Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Barracuda came out flat early and had a couple of bounces go against them late in a disappointing 4-3 loss against the San Diego Gulls in a Pacific Division battle on Wednesday night at SAP Center.

Jack Kopacka fed a pass over to Matt Berry, who centered a pass out in front of the net, where Ben Street got a piece of it, and then had the puck deflect off Nick DeSimone’s stick into the back of the net for the game-winning goal late in the third period. Street’s sixth goal of the season came at the 14:32 mark.

The Cuda had a chance to give themselves a comfortable cushion of six points over the Gulls with five games left, but now have their So Cal rival hot on their heels with only a two-point margin separating the twp teams between second and third place in Pacific Division.

“It was disappointing,” said Cuda head coach Roy Sommer. “To be honest with you, I thought we would’ve had a way better effort. We were playing some pretty good hockey the past three games. To play like that in a playoff type of atmosphere, not enough guys showed up (to play) for us.”

San Diego (34-23-4-3) drew first blood late in the first period. Matt Berry skated in at the left slot and centered a pass over to Kalle Kossila, who one-timed the puck over the glove of Cuda goalie Antoine Bibeau (14-13-5) into the back of the net for his 14th goal of the season at the 19:47 mark. Josh Mahura received the secondary assist.

San Jose (35-21-3-4) weren’t able to capitalize on their only power play in the period as they were outshot 13-9 in the opening frame. Their best scoring chance came when defenseman Kyle Wood had a point-blank shot stoned by Gulls goalie Kevin Boyle (23-12-1) halfway through the period.

San Jose tied the game up on the power play to open up the second period. Alex True fed a pass over to Cavan Fitzgerald at their own blue line. Fitzgerald put on a skating clinic dancing around two Gulls defenders at center ice, then skated into the Gulls zone and from the left slot snapped a beauty of a wrist shot top self into the far right corner for his seventh goal of the season at the 2:56 mark.

San Diego regained the lead when they capitalized on a 3-on-2 odd man rush. Street centered a back-handed pass over to Corey Tropp whose shot was initially saved by Bibeau, but wasn’t able to keep the puck in his glove. Brent Gates Jr. cleaned up the rebound for his first goal of the season at the 6:32 mark.

Bibeau made a huge point-blank save on Justin Kloos on a tic-tac-toe attempt with six minutes remaining in the period with San Diego on the power play.

TJ Hensick scored a highlight reel goal to even up things late in the middle frame. Jeffery Viel fed a pass over to Hensick at the left blue line. Hensick then danced around Kopacka and skated into the middle of the faceoff circles and rifled a wrist shot through three defenders past Boyle on the right side for his fifth goal of the season at the 15:19 mark.

“We put ourselves in a situation we didn’t want to be in after tonight,” said Hensick. “This group has been mentally tough all year. We’ll find a way to bounce back, regroup, have a positive practice tomorrow and get ready for Friday.”

Jon Martin received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for spearing Jake Dotchin with less than three minutes left in the middle frame. Bibeau was the Cuda’s best penalty killer in that final 2:46 stretch, making three huge saves, including a breakaway attempt on Berry, to keep the score tied at two heading into the second intermission. Dotchin never returned to the game.

In the third period, San Jose killed off the rest of Martin’s major penalty as San Diego wasn’t able to generate any quality chances.

San Jose used the power play to their advantage once again. Jayden Halbgewachs sent the puck down low to captain John McCarthy from the right slot. McCarthy tried to jam the puck home creating a mad scramble in front of the net. After an unsuccessful attempt from Alex True, Wood knocked home the rebound past Boyle for his fifth goal of the season at the 8:42 mark.

“I knew once J-Mac (McCarthy) got it he was gonna try to jam it (past the goalie),” said Wood. “I was just waiting there backdoor, (waiting) for something to happen. Lucky it bounced to me and I kinda just chipped it in. It was a big goal at the time.”

The lead wouldn’t last long as Chase De Leo skated into the slot, threw a shot on net that caromed off Bibeau right on to the stick of Kloos, who buried the rebound into the back of the net for his 16th goal of the season at the 10:03 mark.

Boyle stopped 33 of the 36 shots he faced to earn his 23rd win on the season. Bibeau, who kept the Cuda in the game from start to finish, made 34 saves on 38 shots in suffering the tough luck loss.

“I don’t think we showed enough desperation tonight,” said McCarthy. “I thought our game was a bit too casual. At this time of the year we gotta find a way to win the next game and come out with a better effort on Friday.”

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 2/4 on the power play. They have scored a power play goal in four consecutive games. San Diego was 0/4. The Cuda are a perfect 20/20 on the penalty kill in their last five games.

Forward Dylan Gambrell was back in the lineup for San Jose after being reassigned by the San Jose Sharks.

Help on the way: Ivan Chekhovich and Vladislav Kotkov were assigned to the Cuda this week from their respective junior league teams. Marcus Vela made his Cuda debut this past Sunday after completing his collegiate career at the University of New Hampshire.

Bibeau was named the Cuda’s 2018-19 IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year. The award is given to the player in recognition for their outstanding contributions to the San Jose community.

The announced attendance was 2,963.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda host the Grand Rapids Griffins in a weekend series starting Friday, April 5 at 7:00 pm at SAP Center.