Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

The San Jose Barracuda missed their captain. John McCarthy, who had missed the past three games due to injury, made the most of his return scoring two goals part of seven unanswered goals en route to a 9-2 victory over the Ontario Reign on Friday evening at Toyota Arena. He was one of three ‘Cuda forwards to score two goals in the game.

San Jose matched a franchise-high with the nine-goal outburst, and with their third road win, have 17 points and have tied San Diego for sixth place in the Pacific Division. Ontario is 2-8 in their last 10 games.

San Jose (8-11-0-1) drew first blood early in the first period. Maxim Letunov fed a pass over to Jayden Halbgewachs and he snapped a wrist shot past Reign goalie Cal Petersen for his fifth goal of the season at the 5:40 mark. Thomas Gregoire received the secondary assist.

McCarthy scored the first of his two goals after San Jose gained momentum killing a penalty. Seconds after Keaton Middleton’s trip to the sin bin expired, Jeffery Viel led a rush into the Reign zone where centered a pass over the ‘Cuda captain where he buried a wrist shot top-shelf past Petersen for his third goal of the season at the 15:32 mark.

The ‘Cuda scored their third goal of the period with just 36 seconds left. Sasha Chmelevski sent a shot behind the Reign net, where Letunov collected the puck and quickly wrapped around a shot into the far corner of the net for his sixth goal of the season.

San Jose shifted into fifth gear in the middle frame. Just 59 seconds into the second period, McCarthy scored a goal when he was able to out-wait Petersen with a sweet backhand shot for his fourth goal of the season. Evan Weinger and Viel received assists on the play.

After a scrap between Trevor Carrick and Lance Bouma, San Jose scored three goals in a 1:16 span. First, Joachim Blichfeld cleaned up his own rebound after an initial save by Petersen for his team-leading eighth goal of the season at 7:43.

That goal would chase Petersen, who had dominated the Barracuda in the first two games between the team earlier this season, as he gave up five goals on just 18 shots in 27:43 of playing time.

Backup goalie Matthew Villalta didn’t even get a chance to finish stretching when Jonny Brodzinski fired a slap shot into the twine for his fourth goal of the season at the 8:04 mark. Brodzinski has scored two goals against his former team in three games.

Alex True joined the scoring party when snapped a wrist shot past Villalta, for his fifth goal of the season at the 8:59 mark. Chmelevski recorded the primary assist for a multi-point game.

Ontario (10-11-2-0) finally erased the zero off the scoreboard when Martin Frk shot the puck past ‘Cuda goalie Andrew Shortridge from close range just underneath the crossbar for his 11th goal of the season at the 10:46 mark.

San Jose outshot Ontario 13-5 and completely tilted the ice in their favor after 40 minutes in a dominating period.

Ontario scored their second goal in the third period. Mikey Eyssimont centered a pass over to Ryan Stanton and snapped home the puck into the back of the net for his first goal with the Reign and his first goal in his last 30 games at the 7:08 mark.

San Jose regained their six-goal lead when Brodzinski led a 2-on-1 odd man rush with Blichfeld after a turnover. Blichfeld cut back into the slot before burying the puck Villalta for second goal of the night and ninth goal of the season at the 14:35 mark.

True scored his second goal of the contest 61 seconds later at the 15:36 mark. Danil Yurataykin and Jeremy Roy registered assists on True’s sixth goal of the season.

Shortridge, finally getting a smorgasbord of goal support, finished the game with 22 saves on 24 shots to earn his second win of the season. Villalta made 13 saves on 17 shots in mop-up duty.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 0/1 on the power play. Ontario was also 0/1.

Letunov with his two-point game, extended his point streak to seven games.

San Jose had ten players with multi-point games. The 26 combined points on the nine goals set a franchise record. The nine goals also set a franchise record

UP NEXT: The Barracuda and Reign go at it again on Saturday, December 7 at 6:00 pm at Toyota Arena.