San Jose Barracuda vs Ontario Reign on Tuesday November 4th at Toyota Arena (via ontarioreign on x)

By Madison Montez

The Ontario Reign and the San Jose Barracuda have faced each other twice this season already. The Ontario Reign visited San Jose this past weekend Oct 31-Nov 1 where they split the series. The Barracuda lost a close 2-1 overtime match with the Reign on Wednesday night at the Toyota Center in Ontario.

After a scoreless first period, Akil Thomas put his team on the board first. Taking advantage of their powerplay, Ignor Cherynoshov netted his first powerplay goal of the season. A minute into overtime, Ontario took the win with Taylor Ward being the hero.

Although there was a scoreless first period, San Jose outshot Ontario 8 -3, with most shots going their way. San Jose then outshot Ontario again after the second period 10-9. San Jose ended the game outshooting Ontario 27-20 but ultimately ended up with the loss.

The Barracuda were the first to the box when Cole Clayton took a two minute high-sticking penalty 59 seconds into the second period. San Jose ended up taking three penalties while Ontario took one penalty. Coming into tonight’s game, San Jose was last on the PK and Ontario was sixth. Since Ontario took one penalty, San Jose was able to showcase their powerplay and did. San Jose was fifth on the powerplay with a 22% while Ontario was eighth with a 17.9%.

Both goalies saw the ice and faced off last on San Jose’s ice. Gabriel Carriere who’s last game was a loss, recorded 32 saves on 34 shots. Erik Portillo who’s last game was against this Barracuda team, made 36 of 37 shots in his 6-1 win. In Tuesday night’s game, Carriere recorded the loss making 18 saves on 20 shots while Portillo recorded the win making 26 saves on 27 shots.

THREE STARS OF THE GAME:

1. Taylor Ward
2. Akil Thomas
3. Erik Portillo

The Barracuda will be back in action on Thursday November 6th where they will visit Scotiabank Saddledome to take on the Calgary Wranglers. The last time these two teams faced off was on March 31st in Calgary when San Jose took the 4-1 win. Ethan Cardwell, Jack Thompson, Danil Guschin, and Nathan Todd all scored in the win. Jack Thompson is the only one left from that group that is still on the team.