Author: Eric He

San Jose Barracuda Saturday game wrap: Barracuda routed by Reign in Ontario 7-2

Published on by Eric HeLeave a comment

sjbarracuda.com photo: San Jose Barracuda John McCarthy (17) who scored the first goal for San Jose in the first period was not enough as the Barracuda were overwhelmed by the Ontario Reign in a five goal loss

By: Eric He

ONTARIO–The Barracuda (19-11-1-3) allowed four goals in the third period and went o-for-5 on the power play in a frustrating 7-2 loss to the Reign (20-9-6-0) in Ontario on Saturday night.

San Jose trailed just 3-2 heading into the third period, but Mantas Armalis allowed four past him in the third to erase any hopes of a Barracuda comeback. Teddy Purcell, Vincent LoVerde, Johnny Brodzinski and Mike Amadio all scored for the Reign to put the game out of reach.

The game was close through two periods. The Barracuda’s Marcus Sorensen tied the game 2-2 in the second period on a redirect, but Brodzinski gave Ontario the lead right back minutes later on a power play.

Ontario also led 2-0 in this game. Sam Herr and Paul LaDue lit the lamp in the first period to stake out an early lead for the Reign. John McCarthy provided the lone goal for the Barracuda in the first period to close the deficit to 2-1.

By game’s end, though, the score would be much different as Armalis allowed seven goals on 33 shots.

The Barracuda’s next game will be Wednesday night in Stockton.

San Jose Barracuda Friday game wrap: Barracuda fall 5-1 to Gulls

Published on by Eric HeLeave a comment

sjbarracuda.com photo: The San Diego Gulls Keaton Thompson (4) skates the puck up front with Gulls teammates Kalle Kossilla (14) and Antoine Laganiere (28) anticipating a shot or pass while the Barracuda Mirco Mueller (41) helps defend in front of the net with goaltender Tony Grosenick (1)

By: Eric He

Two minutes into their game against the Gulls (18-12-2-1), the San Jose Barracuda (19-10-1-3) found themselves trailing.

They never bounced back in a 5-1 loss in San Diego on Friday night in front of a crowd of 12,920 AHL fans at Valley View Casino Center.

Jordan Samuels-Thomas deposited the game’s first goal with a shot that went in from the left circle. Scott Sabourin gave the Gulls a 2-0 lead heading into the second with a goal late in the first period.

The Barracuda wouldn’t find the back of the net until late in the third period on a goal by Patrick McNally. By that point, the game was out of hand. Nick Sorensen gave San Diego a 3-0 lead heading into the third period, and the Gulls extended the lead to 4-0 in the third.

Goaltender Troy Grosenick allowed four goals on 34 shots.

San Jose plays Ontario on the road on Saturday to continue its seven-game road trip.

San Jose Sharks Tuesday game wrap: Boedker’s hat trick paces Sharks over Oilers 5-3

Published on by Eric HeLeave a comment

San Jose Sharks’ Mikkel Boedker (89) is chased by Edmonton Oilers’ Kris Russell (4) during the third period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, in Edmonton, Alberta. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

By: Eric He

Mikkel Boedker hasn’t had many positive moments in a Sharks uniform, even sitting in head coach Pete DeBoer’s doghouse as of late as a healthy scratch.

Well, he played on Tuesday night against Edmonton, and he delivered with a hat trick in a 5-3 Sharks’ road win over the Oilers.

Boedker netted three of the Sharks’ first four goals to help San Jose stake out a 4-1 lead after two periods. Edmonton closed the gap to 4-3 less than four minutes into the third, but Logan Couture’s breakaway goal at 5:06 gave the Sharks a two-goal lead again that they held onto.

Boedker found the back of the net less than two minutes into the game, punching in a rebound into a wide-open net. After the Oilers evened it up, Brent Burns gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead going into the second period with a wicked wrist shot from the point. “Well, you play a game, and you go to the areas that they come,” Boedker said. “A game like that, when you score your first shift, you’re going to feel good the whole game. They came my way today, and it was three good goals.”

The second period was all San Jose — or, to be more precise — all Boedker. He cleaned up a loose puck to give the Sharks a 3-1 lead, and then extended the advantage to three goals with a tip-in off a shot from the point by Marc-Edouard Vlasic. San Jose head coach Peter DeBoer said Marc-Edouard Vlasic was also key who helped out on defense “He was outstanding. We probably don’t win without him,” DeBoer said. “Sit for as long as he did, played 25 minutes, blocked shots, two assists. He’s a real important piece for us, obviously. It’s nice to have him back there.”

The Sharks wound up being outshot 36-28 by the Oilers, but held on for their second straight win. Martin Jones made 33 saves while the Sharks blocked 25 shots.

San Jose heads to Calgary to play the Flames on Wednesday in the back-end of a back-to-back.

Kings stop mini-skid with road win over Nuggets

Published on by Eric HeLeave a comment

By: Eric He

The Sacramento Kings snapped a two-game losing streak and maintained the eighth spot in the Western Conference playoff picture with a 120-113 win over the Nuggets on Tuesday on the road.

The win is the Kings’ fifth in seven games and third straight over the Nuggets. Sacramento led by six entering the fourth quarter. Denver got as close as three points, but the Kings managed to keep control of the game and pull away for the win.

DeMarcus Cousins led the way with 31 points, six rebounds and six assists, but he was helped by 26 points from Darren Collison and 18 points from Kosta Koufus. Aaron Afflalo chipped in 19 points off the bench. With Cousins on the bench to start the fourth, the Kings managed to increase the advantage, and the big man’s return bolstered them to victory.

The Kings led 60-51 at the half, and pushed the lead to as high as 13 in the third quarter. But Denver trimmed it to a three-point game to make it a close one entering the fourth.

Denver was paced by Danilo Gallinari’s 24 points.

The Kings’ record now stands at 15-19, good enough for a one-game lead over Portland for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West. They play the Heat at home on Wednesday.

Sharks fall to Kings after slow start

Published on by Eric HeLeave a comment

By: Eric He

 

The Sharks got off to a slow start and never completely recovered in a 3-2 loss to the Kings at Staples Center on New Year’s Eve.

San Jose, which had won eight of nine coming into the game, came out flat against a Kings team that had lost five of six. It showed in the first period, as the Kings came out firing pucks left and right at Martin Jones. Tanner Pearson connected on a wrist shot less than five minutes in to give the Kings a 1-0 lead.

Los Angeles led 2-0 heading into the third after a Drew Doughty slap shot on the power play found pay dirt.

However, the Sharks found some life in the third. Brent Burns got them on the board 12 seconds into the period with a wrist shot from the point on the man advantage. The Kings answered with Jeff Carter breaking into the zone. and beating Jones on a semi-break, though Kevin Labanc pulled the Sharks back within a goal with just under six minutes left in regulation.

But a late push by the Sharks with the net empty couldn’t produce the tying goal.

The Sharks were outshot 14-3 in the first period and 27-20 in the game, unable to make up for the poor start. They will have another chance on Tuesday when they play the Kings again, this time at SAP Center.

Barracuda have win streak snapped by Condors 7-2

Published on by Eric HeLeave a comment

sjbarracuda.com photo: The San Jose Barracuda and Bakersfield Condors will see enough each other three times in four days as frustrations brew between the clubs with Saturday being no exception as they conclude their meetings at SAP Center

By: Eric He

Riding a three-game win streak into Bakersfield, the San Jose Barracuda saw it come to an end in a poor showing against the Condors. The 7-2 loss featured five first period goals by the opposition, the first time that has happened in franchise history.

The Condors, meanwhile, snapped their six-game losing streak in strong fashion with an onslaught right away, finding the back of the net on their first two shots. Ryan Hamilton scored 29 seconds into the game and then David Musil connected minutes later to give Bakersfield a 2-0 lead right off the bat.

A goaltending change did nothing for the Barracuda, as Mantas Armalis was pulled for Troy Grosenick — but Grosenick didn’t fare much better. Patrick Russell, Anton Slepyshev and Anton Lander all scored on him before the first period ended. Nine shots and three goals allowed later, Grosenick was again replaced by Armalis as head coach Roy Sommer searched for an answer.

But a 5-0 deficit was too steep to overcome in the Barracuda’s pen-ultimate game of 2016. Goals by Ryan Carpenter and Rourke Chartier gave San Jose some life in the second period, but Bakersfield came back with two in the third to answer.

The Barracuda drop to 14-7-1-3 on the season and will end the year facing Bakersfield again on Saturday, this time in San Jose.

Kings have win streak snapped by Blazers

Published on by Eric HeLeave a comment

By: Eric He

Despite playing a Trail Blazers team without star guard Damian Lillard, the Sacramento Kings saw their four-game win streak come to an end on Wednesday night at the Moda Center in a 109-89 loss on the road.

In his first game against Portland since the controversial ejection-that-wasn’t, DeMarcus Cousins put up 28 points, grabbed eight boards and dished out six assists. He was booed every time he touched the ball, though he was one of the few Kings who had quality nights offensively.

Gary Temple (14 points) and Matt Barnes (13 points) were the only other Kings to score in double-digits.

“You could tell their game plan was to make everybody else have big games instead of myself,” Cousins said to reporters. “It was successful tonight. It worked.”

Portland held Sacramento to under 40 percent shooting to snap its six-game losing streak.

The Blazers opened up a 16-point lead at halftime and led by 20 at one point in the third quarter after a three-pointer by CJ McCollum, who picked up the slack for the injured Lillard. McCollum had 20 points on the night and was one of six Blazers in double figures.

The Kings got as close as eight points in the fourth after threes by Cousins and Omri Casspi. But a three by Shabazz Napier pushed the lead back to double-figures, and Sacramento never found a way to get its offense going.

“I don’t want guys to get too down and get drained and start thinking negative because we lost one game,” Cousins said. “This is the NBA. We weren’t going to go undefeated the rest of the season.”

The Kings’ problems at the Moda Center continued, however. Sacramento has dropped eight straight games to the Blazers in Portland.

Next up, the Kings return home to face the Grizzlies on Saturday.

Burns’ OT winner pushes Sharks past Ducks

Published on by Eric HeLeave a comment

By: Eric He

The Sharks squandered two leads against the Ducks on Tuesday night, but finished the job in overtime. Brent Burns scored at 2:46 of the extra session in a 3-2 win in Anaheim to help San Jose escape Orange County with a win.

Burns took a nice feed from Joe Pavelski in the offensive zone and cut in all alone on Jonathan Bernier, made a deke to the backhand and netted the winner.

Despite going o-for-4 on the power play, the Sharks held on. With a 2-1 lead entering the third, the Sharks gave up the equalizer to Jakob Silfverberg, who flicked in a pass from Ryan Kesler to tie the game. Anaheim got the better of San Jose late in the period, nearly grabbing the lead for good.

But Martin Jones made 34 aves to backstop the Sharks through their other difficulties.

The Sharks scored first with the lone goal in the opening period. Paul Martin shot the puck into a gaping net after Logan Couture may have interfered with Bernier in the crease. But the Ducks didn’t challenge the play and the goal stood.

After Ondrej Kase leveled for the Ducks, Melker Karlsson responded for the Sharks in the second period. He deflected in a pass from Joel Ward to give the Sharks the lead entering the third period.

It wasn’t the Sharks’ best game, but they came out of the holiday on the right note. The Sharks will go for their fourth straight win on Friday when the Flyers visit SAP Center.

Kings come from 20 down to defeat Jazz on the road in razor edge finale 94-93

Published on by Eric HeLeave a comment

Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingles (2) and Sacramento Kings guard Arron Afflalo, right, compete for a loose ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016, in Salt Lake City. The Kings won 94-93. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer

By: Eric He

The Sacramento Kings erased a 20-point second half deficit to defeat the Jazz 94-93 on the road on Wednesday night.

Trailing 62-42 midway through the third, the Kings fought their way back behind 21 points from DeMarcus Cousins and 19 from Ty Lawson. They went on a 13-2 run late in the third and early in the fourth to climb back into the game.

A free throw by Cousins gave the Kings a 90-89 lead with just over a minute to play. Cousins then came up big on defense, forcing a miss on a potential game-winning layup attempt by Gordon Hayward. He grabbed the board and knocked down a pair of foul shots to put the Kings up by four and give them the win.

Sacramento outscored Utah 32-20 in the fourth quarter.

The Jazz, playing at home a night after being blown out by the Warriors at Oracle Arena, were paced by Hayward’s 28 points and jumped out to a double-digit first half lead. They led 48-38 at halftime and kept pouring it on to begin the second half, until momentum switched over to the other side.

The Kings’ bench played a role in the comeback, as Gary Temple dropped 11 in addition to Lawson’s 19. Even without Omri Casspi and Rudy Gay — who were both nursing injuries — the Kings were able to pull off the win on the back-end of a back-to-back.

Despite being mired in controversies involving Cousins, the Kings have won 3 of 4 games and are in the hunt for a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Next up, the Kings will travel to Minnesota to play the Timberwolves on Friday.

Shorthanded Kings blown out by Rockets

Published on by Eric HeLeave a comment

By: Eric He

By resting DeMarcus Cousins in addition to sitting Rudy Gay and Ben McLemore with injuries, the Sacramento Kings were the victims of a “schedule loss” on Wednesday night in a 132-98 shellacking by the Rockets on the road.

James Harden recorded a triple double with 15 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds in just three quarters of action as the Rockets beat the Kings for the sixth straight time at the Toyota Center.

Sacramento trailed by as many as 39 points in the loss. The Kings received 20 points from Gary Temple and 12 from Anthony Tolliver. But Kosta Koufas’ and Omri Casspi’s 10 points each was far from the typical scoring output of Gay and Cousins, the Kings’ two best offensive players.

The Kings were down double-digits by the end of the first quarter and trailed by 21 at halftime. Meanwhile, the Rockets, in their eighth straight win, bombed away from beyond-the-arc and knocked down 22 three-pointers.

Houston reached the century mark late in the third quarter, taking a 102-67 lead into the fourth.

“There are times when teams are going to have to rest people and that gives other guys an opportunity to step up,” Matt Barnes said. “We have to weather the storm until Ben and Rudy get back and I think DeMarcus is playing in the next game. We have to pick up the pieces and continue to play hard and improve.”

The Kings fall to 4-10 on the road. They travel to Memphis on Friday to play the Grizzlies