San Jose Barracuda defenseman Luca Cagnoni (#42) celebrates his second goal of the game against the Henderson Silver Knights with fellow teammates Andrew Poturalski (#22) and Joey Keane (#94) at the Lee’s Family Forum on Wednesday OCT 23, 2024. (San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

The San Jose Barracuda never won three games in a row last season.

They can check that box off of the list this season. Luca Cagnoni scored two goals to help his team defeat the Henderson Silver Knights 5-2 on Wednesday evening at Lee’s Family Forum.

San Jose has won three games in a row and four of its first five to start the season. Henderson has lost three games and four of its first five to start the season.

San Jose (4-1-0) drew first blood late in the first period with an even strength goal. Ethan Cardwell sent a pass down low over to Colin Graf behind the net. Graf skated out from behind the net and found Cagnoni in the left slot and the rookie defenseman blasted a one-timer past Silver Knights goalie Akira Schmid for his third goal of the season at the 15:57 mark.

Cagnoni, who has acted as a catalyst for the Barracuda offense, has scored a goal in three straight games.

The Barracuda doubled its lead with 10 seconds remaining in the opening frame. A turnover inside the Silver Knights zone led to Graf centering a pass from behind the net out to Andrew Poturalski in between the face off circles. Poturalski’ fanned on his first attempt but buried his second chance to the far side for his first career goal in a ‘Cuda uniform.

Henderson (1-4-0) had two power play opportunities but could not cash them in thanks to San Jose’s penalty kill remaining perfect to start the season, led by Barracuda goalie Yaroslav Askarov.

San Jose scored its third unanswered goal with the man advantage near the halfway point of the second period. Joey Keane sent a wrist shot up high on net and Scott Sabourin deflected the puck past Schmid for his second goal at the 9:13 mark.

Henderson answered to get on the scoreboard just under three minutes later. Dysin Mayo received the puck at the right slot from Gage Quinney. With Mitch McLain providing a screen on Askarov, Mayo lasered a wrist shot into the back of the net for his first goal of the season at the mark 12:10 mark

It was the first goal Askarov had given up in his three starts. He went 152:09 of shutout hockey before Mayo’s goal.

The Barracuda regained their three-goal lead late in the middle frame. A wraparound attempt by Brandon Coe was initially saved by Schmid. The rebound hit off Filip Bystedt and bounced out to the middle where Cagnoni lifted a backhander past the Silver Knight goalie for his second goal of the game and fourth of the season at the 15:07 mark.

San Jose earned its biggest lead near the halfway mark of the third period. Braden Hache led a rush up the ice. Hache’s pass intended for Kasper Halttunen took a favorable bounce into the Henderson’s zone. Coe skated in a on breakaway and slid the puck past Schmid from point-blank range for his first goal of the season at the 9:25 mark.

The Silver Knights scored their second goal after a bad rebound was given up by Askarov. Matyas Sapovaliv cleaned up the juicy rebound off of a Braeden Bowman shot that leaked out to the middle of the ice for his first goal of the season at the 11:57 mark.

Askarov (3-0) stopped 26 of the 28 shots he faced to earn his third victory of the season and is 4-0 in his career against Henderson. Schmid (0-3) made 18 saves on 23 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 1-for-5 on the power play. Henderson went 0-for-4.

The Three Stars of the Game: 1) Cagnoni 2) Graf 3) Mayo.

Graf extended his point streak to five games.

UP NEXT: San Jose concludes its two-games series with Henderson on Friday 10/25 at 11:00am at Lee’s Family Forum.