San Diego Gulls defenseman Jeremie Biakabutuka beats San Jose Barracuda forward Donovan Houle to a loose puck during the Gulls 5-4 overtime victory over the Barracuda at Tech CU Arena on Wednesday MAR 5, 2025. (San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — Ryan Carpenter came back to San Jose to haunt his former team.

Carpenter scored the game winning goal in overtime as the San Diego Gulls defeated the San Jose Barracuda 5-4 in a game that went back and forth all night long on Wednesday evening at Tech CU Arena.

A bad change by the Barracuda led to a two-on-one odd man rush. Former Cuda forward Justin Bailey skated down the left wing before finding Carpenter who wired in a one-timer past Cuda goalie Gabriel Carriere for his 16th goal of the season at the 1:04 of the extra session.

San Jose with the loss finished 2-2 on their four-game homestand. San Diego has won seven of its last 10 games.

San Jose (28-20-3-3-62 points) drew first blood late in the first period seconds after a four-minute power play expired. Nikita Nesterenko went to the sinbin with a double minor for high sticking Luca Cagnoni. Ethan Cardwell led a rush into the Gulls zone. Cardwell dished the puck over Walker Duehr near the blueline. Duehr skated from right to left, maneuvering around Ryan Carpentar. Duehr beat Gulls goalie Ville Husso with a wrist to the short side for his 12th goal of the season and first in a Cuda uniform at the 19:12 mark.

Duehr made his Barracuda debut after clearing waivers two days ago after being released by the San Jose Sharks. Duehr, who also scored in his Sharks debut when he was claimed off waivers after being released by the Calgary Flames, was on the second line with Danil Gushchin and Rem Pitlick.

San Diego (21-25-5-3-50 points) despite having a power play opportunity near the halfway mark of the opening frame, weren’t able to generate many scoring chances as they were outshot 11-7 by San Jose.

The Gulls evened the contest with an even strength goal early in the second period. A fortunate bounce off the boards led to an odd man rush for San Diego. Coulson Pitre’s shot was kicked out by Cuda goalie Gabrielle Carriere. However, Judd Caulfield cleaned up the rebound into an open net for his sixth goal of the season at the 5:06 mark.

The Barracuda regained the lead exactly 60 seconds later. A faceoff win by Pitlick led to Duehr sending the puck back up to the point. Braden Hache sent a shot on net that deflected off of a Gulls defender skate to the far side of the net for his first career AHL goal at the 6:06 mark.

San Diego scored its second equalizer of the game with a power play goal at the halfway mark of the middle frame. Nico Myatovic centered a pass from being the Cuda net out to an unmarked Yegor Sidorov who beat Carriere with a wrist shot for his 14th goal of the season at the 9:56 mark.

San Jose earned its third lead of the game just over three minutes later. Hache kept the puck inside the Gulls zone on a clearing attempt. Andrew Poturalski picked up the puck along the left boards and danced around in the slot before releasing a wrist shot that beat a screened Husso for his team leading 24th goal of the season at the 13:05 mark.

Jan Mysak scored the third equalizer goal for San Diego and its third goal of the period with a four-on-four goal. Sidorov gave Mysak the puck at the left point. Mysak skated down the wing and rifled a wrist shot off of the far post and into the back of the net for his 14th goal of the season at the 16:48 mark.

Ethan Cardwell gave the Barracuda its fourth lead of the game near the halfway mark of the third period. Thomas Bordeleau gloved down a clearing attempt in the left slot. Bordeleau found Poturalski down low to the left of the crease. Poturalski threaded a pass between his legs over to Cardwell who buried a point-blank shot past Husso for the ninth goal of the season at the 7:47 mark.

Once again like a broken record, the Gulls tied it up at four goals apiece just past the halfway mark of the period. Nesterenko picked up the puck along the right boards. Nesterenko skated down below the goal line before centering a pass with one hand over to Mysak who beat Carriere with a quick one-timer for his second goal of the game and 15th of the season at the 11:42 mark.

Husso (10-5-0-3) stopped 30 of 34 shots he faced to earn his 10th victory of the season. Carriere (5-4-1) made 23 saves on 28 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 1-for-3 on the power play. San Diego also went 1-for-3.

Bordeleau, who picked up the secondary assist on Cardwell’s goal, recorded his 100th career AHL point.

Poturalski has nine points in his three games and leads the AHL with 60 points.

The Three Stars of the Game: 1) Mysak (2G,0A) 2) Cardwell (1G,1A) 3) Poturalski (1G,1A).

UP NEXT: San Jose begins a four-game road trip with a weekend series against the Abbotsford Canucks on Friday 3/8 at 7:00pm at Abbotsford Centre.