Category: AHL

sjbarracuda.com photo

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif- Jayden Halbgewachs has a nack for scoring game winning goals in overtime. His latest extra session heroics came just 37 seconds into overtime to give the San Jose Barracuda a 3-2 comeback victory over the San Diego Gulls on Friday evening at SAP Center.

Trevor Carrick fed a pass up to Halbgewachs at the blue line. The left winger skated in and moving against the grain, threaded a backhander past Gulls goalie Anthony Stolarz for his team leading 18th goal of the season. He has scored three of the four overtime winners for the ‘Cuda and his second against San Diego this season.

San Jose have won three in a row for the first time all season. San Diego had their two-game winning streak snapped. The point they earned making it to overtime has them tied for fourth with Ontario in the Pacific Division with 64 points.

“I wish we could be having this conversation, let’s say in the beginning of November,” co-head coach Michael Chiasson said about his team’s longest win streak of the season. “But we’ll take it. From the first trip (when ) we went to Iowa, our game has really turned around. It was very helter skelter at times. But I think there’s a lot for us to build on and some stuff to be happy about,”

San Diego (28-18-6-2) drew first blood early in the first period. Justin Kloos skated out from behind the net and peppered a shot on ‘Cuda goalie Zachary Sawchenko that leaked out to Anderw Poturalski whose rebound chance was also stopped by Sawchenko. Kloos crashed the crease and cleaned up the second rebound into the back of the net for his 11th goal of the season at the 5:45 mark.

San Jose (20-27-4-2), who were out 15-11 by San Diego in the opening frame, had a short-handed chance on a 2-on-1 rush but Stolarz stood his ground and kept the puck out of his net.

The Gulls doubled their lead with a short-handed goal two minutes into the second period. Alex Broadhurst skated in on a breakwaway that Sawchenko stoned away. Broadhurst gathered the rebound and centered a pass out to Chase De Leo who buried a one-timer past Sawchenko for his ninth goal of the season at the 2:05 mark.

The Barracuda cut the lead in half late in the second period. Stolarz misplayed the puck that saw two attempts at an empty net sail high and wide by Sasha Chmelevski and Halbgewachs. Chmelevski retrieved the puck along the left boards and quickly turned around and fired a shot on net that beat the Gulls netminder on the shortside for his 11th goal at the 18:05 mark.

San Jose rode that momentum until the final six seconds of the middle frame. Holding possession inside the Gulls zone, Nikolai Knyzhov sent a cross ice pass along the point over to Nick DeSimone. The New York state native then snapped home a wrist shot past Stolarz for the equalizer and his fifth goal of the season with just six seconds left in the period.

“Desi (DeSimone) has done a really good job here the last five or six games. His game is starting to trend back in that direction. We’re at a point right now where guys have to continue to do that for themselves and Desi has put himself in that situation,” said Chiasson.

DeSimone has scored in back-to-back games and continued his point steak to four games for San Jose.

“I definitely had a long dry spell there,” said DeSimone when asked about his current point streak. “That’s always tough. You kinda wonder when it’s going to end. Offense is gonna come so you try not to worry about it too much but you know it’s always back there.”

San Diego had the ice tited in their favor in the second period outshooting San Jose 13-8. Yet they headed into the second intermission deadlocked after the ‘Cuda’s two goals in a span of 1:48.

Sawchenko (6-4-2) finished the evening with a career high 42 saves on 44 shots to earn his sixth victory of the season. Stolarz made 24 saves on 27 shots in the losing effort.

“I’ll be honest, my rebound control wasn’t great tonight. The D-core and the forwards came back and took away those second chances. That was huge. I tried to weather the storm the best I could,” said Sawchenko.

The third period featured descent scoring chances by both teams but neither could end the game in regulation. San Diego out shot San Jose 16-7.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 0-for-3 on the power play. San Diego went 0-for-5.

Tevor Carrick played in his 400th professional game (393 AHL, 7 NHL).

‘Cuda defenseman Michael Downing played in his 100th AHL game.

Danil Yutaykin returned to the lineup after missing the last three games with an upper body injury.

San Jose wore a cowboy themed specialty jersey in honor of “Cuda Country Night”. A Roy Sommer bobblehead was given away to the first 4,000 fans. Sommer and his son Mo performed the ceremonial faceoff before the game.

The announced attendance was 4,542.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda conclude its six-game homestand versus the Gulls on Saturday 3/7 at 8:00pm at SAP Center.

sandiegogulls.com photo

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif- Old habits die hard. Unfortunately for the San Jose Barracuda their habit of blowing third period leads is one that has been hard to break. The San Diego Gulls came back from a two-goal third period deficit as Maxime Comtois scored the game winning goal in overtime to secure a 4-3 victory on Saturday afternoon at SAP Center.

Justin Kloos led an odd-man rush, as San Diego caught San Jose on a bad line change, his shot was initially saved by ‘Cuda goalie Zachary Sawchenko but Comtois crashed the net and batted home the rebound for his ninth goal of the season with 2:11 left in the extra session.

San Jose were actually the Churros for a day and wore specially themed jerseys to celebrate the occassion. It’s a tradition that started with the San Jose Giants. the minor leauge affilate of the San Francisco Giants.

The Churros (17-27-4-2), despite earning a point, have lost two games in a row and three out of their last four. The Gulls have won two in a row and five out of their last six. They have climbed back into fourth in the Pacific Divison with 63 points, one ahead of Ontario.

San Diego (28-8-5-2) drew first blood early in the first period. Christ Mueller led a 2-on-1 rush up the ice. He fed a cross ice pass over to Alex Dostie who buried a wrist shot past Sawchenko for his 11th goal of the season at the 5:35 mark.

San Jose evened the score in the final five minutes of the opening frame. Sasha Chmelevski fed a pass out to newly acquired Anthony Greco, playing in his second game as a member of the ‘Cuda. Greco skated down the left wing and lasered a wrist shot far side past Gulls goalie Kevin Boyle for his first goal in a Churro uniform at the 15:40 mark.

The Barracuda gained the lead less than two minutes later. Nick DeSimone sent in a shot from the right point where Jeffery Viel redirected the puck with his stick into the back of the net for his 13th goal of the season at the 17:26 mark.

There was no scoring or penalties in the second period that saw both goalies make key saves. San Jose outshot San Diego 12-10 in the middle frame.

San Jose looked to have put the game away just 22 seconds into the third period with an insurance goal. Joachim Blichfeld won a battle along the boards behind the net as he checked the puck away from Jani Hankapaa with a hard hit. Blichfeld quickly centered a pass in front to a trailing Jayden Halbgewachs who blasted a one-timer past Boyle for his team leading 17th goal of the season.

The Gulls responded back right away to cut the deficit to one-goal.

photo from sjbarracuda.com

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN DIEGO, Calif- Rookie Maxime Comtois scored two goals and added an assist as the San Diego Gulls scored four unanswered goals en route to a 6-3 victory over the San Jose Barracudaon Saturday evening at Pachenga Arena.

San Jose had its two-game winning streak snapped. They are now 3-5 against the Gulls this season. San Diego have won three games in a row and jumped ahead of Ontario for fourth place in the Pacific Divison with 59 points.

San Diego (26-17-5-2) drew first blood early in the first period. Chase De Leo fed a pass up to the point where Chris Wideman’s shot was initially saved by ‘Cuda goalie Josef Korenar. Comtois was in front of the crease when he cleaned up the rebound for his first goal of the evening and sixth of the season at the 4:32 mark.

The former second round pick of the Anaheim Ducks has scored in five straight games, setting a Gull rookie record.

The Gulls doubled their lead when Josh Mahura led 2-on-1 break with Isac Lundestrom. Mahura fed Lundestrom who made a move forehand to backhand before he slid the puck past Korenar for his fifth goal of the season at the 11:29 mark

San Diego scored their third unanswered goal of the period when Scott Moldenhauer sent a wrist shot from the point that Chris Mueller tipped past Korenar on the right side for his sixth goal of the season at the 12:46 mark.

San Jose (16-26-3-2) had three good scoring chances go awry. Maxim Letunov had two point blank chances stopped by and Jonny Brodzinski had a shot hit a post.

San Diego out shot San Jose 16-12 in the opening frame.

The Gulls picked up where the left off in the second period going up 4-0 in the first five minutes. Alex Broadhurst fed a pass over to Comtois who buried a wrist shot past Korenar top-shelf on the right side for his second goal of the game and his seventh of the season at the 5:18 mark. De Leo received the secondary assist for a multi-point game.

San Jose finally stopped the bleeding halfway through the middle frame. Danil Yurtaykin fed a pass over to Thomas Gregoire who skated in and chipped the puck over the pad of Boyle, underneath his arm, for his fifth goal of the season at the 9:50 mark. The ‘Cuda defenseman has scored two goals in his last three games. Jeremy Roy received the secondary assist.

The Barracuda cut the lead in half when a turnover by Keifer Sherwood, who failed to clear the puck out of the defensisve zone, led to Jeffery Viel who snapped a wrist shot off the body of Jani Hankapaa in front of the net that went past Boyle for Viel’s 11th goal of the season at the 11:59 mark. Viel has scored three goals in his past two games.

San Diego regained a three-goal lead on the power play with under five seconds left in the middle frame. Broadhurst fed a pass over to Sam Carrick who sniped a shot past Korenar for his team leading 20th goal of the season. Comtois received the secondary assist.

San Jose scored a power play goal with 1:44 left in the third period to cut the deficit to two goals. Lukas Radil feathered a chip pass over to Lean Bergmann who wired a shot past Boyle for his eighth goal of the season. Joachim Blichfeld received the secondary assist.

Blake Pietila iced the game with an empty net goal 22 seconds later to complete the scoring.

Boyle finished the game stopping 34 shots of the 37 shots he faced to earn his sixth victory of the season for the Gulls backup goaltender. Korenar made 29 saves on 34 shots in suffering the loss.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 1-for-3 on the power play. San Diego was 1-for-1.

Fisticuffs! Keaton Middleton and Keegan Kanzig danced the tango in a long, spirited fight at the 7:45 mark of the second period.

San Diego had killed off 16 straight penalties before Bergmann’s power play tally. Their penalty kill is ranked sixth in the AHL.

Bergmann has scored in back-to-back games.

The announced attendance was 11,749.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda conclude their two-game roadtrip in Ontario as they take on the Reign on Sunday 2/23 at 3:00pm.