The San Jose Barracuda’s defenceman Karlis Cukste (77) and the San Diego Gulls forward Andrew Potvralski (22) try and engage the puck at FivePoint Arena in Irvine on Thu Jan 21, 2021 in pre season action (sjbarracuda.com photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

IRVINE, Calif-The San Jose Barracuda jumped out to a quick start and never looked back as they scored four unanswered goals to beat the San Diego Gulls 4-1 in their second pre-season game on Thursday evening at FivePoint Arena.

San Jose split the two-game series with their SoCal division rival.

San Jose got on the attack early as a Gulls offensive zone turnover resulted in an odd-man rush for the Barracuda. Lean Bergmann set up Kurtis Gabriel in front of the net and Gabriel beat Gulls goalie Anthony Stolarz for the game’s opening goal just 32 seconds into the contest.

“I think they came out with a lot of speed early,” said Gulls head coach Kevin Dineen. “We certainly, after our last game, were feeling pretty good about ourselves. It was a good lesson for our players in knowing that this is a pretty good league. There are some good players out there. They came very hard at us and I felt like we got caught off guard. Those are the kind of things you’re glad happens in training camp, that these lessons are learned. You’re playing against good players and you need to be prepared every single night.”

The Barracuda extended their lead with a couple of power-play goals. The first was scored by Jayden Halbgewachs, who evaded a Gulls defender in front to send a forehand shot past Stolarz at the 4:50 mark of the opening frame.

Later on in the period, San Jose struck again on the man advantage as Antti Suomela one timed a shot by Stolarz, pushing the Barracuda lead to 3-0 with 4:42 remaining in the first.

San Jose struck again in the second period, with Kyle Topping snapping a wrist shot past Stolarz at the 11:18 mark of the middle frame, extending the Barracuda lead to four goals.

“We’re a development league and part of the development process is not always a smooth road,” said Dineen. “There are going to be bumps along the way, whether they are personal or as a team. I was happy with stretches of our game tonight, but at other times there are some hard lessons to be learned. That certainly played out tonight.” 

Late in the third period, Sam Carrick put the Gulls on the board. Shortly after San Diego finished killing a minor penalty, Jack Kopacka poked a loose puck towards Sam Carrick at center ice. Carrick rushed ahead on a breakaway and beat ‘Cuda rookie goaltender Samuel Harvey with a wrist shot over the glove, cutting San Jose’s lead to 4-1, the eventual final score. Carrick has collected 4 points (3G, 1A) in two preseason games.

In total, the San Jose would put 43 shots on Stolarz including 19 in the opening 20 minutes. While San Diego had its moments of heavy pressure at both the end of the second and third, the Gulls would beat Harvey just once on 34 shots.

Harvey (1-0) earned his first pro win in his pro debut, playing perfect hockey through the first 57 minutes and 38 seconds. Stolarz who celebrated his 27^th birthday on Tuesday, took the loss in his season debut, allowing four goals in total.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda are back in preseason action on Friday at 3:00p.m. as they take on the Ontario Reign at the Toyota Performance Center in El Segundo, Ca.