San Jose Barracuda forward Justin Bailey jams home a puck past Colorado goalie Justus Annunen at Tech CU Arena on Friday NOV 17, 2023. (San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — Ben Meyers scored early and scored late for his first hat trick of the season as the Colorado Eagles defeated the San Jose Barracuda 5-2 on Friday evening at Tech CU Arena.

San Jose is 2-3 in its past five games and have not won back-to-back game this season. Colorado is 3-2 in its past five games.

Colorado (7-5-3-0) drew first blood early in the first period. A turnover inside the ‘Cuda zone led to an odd man rush for the Eagles. Riley Tufte slid a pass over to Ben Meyers who tapped home the puck into an open net for his second goal of the season at the 3:07 mark.

The Eagles doubled its lead on the power play near the halfway mark of the opening frame. A failed clearing attempt by Ethan Cardwell led to Oskar Olausson’s backhander that deflected off ‘Cuda goalie Georgi Romanov up into the air and into the back of the net for his fifth goal of the season at the 8:01 mark.

San Jose (3-6-3-0) cut Colorado’s lead in half on the man advantage late in the period. A shot from the point by Henry Thrun bounced off Eagles goalie Justus Annunen that laid right in front of the crease. After a mad scramble in front of the net, Justin Bailey poked the puck into the back of the net for his sixth goal of the season at the 17:14 mark.

Colorado regained its two-goal lead 25 seconds to start the second period on a power play that carried over from the first period. Meyers scored his second goal of the game when he beat Romanov to the short side with a one-timer from the right slot. Corey Schueneman set up Meyers third goal of the season with a rink wide pass.

The Barracuda made it a one-goal game near the halfway mark of the third period. Brett Kemp won a battle along the boards before centering a feed to Ozzy Wiesblatt who got Annunen to go down before beating him with a wrist shot to the glove side for his second goal of the season at the 7:31 mark.

Nick Cicek thought he had evened the score at the 16:13 mark when he beat Annunen with a one-timer from the right point, but the goal was waived off when Nathan Todd was called for goalie interference.

San Jose pulled Romanov with 2:10 remaining in the third period but Meyers spoiled the comeback with when he completed his hat trick to ice the game for the Eagles at the 19:05 mark.

Former Barracuda defenseman Keaton Middleton completed the scoring with an empty net goal with one second remaining for his first goal of the season.

Annunen finished the game stopping 26 of the 28 shots he faced to earn the victory. Romanov made 22 saves on 25 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 1-for-6 on the power play. Colorado was 2-for-3.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Meyers 2) Tufte 3) Bailey.

UP NEXT: San Jose and Colorado conclude their two-game series on Saturday 11/18 at 6:00pm at Tech CU Arena.