San Jose Barracuda forward Anthony Vincent (#76) battles with Calgary Wranglers defenseman Jerrod Tinordi (#26) after the whistle during the Wranglers 6-2 win over the Barracuda at Tech CU Arena on Saturday Nov 16, 2024. (San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — The Calgary Wranglers scored four unanswered goals to cruise past the San Jose Barracuda in a 6-2 victory on Saturday evening at Tech CU Arena.

Calgary has won two games in a row and remained undefeated on the road with a 5-0 record. San Jose had its two-game winning streak snapped and lost for the just the second time at home.

San Jose (8-5-0) drew first blood in the with Danil Gushchin first goal of the season 90 seconds into the game. Cuda captain Andrew Poturalski started a counterattack over to Colin Graf. Graf led a two-on-one into the Wranglers zone. Graf threw a rink wide pass over to Gushchin who made a move fore-hand to backhand as he beat Wranglers goalie and former San Jose Sharks prospect Devin Cooley with a top shelf goal.

Calgary (12-3-0) had a strong finish to the opening frame with two goals in a span of 2:27 to close out the first period with a 2-1 lead. First, William Stromgren led a 3-on-1 rush inside the Barracuda zone. Walker Duehr made a back handed pass to Jonathan Aspirot who buried the puck into an open net for his first goal of the season at the 16:32 mark.

Then Duehr was on the receiving end of a centering pass from Dryden Hunt and Duehr blasted a one-timer past ‘Cuda goalie Yaroslav Askarov for a power play goal, his ninth goal of the season at the 18:59 mark.

The Wranglers kept their foot on the gas pedal to start the second period as they scored their third goal within two minutes to start the period. A turnover by the Barracuda inside their own zone led to Rory Kerins lifting a backhander from just outside the crease past Askarov for his team-leading 11th goal of the season at the 1:49 mark.

Calgary scored its fourth unanswered goal just before the sixth minute mark of the middle frame. Stromgren maneuvered around three ‘Cuda defenders before finding Sam Morton who redirected Stromgren’s pass into the short corner of the net for his third goal of the season at the 5:54 mark.

Gushchin scored his second goal of the game and season with San Jose having pulled Askarov for an extra attacker late in the third period. Graf slid a pass over from the left slot to Gushchin who beat Cooley to the short side with a wrist shot 2:21 remaining in the game.

Adam Klapka and David Silye added empty net goals to seal the deal for Calgary. Klapka scored his fourth goal of the season at the 18:28 mark and Silye his first goal of the season at the 19:10 mark.

Cooley (9-2-0-3) stopped 31 of the 33 shots he faced to earn his ninth victory of the season. Askarov made 19 saves on 23 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 0-for-2 on the power play. Calgary went 1-for-3.

The Three Stars of the Game: 1) Duehr 2) Gushchin 3) Morton.

UP NEXT: San Jose and Calgary conclude their two-games series on Sunday at 3:00pm at Tech CU Arena.