Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By: Marko Ukalovic

In what must have felt like a mini-playoff series, in a game that went back- and-forth all night, the Colorado Eagles received two goals in the shootout to defeat the San Jose Barracuda 4-3 to sweep the two-game weekend series in the third consecutive game between the two clubs at the Budwiser Events Center on Saturday evening.

San Jose (10-3-1-2) would be the team that drew first blood on this night. Jeffery Truchon-Viel scored his third goal of the season at the 4:37 mark of the first period. Dylan Gambrell and Jacob Middleton received assists on the goal.

Colorado (9-7-3-0) evened up the contest right at the end of the period when Tyler Lewis scored his second goal in as many games. Lewis scored his fourth goal of the season with just six seconds left to send the teams tied at 1-1 heading into the first intermission. Michael Joly and Jean-Christophe Beaudin received assists.

In the second period period, the Cuda didn’t waste much time regaining the lead. Zach Frye scored his first goal on the season at the 1:15 mark. Evan Weinger and Jeremy Roy received assists.

The Eagles tied it back up when Justin Kirk also scored his first goal of the season. His unassisted goal came halfway through the period at the 10:20 mark.

San Jose once again went ahead in the third period. Captain John McCarthy scored a power play goal for his third goal of the season at the 6:36 mark. Rourke Chartier, who was reassigned back down to the Cuda, and Maxim Letunov received assists.

However Colorado did not go down quietly getting the equalizer just over five minutes remaining in the period. Martin Kaut scored his fourth goal of the season at the 14:51 mark. Sergei Boikov received the only assist.

Colorado outshot San Jose 5-4 in the overtime session, but had to wait till the shootout to win. Joly and Kaut scored for Colorado, while Gambrell and Manny Weiderer were stopped by Eagles goalie Pavel Francouz (9-4-1).

Francouz made 39 saves on 42 shots to earn the victory. Cuda goalie Josef Korenar (6-1-1) stopped 37 pucks on 40 shots, suffering the hard-luck loss.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 1/3 on the power play. Colorado was 0/3.

The announced attendance was 5,289.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda return home to take on their NorCal rival, the Stockton Heat, on Tuesday, Nov. 27 at 11:00 am PT.