San Jose Barracuda forward Zach Gallant (60) tries to put one past San Diego Gull goaltender Lukas Dostal (1) during Tue Apr 20, 2021 game at SAP Center in San Jose (@sjbarracuda photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif—The San Diego Gull scored three unanswered goals en route to a 5-1 victory over the San Jose Barracuda on Tuesday evening at SAP Center.

The loss snapped San Jose’s three game winning streak, its longest of the season. San Diego have won three out of its past four games. The Gulls sit in third place in the Pacific Division with 40 points. The Barracuda fall to fifth place with a winning percentage of .536.

Alexander Barbanov made his debut for the ‘Cuda. The San Jose Sharks traded for the Russian forward back on April 12 in exchange for Anti Suomela with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He finished with just one shot on net and a plus-minus of -1.

San Diego (20-13-0-0) only needed 18 seconds to draw first blood for the game’s opening goal. Sam Carrick threaded a pass between two ‘Cuda defenders to Anderw Poturalski who wired a wrist shot past Barracuda goalie Alexei Melnichuk to the far corner for his eighth goal of the season.

The Gulls doubled its lead less than five minutes later. A battle along the ‘Cuda bench resulted in a two-on-one odd man rush where Alex Limoges skated in and snapped home a wrist shot top-shelf past Melnichuk for his second goal of the season at the 4:50 mark. Limoges ended a six-game goal less draught.

San Jose (12-10-4-2) had a power play opportunity late in the opening 20 minutes when Jamie Devane went to the sinbin for tripping. However they weren’t able to get a puck past Gulls goalie Lukas Dostal.

San Diego started the second period just as they did the first period by scoring an early goal. Once again the Gulls capitalized on odd man rush. Sam Carrick led a two-on-one with Limoges and after a give and go, Carrick beat Melnichuk through the five hole with a wrist shot for his 13th goal of the season at the 1:40 mark.

Carrick now has scored 19 goals against the Barracuda in his career.

The Barracuda responded just 36 seconds into the third period to get on the scoreboard. Lean Bergmann chased down a loose puck inside the Gulls zone. He swindled by two defenders before beating Dostal with a backhander for his second goal of the season. It his second goal in three games.

San Diego regained its three-goal lead on the power play just past the half way point of the final period. Nikolas Brouillard fired a shot from the right point that Limoges redirected from the slot past Melnichuk for his second goal of the evening and third of the season at the 10:45 mark.

Limoges finished with a three-point game (2G, A) as he had a hand in three of the Gulls five goals.

The Gulls put the game away with another power play goal three minutes later. Josh Mahura sent a rink wide pass over to Axel Andersson and he rifled a wrist shot through a screened Melnichuk for his first career AHL goal at the 13:42 mark.

Dostal finished the evening with 39 saves on 40 shots to earn his sixth straight victory and 11th on the season. Melnichuk (4-6-3) made 17 saves on 22 shots in the losing cause.

GAME NOTES: San Jose went 0-for-4 on the power play. San Diego went 2-for-3.

This was the Barracuda’s first regulation loss on SAP Center ice this season.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Limoges 2) Carrick 3) Melnichuk

UP NEXT: Both teams are back at it again on Wednesday 4/21 at 6:00pm at SAP Center.