San Jose Barracuda defenseman Luca Cagnoni (#42) playfully chokes out fellow teammate Nick Leddy (#4) while John Gormley (#79) looks on with amusement as the team sported their “CudaMania” jerseys against the Calgary Wranglers at Tech CU Arena on Saturday JAN 31, 2026. (San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — Filip Bystedt has become one of the standout players for the San Jose Barracuda.

Bystedt’s three-point night led the Cuda in its 7-2 thrashing over the Calgary Wrangler on Saturday evening at Tech CU Arena.

San Jose swept their weekend series against its Pacific Division rival and has won four out of its last five games. Calgary has lost nine of its past 10 games.

San Jose (24-13-1-2-51 points) drew first blood early in the first period with an even strength goal. Collin White sent the puck back up to the point. Braden Hache sent a wrist shot toward the net that bounced off of the glove of Wranglers goalie Ivan Prosvetov into the back of the net for his first goal of the season at the 1:33 mark.

Hache snapped a 40-game goalless drought. The last time he scored a goal was against Calgary in the second to last game last season.

Calgary (16-18-8-2-42 points) answered back just under two minutes later. Sam Morton collected the puck near the right faceoff circle and beat Cuda goalie Gabriel Carriere with a seeing-eyed wrist shot for his eighth goal of the season at the 2:49 mark.

The Barracuda regained their lead 31 seconds into the second period. Oliver Wahlstrom led an odd man rush up the ice after receiving a touch pass from White. Wahlstrom wired a wrist shot top shelf as he beat Prosvetov to the short side for his 12th goal of the season.

San Jose went up 3-1 when another defenseman snapped a long goalless draught. Igor Chernyshov sent a cross rink pass over to Mattias Havelid who blasted a one-timer past Prosvetov for his second goal of the season at the 8:54 mark. Havelid went 22 games between his goals this season. Bystedt had the secondary assist.

Anthony Vincent has become a scoring machine for the Cuda. He scored San Jose’s third unanswered goal and his second in back-to-back games. Donovan Houle won a battle along the boards. The puck squirted out to Vincent who buried a wrist shot past Prosvetov for his third goal of the season at the 10:03 mark.

That ended the night for Prosvetov (8-7-1-1) as Wranglers head coach Brett Sutter pulled him for backup goalie Arsenii Sergeev. Prosvetov finished his early evening with just 13 saves on 17 shots.

Calgary answered back 31 seconds on the next shift. Rory Kerins centered a puck from behind the net out to Morton whose initial shot was saved by Carriere. Morton cleaned up his own rebound for his second goal of the game and ninth of the season.

San Jose put the game away in the first four minutes of the third period with two goals. Jimmy Huntington centered a pass while taking a hit from the end boards out to a wide open Egor Afanasyev. The Russian winger got Sergeev to go down before roofing a backhander over him for his seventh goal of the season at the 1:56 mark.

Then at the 3:37 mark, Bystedt sprung Cam Lund on a breakaway with a pass from inside his own zone. Lund skated and beat Sergeev with a shot through the five-hole for his ninth goal of the season. Lund extended his goal streak to four games.

Bystedt concluded the game’s scoring when he beat Sergeev with a wrist shot from the slot for his team leading 13th goal of the season at the 14:13 mark.

Carriere (10-7-3-1) finished the game stopping 14 of the 16 shots to earn his 10th win of the season. Sergeev made eight saves on 11 shots in mop up duty.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished the game 0-for-4 on the power play. Calgary went 0-for-1. Two streaks ended with San Jose going 0-for-2. One, it snapped the Cuda’s seven-game streak with at least one power play goal and the other was San Jose had scored a goal on the man advantage in every game against Calgary this season.

The Three Stars of the Game: 1) Bystedt 2) Morton 3) Afanasyev.

San Jose hosted its second “CudaMania” Night where they donned wrestling themed uniforms. Former WEE wrestler Rob Van Dam dropped the puck during the ceremonial faceoff before the game. Van Dam did a private meet and greet with fans three hours before the game.

UP NEXT: San Jose concludes its four game homestand with a tilt against the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Wednesday February 4 at 7:00pm at Tech CU Arena.