The San Jose Barracuda has had their struggles as they lost to the Ontario Reign at the Toyota Center in Ontario on Fri Dec 17, 2021 (image by the San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

ONTARIO, Calif, — The road has not been kind to the San Jose Barracuda of late.

The Ontario Reign scored five unanswered goals en route to a 7-4 victory over their NorCal rival on Friday evening at Toyota Arena.

San Jose had its two-game winning streak snapped. Ontario have won three out of its last four games and sit in second place in the Pacific Division with 29 points.

San Jose has been outscored 17-5 in their past two road games.

Ontario (14-5-0-1) drew first blood early in the first period. Austin Wagner intercepted a clearing attempt from Cole Moberg in the neutral zone. Wagner skated around the ‘Cuda defense and slid a shot past the five-hole of ‘Cuda goalie Alexei Melnichuk for his fourth goal of the season at the 2:51 mark.

The Reign doubled their lead more than halfway through the opening frame. Aidan Dudas made a drop pass to T.J. Tynan who blasted a one-timer past Melnichuk for his fourth goal of the season at the 12:50 mark.

Tynan has 11 points in his last 10 games for the Reign.

Ontario scored its third unanswered goal with 35 seconds left in the period. Valdimir Tkachev fed a pass back up to the point and Blake Siebenaler sent in a seeing eyed wrist shot past Melnichuk for his first goal of the season.

Ontario out shot San Jose 14-7 in the first period as the dominated play the entire period.

The Reign kept the route going early in the second period. Siebenlaer sent in the puck from the red line that took a tricky bounce off the boards out in front of the faceoff circles where Tyler Madden shot the puck into an empty net for his eighth goal of the season at the 2:18 mark.

Ontario scored its fifth unanswered goal on the power play. Jaret Dolan-Anderson centered a pass from behind the end line out to Gabriel Vilardi who beat Melnichuk with a wrist shot for his third goal of the season at the 5:31 mark.

San Jose (8-12-1-0) has given up a power play goal to the opposition for the ninth straight game.

Melnichuk was replaced by Zachary Sawchenko to start the second period. Melnichuk made 11 saves on 14 shots.

The Barracuda broke through on the scoreboard on the power play halfway through the middle frame. John Leonard sent cross ice pass over to the Sasha Chmelevski who ripped a wrist shot past Reign goalie Matthew Villalta for his fourth goal of the season at the 10:18 mark.

San Jose scored its second straight power play goal on a five-on-three man advantage. Chmelevski found Scott Reedy down low near the crease and Reedy one-timed the puck into the back of the net for his team leading 11th goal of the season at the 13:55 mark.

The Barracuda scored its third unanswered goal early in the third period. John Leonard scored his third goal of the season at the 1:39 mark.

Ontario regained its three-goal lead on the power play when Martin Frk scored his team leading 12th goal of the season at the 11:13 mark.

San Jose scored its third power play of the game on another five-on-three opportunity. Reedy scored his second goal of the game at the 13:51 mark. Ryan Merkley and Evander Kane set up Reedy’s 12th goal of the season.

Ontario iced the game late in the period seconds after their power play opportunity expired. Tkachev scored his third goal of the season at the 17:02 mark.

Villalta finished with 26 saves on 30 shots to earn the victory. Sawchenko made 12 saves on 16 shots in his two periods of action and suffered the loss.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 3-for-7 on the power play. Ontario was 2-for-4.

UP NEXT: San Jose continues their road trip in San Diego on Saturday 12/18 as they take on the Gulls at 7:00pm at Pechanga Arena.