The San Jose Barracuda sat on the bench expressionless at the Stockton Arena as they find out there is no mercy rule in hockey against the Stockton Heat on Tue Dec 7, 2021 (photo from San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

STOCKTON, Calif, —There are games where you want to set the tape on fire and never watch again.

In what was their worst performance of the season, the San Jose Barracuda suffered a severe beating from the Stockton Heat in a 10-1 loss on Tuesday evening at Stockton Arena.

San Jose have lost six out of its last seven games. Stockton have won three games in a row and lead the Pacific Division with 30 points.

Stockton (14-2-2-0) jumped out to an early lead in the first period when they scored two goals 14 seconds apart.

Glenn Gawdin found Matthew Phillips along the right wing. Phillips skated back into the middle and lifted a backhander past ‘Cuda goalie Zachary Sawchenko for his sixth goal of the season at the 8:35 mark.

Then former ‘Cuda defenseman Nick DeSimone fired a shot from the right point that was redirected by Gawdin past Sawchenko for his sixth goal of the season at the 8:49 mark.

The Heat scored its third unanswered goal of the period when a counterattack led to a two-on-one odd man rush. Rookie sensation Jacob Pelletier centered a pass from the end line over to Gawdin who beat Sawchenko with a one-timer for his second goal of the game and seventh of the season at the 15:43 mark.

San Jose (6-10-1-0) had chances to get on the board, including a breakaway from Jayden Halbgewachs in the first five minutes of the period, but Heat goalie Dustin Wolf Adam Werner kept San Jose off the board in the opening frame.

Stockton out shot San Jose 12-11 in the first period.

The Heat picked up in the second period where they left off in the first by scoring two goals in the first 10 minutes of the second period.

Connor Mackey sent a cross ice pass to a streaking Eetu Tuulola who beat Sawchenko with a wrist shot to the short side for his third goal of the season at the 6:49 mark.

Less than two minutes later, Stockton extended its lead to 5-0. Ilya Solovyov fed a pass back up to the point where Byron Froese ripped a slap shot past Sawchenko for his fifth goal of the season at the 8:18 mark.

That ended the night for Sawchenko (3-5-0) as he gave up five goals on 18 shots. Zachary Emond finished the game for San Jose.

It did nothing to spark the Barracuda as they played lifeless the rest of the game with multiple turnovers and taking frustration penalties that kept them for establishing a forecheck.

The Heat’s onslaught continued with its sixth straight unanswered goal just 55 seconds later. Gawdin set up Matthew Phillips with a backdoor centering pass that Phillips buried a one-timer past Emond for his seventh goal of the season at the 9:13 mark.

Stockton kept pouring it on with a power play late in the middle frame. Mackey sent in a shot from the point and Froese cleaned up the rebound for his second goal of the game and sixth goal of the season for the Heat captain at the 18:23 mark.

The Heat made it 8-0 early in the third period. Martin Pospisil fired a shot in on net and Connor Zary poked in the rebound for his third goal of the season at the 4:14 mark.

San Jose spoiled the shutout bid for Wolf when Dilion Hamaliuk sent a cross ice pass to Montana Onyebuchi in the left slot and the rookie defenseman rifled a wrist shot past Wolf for his first career AHL goal at the 11:08 mark.

Froese completed his hat trick when he was camped out in front of the crease and redirected Andy Welinski’s shot from the point past Emond for his second power play goal and eighth goal of the season at the 15:05 mark.

Gawdin finished his own hat trick when the ‘Cuda turned the puck right over to his stick and his wrist shot into an empty net for the Heat’s third power play goal that completed the scoring at the 17:04 mark.

Wolf (10-0-2) finished the game stopping 24 of the 25 shots he faced to earn the victory and still hasn’t lost in regulation this season. Emond made 16 saves on 21 shots in mop-up duty.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 0-for-3 on the power play. Stockton was 3-for-5.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Gawdin 2) Froese 3) Phillips

UP NEXT: San Jose returns to home to host the Abbotsford Canucks in a two-game series on Saturday at 1:15pm at SAP Center.