San Jose Barracuda goaltenders Yaroslav Aksarov (30) and Gabriel Carriere (35) hugging after clinching a playoff spot (via Joey Cascarano/Hockey Shots)

By Madison Montez

SAN JOSE– The San Jose Barracuda clinched for the post season after defeating the Ontario Reign 4-1 at Tech CU Arena in San Jose on Friday night. Ontario opened up the scoring, 36 seconds into the game when Caleb Jones scored his second of the season. San Jose tied the game up at 1-1 when Scott Sabourin scored his ninth goal of the season, three minutes into the second period.

The third period was all San Jose. Pavol Regenda scored his seventh power-play goal of the season after Caleb Jones took a high-sticking penalty, giving San Jose their first lead of the game. They extended their lead even further when Danil Guschin scored his 27th of the season at 11:07 of the third.

Pavol Regenda sealed the win scoring his second power-play goal of the night after two Ontario Reign players were called for roughing. Registering the assists on both Regenda goals, Guschin registered three points; two assists and one goal.

San Jose coming out with the win, the shots on goal were dominated by them for the majority of the game. In the first period, Ontario outshot San Jose 14 to 7. In the second period, San Jose outshot Ontario 9-8. Lastly, in the third period, San Jose outshot Ontario 13-7. This ended with Ontario outshooting San Jose 32-29.

Each team’s penalty kill was put to work in Friday’s game. Coming into Friday, San Jose was ranked fourth and Ontario was ranked third. San Jose took six penalties and Ontario took seven. San Jose was able to capitalize on two penalties, courtesy of Pavol Regenda. Ontario wasn’t able to capitalize on any penalties, going 0/4 on the power-play.

Friday’s winning goalie was San Jose’s Gabriel Carriere. Carriere nearly had a perfect game, only letting in one goal, making 31 saves on 32 shots. Friday’s losing goalie was Ontario’s Pheonix Copley. Copley made 25 saves on 29 shots.

THREE STARS OF THE GAME:

• 1. Pavol Regenda
• 2. Gabriel Carriere
• 3. Danil Guschin

The Barracuda will be back in action at Tech CU in San Jose Saturday night against the Ontario Reign, looking to sweep the series.