by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif—The San Jose Barracuda scored three unanswered goals in the third period to take control of the game and defeat the Texas Stars 5-3 on Friday evening at SAP Center.

San Jose has won two games in a row and are 2-1 in the four game series against Texas. The Barracuda have 28 points on the season and still sit in fifth place in the Pacific Division as they trail the Colorado Eagles by five-one hundreds of a percentage point (.548-.543) for the fourth and final playoff spot. Texas have lost two games in a row.

The Barracuda (11-9-4-2) drew first blood early in the first period. A shot from Ryan Merkley led to a rebound loose in front of the cease where after a mad scrum, Lean Bergmann jammed home the puck underneath starting Stars goalie Colton Point for his first goal of the season at the 3:57 mark.

Texas (12-14-2-0) responded when Riley Tufte skated down from the left wing to below the endline. Tufte reversed course on Jakob Megna and backhanded a centering pass to an open Josh Melnick who beat ‘Cuda goalie Alexei Melnichuk to the far side for his seventh goal of the season at the 13:13 mark.

San Jose outshot Texas 11-10 in the opening 20 minutes.

The two teams traded goals in the first five minutes of the second period.

A shot by Cole Schneider deflected off the glass and bounced back out in front of the crease where Riley Damiani was able to deflect the puck off Melnichuk into the back of the net for his seventh goal of the season at the 3:12 mark. Damiani snapped a 13-game goal-less draught.

San Jose answered back just over two minutes later with its fourth line once again. Zachary Gallant skated into Stars zone and the puck pinballed over to Steen Pasichnuk and he quickly fired a wrist shot past an unsuspecting Point to the far side of the net for his first career AHL goal at the 5:20 mark to even the game at 2-2.

That ended the night for Point as Stars head coach Neal Graham pulled him out of the game and replaced him with Adam Scheel for the rest of the contest after Point gave up two goals on 14 shots.

Texas out shot San Jose 12-11 in the middle frame.

The Stars opened the third period regaining the lead when a shot by Thomas Harley caromed off the back boards over to Melnick and he fired the puck past a sprawling Melnichuk for his second goal of the game and eighth of the season at the 3:32 mark.

San Jose scored the equalizer when Evan Weinger led a two-on-one odd man rush at the red line. Weinger skated in and fired a shot wrist shot through the five-hole of Scheel for his second goal of the season at the 6:28 mark. He snapped a 12-game goal-less draught.

The Barracuda regained its second lead of the game when Bergmann stripped Harley of the puck down below the endline and centered the puck out to a wide open Scott Reedy who wired a wrist shot top-shelf into the right corner past Scheel for his second goal and the eventual game winner at the 15:25 mark.

San Jose iced the game with an empty net goal from Alex True with 28 seconds left to seal the deal. Joachim Blichfeld received the primary assist on True’s eighth goal of the season, snapping a six-game goal-less draught.

Melnichuk (3-5-3) finished the game stopping 25 of the 28 shots he faced to earn his third victory. Scheel made 13 saves on 15 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose went 0-for-4 on the power play. Texas went 0-for-2.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Bergmann 2) Reedy 3) Gallant.

UP NEXT: Both team close out their four-game series on Saturday 4/17 at 6:00pm at SAP Center.