, Maxim Letunov, Vincent Praplan, Jacob Middleton, Thomas Gregoire and Josef Korenar.

There’s always room for fighting in hockey, and that was what happened in the early minutes of the opening period. There was some pushing and shoving on the ice. The Cuda went on three power plays and Korenar made some big saves, but the score was in a scoreless deadlock at the end of the period. Shots were 14-5 in favor of San Jose.

The Cuda killed off some penalties and even went on a 5-on-3 power play at one point in the second period. Francis Perron helped the Cuda get on the board with not only one but two goals scored at the 13:04 and 10:33 marks, respectively. The second goal occurred on the power play following a Justin Faulk penalty for delay of game at the 10:01 mark of the period.

The Cuda were up 2-0 and outshot the Eagles 31-7 at the end of the period.

The Cuda exploded in the third period with three goals to put the game out of reach for the Eagles. Cuda captain John McCarthy scored a goal with 6:54 left in the period. Praplan followed up with a power play goal just 3:27 later. Praplan’s goal, which was also his first of the season, occurred after Mason Geertson’s penalty for cross-checking. Alexander True capped off the Cuda’s scoring with a late goal with 17.9 seconds left in regulation.

The Cuda shutout the Eagles 5-0. With the win, San Jose snapped a two-game losing skid.

The Cuda head to Colorado for a rematch against the Eagles on Friday, November 23 at 6:05 pm.