Category: AHL

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Cuda looking for next win as Colorado comes in for two

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sjbarracudapodcast.com file: San Jose Barracuda goaltender Antoine Bibeau (34) and the Cuda will host the Colorado Eagles this Saturday and Sunday at SAP Center in San Jose.

On the Barracuda podcast with Marko:

The way the game between the Stockton Heat and the San Jose Barracuda the Cuda looked like they were going to be on a five-game losing streak as they were able to snap the losing streak at four on Sunday 5-4 in a shootout.

It was one of those games where they were not playing good hockey. It was a game where the Heat scored the first two goals in the first period, and when you play catch up hockey like that, it’s not a good formula to win games.

Listen for more as Marko brings you analysis of San Jose Barracuda hockey each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Barracuda snap losing skid with 5-4 shootout victory over Heat

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

by Marko Ukalovic

The San Jose Barracuda had looked like the playing of a broken record in five straight games with the opposing team, scoring the first two goals in the first period to take control of the game. However, three unanswered goals in the third period paved the way for a 5-4 comeback shootout victory over the Stockton Heat on Sunday afternoon at SAP Center.

The Cuda desperately snapped their four-game losing skid and have won their third consecutive shootout (4-4). Francis Perron scored the only goal in the shootout as Cuda goalie Antoine Bibeau was perfect stopping all three Stockton attempts.

Stockton (25-26-4-2) drew first blood while short-handed in the first period. Ryan Lomberg led a 2-on-1 odd man rush Dillon Dube. Lomberg connected with Dube who beat Bibeau (12-10-5) for his 13th goal of the season at the 6:11 mark. Juuso Valimaki received the secondary assist on Dube’s second short-handed goal in consecutive games. It was the 16th short-handed goal for Stockton this season, which leads the AHL.

The Heat doubled their lead after taking advantage of a failed Cuda clearing attempt. Spencer Foo kept the puck in, fed a pass over to Tyler Graovac, who found an open Dube, who put the puck past Bibeau for his second goal and 14th of the season at the 9:04 mark.

San Jose (31-18-2-1) cut the lead in half early in the second period. Francis Perron was able to tip home a shot from the point by Kyle Wood, who broke his stick on the shot, past Heat goalie Jon Gillies (13-15-5) for his 16th goal of the season at the 2:47 mark. The goal broke a 10-game goal-less drought for Perron.

Stockton regained their two-goal lead when Foo scored his 15th goal of the season on the power play at the 8:36 mark. Dube and Valimaki were credited with assists.

Graovac made it 4-1 when he scored his 20th goal of the season at the 17:47 mark. Foo and Dube, who was involved in the scoring of all four Stockton goals, received assists.

The third period belonged to San Jose as they scored three unanswered goals to tie the game and force overtime.

Evan Weinger jammed home his own rebound after his initial redirection of a shot from the point by Matt Fonteyne hit the right post. It was Weinger’s ninth goal of the season at the 10:11 mark of the third period. Nick DeSimone was credited with the secondary assist.

Alex True cut the deficit to a one-goal game. With Bibeau pulled for an extra attacker, True received the puck from Maxim Letunov, turned and fired the puck through a sea of traffic past Gillies for his team-leading 21st goal of the season at the 18:33. Jeremy Roy received the secondary assist.

TJ Hensick brought down the house with the game equalizer with 1:05 left in the game while the Cuda had a 6-on-4 advantage with Valimaki in the sin-bin for cross checking. DeSimone and Jayden Halbgewachs were credited assists on Hensick third goal of the season.

Stockton had a power play opportunity in the over time session but weren’t able to cash in, thanks to Bibeau making a few big saves to send the game to the shootout.

Bibeau made 16 saves on 20 to earn his 12th victory of the season. Gillies finished with 31 saves on 35 shots in suffering the defeat .

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 1/6 on the power play despite the Heat having the 30th ranked penalty kill in the league. Stockton was 1/5.

Jon Martin and Buddy Robinson exchanged fisticuffs late in the first period.

The announce attendance was 4,642. It was the second annual Pucks and Paws Day, where fans were able to bring their dogs to the game.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda host the Colorado Eagles on Saturday 3/16 at 1:15 pm at SAP Center.

Condors thrash Barracuda 7-1

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by Marko Ukalovic

A different game on a different day and time, but the same dominant result. For the third consecutive game, the San Jose Barracuda weren’t able to slow down the red-hot Bakersfield Condors in a 7-1 loss to the Pacific Division leaders on Saturday evening at SAP Center.

The Condors have won 20 of their last 21 games (and the last five straight versus San Jose), while the Barracuda have lost their fourth in a row for the first time all season and are winless in the month of March.

Bakersfield (36-17-2-1) drew first blood in the first period. Logan Day fed a pass that led to a breakaway for Tyler Benson. Benson skated in and beat Cuda goalie Josef Korenar (19-8-1) with a wrist shot on the far side for his 11th goal of the season at the 4:34 mark.

The Condors doubled their lead late in the opening frame when William Lagesson received the puck at the left point from Luke Esposito and his shot went past a body of traffic and trickled through the five-hole of Korenar for his sixth goal of the season at the 14:48 mark.

San Jose (30-18-2-4) had a chance to break the seal four minutes into the second period. A big hit by Cavan Fitzgerald on Joe Gambardella in the middle of the ice led to a breakaway for Jayden Halbgewachs, but Condors goalie Shane Starrett (23-4-3) stoned his attempt.

The Cuda cut the lead in half when a mad scramble in the front of the net led to Maxim Letunov being the last one to touch the puck that slid past Starrett for his 10th goal of the season at the 5:31 mark. Alex True and TJ Hensick were credited with assists.

Less than a minute later, Bakersfield shell shocked San Jose by scoring two goals in 21 seconds. Benson found Cooper Marody in the slot and his one-timer beat Korenar for his 14th goal of the season at the 6:20 mark.

Then, Patrick Russell picked up a loose puck from a shot from the point by Lagesson that hit off a body in front and was able to bury the puck past Korenar with a turnaround shot for his 16th goal of the season at the 6:41 mark for a 4-1 lead.

Bakersfield scored their third unanswered goal of the period when Braden Christopher cashed home a rebound in the slot off a Ryan Stanton shot from the point for his fifth goal of the season at the 12:45 mark. Marody received the secondary assist.

Russell scored his second goal of the evening and 17th of the season on the power play in the third period. Gambardella fed a pass over to Russell, whose one-timer beat Korenar at the 7:00 mark. Ethan Bear recorded the secondary assist.

Evan Polei fired a slap shot past Korenar for his eighth goal of the season at the 15:07 mark to complete the scoring for Bakersfield. Mitch Callahan and David Gust were credited with assists.

Starrett 27 of the 28 shots he faced to earn his 23rd victory of the season and 16 of his last 17 games. Korenar made 25 saves on 32 shots in suffering the defeat.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 0/3 on the power play. Bakersfield was 1/3.

Bakersfield is now 4-3-1-1 in the season series against San Jose with one more game left between the two teams on March 30th.

The announced attendance was 8,415 set a franchise record and was the highest attendance of the season for San Jose at SAP Center.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda continue their five-game homestand as they host NorCal rival, the Stockton Heat, on Sunday 3/10 at 3:00 pm.

Condors dominate in 8-4 win over Barracuda

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Bakersfield Condors are a reckoning force that can not be stopped. They dominated from start to finish as they scored four unanswered goals in the first period on their way to a commanding 8-4 victory over the San Jose Barracuda on Wednesday evening at SAP Center.

For Bakersfield they have won 19 of their last 20 games and have a firm grip on the Pacific Division standings with 73 points and a seven point lead on both San Jose and San Diego. The Cuda have lost three in a row for the second time this season.

Bakersfield (35-16-2-1) drew first blood in the first period. Cooper Marody led a two-on-one odd man rush with Tyler Benson after a turnover in the neutral zone. A nice give and go between Benson and Marody resulted in Benson beating Cuda goalie Antoine Bibeau (11-10-5) to the left side of the net for his 10th goal of the season at 7:49 mark. Kailer Yamamoto received the secondary assist.

The Condors doubled their lead when Marody worked a pretty give and go with Yamamoto. Marody skated in from the right slot and fed a pass over to the Yamamoto at the left faceoff circle and he buried a one-timer past Bibeau for his 10th goal of the season at the 13:12 mark. Logan Day received the secondary assist.

Bakersfield extended their lead over two minutes later. Mitch Callahan chased down a puck near the blue line and sent a wrist shot at the net, where Bibeau initially saved but David Gust, who had crashed the net, was able to gather the rebound and shoot it around Bibeau for his 15th goal of the season at the 15:36 mark. That would be the end of Bibeau’s night as he was replaced by Josef Korenar.

San Jose (30-17-2-4) had a chance to break the seal late in the first period when they had a five-on-three power play, but weren’t able to take advantage of the opportunity once Dylan Gambrell went into the sin bin for interference with just under 30 seconds left on the power play.

“We gotta play better defensively,” said Cuda head coach Roy Sommer. “You can talk about offense all you want but we can’t give up this many pucks. We’re not stopping shots. We were doing that before. We were getting big saves and we’re not getting that right now.”

The Condors did take advantage with their brief power play opportunity right before the period ended. Caleb Jones sent in a shot from the point where Patrick Russell deflected the puck off Korenar and a crashing Callahan was able to tap in the puck into a wide-open net for his 11th goal of the season at 19:34 mark to end a dominating opening 20 minutes by Bakersfield in which they out shot San Jose 16-7.

Bakersfield kept pouring it on to start the second period. Gust led a two-on-one into the Cuda zone. He lost control of the puck that pinballed in front of the crease off the skate of Evan Polei past Korenar on the short side for his sixth goal of the season at the 2:27 mark.

“It’s really frustrating,” said captain John McCarthy. “We’re going through some adversity which the first half of the year we didn’t have. It’s on us as a group to figure it out. We still got 15 games left (in the season) to turn things around and got ourselves in the playoffs.”

San Jose finally broke through in the second period. TJ Hensick fed a cross ice pass from his own blue line over to a wide open Anti Suomela who skated in alone on a breakaway and beat Condors goalie Shane Starrett (22-4-3) with a wrist shot through the five-hole  for his fifth goal of the season at the 7:25 mark. Cavan Fitzgerald picked up the secondary assist.

Bakersfield regained their five-goal lead right at the end of the middle frame. Gust skated in between the face off circles and sent a pass over to William Lagesson at the left circle and he blasted a slap shot top-self into the far corner of the net for his fifth goal of the season at the 18:42 mark.

San Jose made it interesting in the third period. Jacob Middleton brought the deficit to 6-2 when he won a battle along the left boards. He skated the puck back out to the point where he wristed a shot past Starrett for his fourth goal of the season at 3:16 mark. Jeffery Viel and Jon Martin were credited with assists.

“Scoring goals is always fun,” said Middleton. “But if you can come out on top with a win, it would be a lot more fun. You play to win the game.”

Middleton wasn’t done as just over a minute later he scored his second goal of the evening. He skated into the Condor zone, fed a pass over to Hensick who fed it right back to a Middleton and he snapped a wrist shot past Starrett to the left side of the net for his fifth goal of the season at the 4:21 mark.

“I don’t think we’ve been playing what I like to call Cuda hockey as of late,” said Middleton. “I think we’ve been letting other teams slow us down and box us out. If we get back to doing what made us successful (earlier in the season), it will be good and that is a necessity at this point of the season.”

San Jose scored its third unanswered goal of the period when Francis Perron sent in a shot from the left point that caromed off the back boards onto the stick of Alex True who fed a sweet backhand pass over to Dylan Gambrell all alone on the left side of the net. Gambrell buried the puck past Starrett for his 16th goal of the season at the 10:21 mark.

Bakersfield regained a three-goal lead when Gust sent in a shot from the point that ricochet off Korenar and Ethan Bear onto the stick of Polei. After three whacks at the pick, Polei scored his second goal of the evening and seventh goal of the season at the 13:22 mark.

“Yeah, big time!” said a frustrated Sommer when asked if his team’s losing streak is a result of not paying attention to details. “We got a lot of guys that aren’t committed to playing the way we were playing before that’s for sure.”

Joe Gambradella completed the scoring with an empty netter for his team leading 27th goal of the season at the 17:45 mark.

Starrett finished the game making 33 saves on 37 shots to earn the victory. Bibeau gave up three goals on just 12 shots. Korenar (19-7-1) suffered the loss as he made 13 saves on 17 shots in mop-up duty.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 0/4 on the power play. Bakersfield was 1/2.

San Jose has lost the last four games to Bakersfield and are 3-3-1-1 on the season against their Pacific Division rival.

The announced attendance was 2,360.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda take on the Condors on Saturday 3/9 in the second game of a five game homestand at 6:00 pm at SAP Center.

Headline Sports with London Marq: More trouble as Giants outfielder arrested for DUI, Will Baer’s situation be a distraction for Giants?; Kings lose two close ones against NBA’s best; plus more

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mug shot photo by Scottsdale Police and sfgate.com: In this Friday, March 1, 2019, photo provided by the Scottsdale Police Department, San Francisco Giants outfielder Cameron Maybin is shown in a booking photo in Scottsdale, Ariz. Police said Tuesday that the 31-year-old was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

On Headline Sports with London:

#1 If things couldn’t get worse for the San Francisco Giants, Giants outfielder Cameron Maybin was arrested at 2:30 am on Friday morning for DUI. He was driving in Scottsdale when he was pulled over by an officer who said he smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot eyes. Maybin was arrested and released two hours later. The team said they are monitoring the situation and had no comment.

#2 With San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer being in the headlines this week, could this be a distraction for the team in spring training?

#3 How despite losing, the Sacramento Kings played some very close games with the Los Angeles Clippers and the Milwaukee Bucks this past week?

#4 Chaquita Evans became the first woman to be drafted by an NBA team in the NBA 2K league. Does this signal that more women could be playing in the NBA?

#5 The Oakland Raiders and the Oakland Coliseum Authority authorized a two-year deal on Tuesday for the Raiders to stay at the Coliseum for 2019. The team will pay $7.5 million and 2020 is an option year at the cost of $9.5 million. The Raiders are still being sued by the City of Oakland as they’re moving to Las Vegas and will leave the city in a financial lurch as the lawsuit claims.

London Marq does Headline Sports each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Barracuda looking to make amends Wednesday night after rough weekend

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

On the Barracuda podcast with Marko:

#1 The San Jose Barracuda (30-16-2-4) had a breakdown in their defense on Friday and Saturday, losing by scores of 8-4 and 5-2 to the Ontario Reign on Friday and Bakersfield Condors (34-16-2-1) on Saturday.

#2 On Saturday, things didn’t get better as Bakersfield scored two goals in the first period to open up the game.

#3 The Barracuda used goaltender Cuda goalie Josef Korenar (19-6-1), but Bakersfield was crashing the nets all game long. Was Korenar just having an off night or did the Condors prepare for this one against the Barracuda?

#4  Condor goalie Shane Starrett (21-4-3) saved 32 of 34 San Jose shots in the three goal win.

#5 The Bakersfield Condors are back this time at SAP Center in San Jose. Can the Barracuda turn it around?

Marko Ukalovic covers the SJ Barracuda and does the Barracuda podcasts each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Condors power past Barracuda in 5-2 win

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

by Marko Ukalovic

It was a rough weekend for the San Jose Barracuda on the road. After giving up eight goals the night before, they went to the sin bin early on and were burned by the Bakersfield Condors in a 5-2 loss on Friday evening at Rabobank Arena. San Jose had lost their last three games to Bakersfield.

Bakersfield (34-16-2-1) took advantage of their first two power play opportunities early in the first period. Cooper Marody received a pass from Tyler Bensen and buried the puck past Cuda goalie Josef Korenar (19-6-1) for his 13th goal of the season at the 1:51 mark.

Then Kailer Yamamoto scored his ninth goal of the season at the 5:09 mark. Benson and Marody received assists on the goal.

The Condors put the game away with two goals in the second period. Cameron Hebig received a pass from William Lagesson and shot the puck past Korenar for his 11th goal of the season at the 5:48 mark. Mitch Callahan picked up the secondary assist.

Luke Esposito extended the lead to 4-0 when he scored his third goal of the season at the 12:36 mark. Ethan Bear and Patrick Russell received assists on the goal.

San Jose’s (30-16-2-4) power play was their Achilles’ heel during the game. They had a five-on-three opportunity early on in the third period, but were not able to capitalize and remained frustrated with the man advantage.

Joe Gambardella completed the scoring for Bakersfield in the third period. Bear set up Gambardella for his team leading 26th goal of the season at the 8:33 mark. Esposito was credited with the secondary assist.

Jeremy Roy finally got the Cuda on the board late in the final frame when his shot from the right point beat Condor goalie Shane Starrett (21-4-3) for his sixth goal of the season at the 18:25 mark. Dylan Gambrell and Jonathan Dahlen picked up assists. For Dahlen, that was his third point in two games for San Jose.

Cuda captain John McCarthy tapped in a loose puck in the crease past Starrett for his ninth goal of the season at the 19:12 mark, but was too little too late for San Jose. Kyle Wood and Jon Martin were credited with assists.

Starrett stopped 32 of the 34 shots he faced to pick up his 21st win on the season. Korenar made 21 saves on 26 shots in suffering the tough loss.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 0/5 on the power play. Bakersfield was 2/4.

The announced attendance was 6,004.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda return home to host the Condors on Wednesday 3/6 at 7:00 pm at SAP Center.

Reign take down Barracuda 8-4

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

by Marko Ukalovic

The Ontario Reign scored three unanswered goals twice to dominate the San Jose Barracuda 8-4 in a Pacific Division matchup on Friday evening at Citizens Business Bank Arena.

San Jose (30-15-2-4) drew first blood on the power play in the first period. TJ Hensick scored his second goal of the season at the 5:47 mark. Nick DeSimone and Jeremy Roy received assists.

Ontario (18-25-5-2) scored the equalizer over three minutes later. Matt Moulson beat Cuda goalie Antoine Bibeau (11-10-5) for his team-leading 23rd goal at the 8:54 mark. Mike Amadio and Austin Strand received assists.

Alex True scored the first of his two goals a little more than half way through the period at the 11:35 mark. His team-leading 19th goal of the season were assisted by Jon Martin and Jonathan Dahlen, his first point as a member of the Barracuda.

The Reign evened up the score on the power play late in the opening frame. Defenseman Kale Clague scored his sixth goal of the season at the 17:33 mark. Amadio and Moulson received the assists.

Anti Soumela gave San Jose their last lead of the game on the power play early in the second period. He beat Reign goalie Cal Petersen (8-13-3) for his fourth goal of the season at the 4:30 mark.

Ontario scored three unanswered goals in a five-minute span to take control of the game. Sheldon Rempal scored his 12th goal of the season at the 6:56 mark. Then less than two minutes later Nikita Scherbak scored his fourth goal of the season at the 8:50 mark. Brett Sutter finished off the scoring for the Reign in the second period with his 13th goal of the season at the 11:49 mark.

In the third period, True brought the Cuda back to within one goal with his second goal of the night and 20th of the season at 7:06 mark. Jayden Halbgewachs and Dahlen assisted on the goal. Dahlen earned a two-point night.

Ontario put the game away scoring the final three goals of the game. Amadio scored his third goal of the season at the 12:50 mark. Rempal scored his second goal of the night and 13th of the season just 16 seconds later at the 13:06 mark. Moulson finished off the scoring with an empty-netter for his second goal and team leading 24th goal of the season at the 16:05 mark.

Petersen had an impressive busy evening making 52 saves on 56 shots to earn his eighth victory of the season. Bibeau made 37 saves on 44 shots in suffering the defeat.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 2/5 on the power play. Ontario was 1/3.

The announced attendance was 8,711.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda take on the Bakersfield Condors on Saturday 3/2 at 7:00 pm at Rabobank Arena.

Barracuda comes up large in third period to down Wild 5-3

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Barracuda took on the Iowa Wild on Tuesday evening at SAP Center.

Iowa drew first blood in the first period on a counter attack after San Jose failed to cash in on an odd-man rush. Dmitry Solokov fed a pass over to Matt Read whose shot was initially saved by Cuda goalie Joeef Korenar but the rebound was cleaned up by Mitch McClain for his eighth goal of the season at the 16:08 mark.

San Jose received the equalizer while killing a Wild power play early in the second period. A clean faceoff win by Dylan Gambrell inside the Wild zone went perfectly back to the right point where Nick DeSimone rifled a shot past Wild goalie Kaapo Khakonen just inside the right post for short-handed goal and 10th goal of the season at the 3:02 mark.

Iowa regained the lead as Cal O’Reilly was rewarded when he was the trailer on a three-on-one odd man rush. Gerald Mayhew led the rush and fed a back pass over O’Reilly, who buried the puck past Korenar top-shelf in the left corner of the goal for his 10th goal of the season at the 5:32 mark.

Iowa thought they had a two-goal lead 62 second later when Mason Shaw put the puck into the back of the net on a two-on-zero break but the whistle blew just before the puck went in as coincidental roughing minor penalties were called on Jacob Middleton and Kyle Rau as they tussled at the Cuda blue line.

Calvan Fitzgerald scored the equalizer early in the third period for San Jose. Francis Perron found a wide-open Fitzgerald, who skated into the shot and fired a shot past Khakonen for his fourth goal of the season at the 1:27 mark.

Gambrell then gave then gave the Cuda their first lead when he received a pass from TJ Hensick and buried a wrist shot past Khakonen for his 15th goal of the season at the 3:37 mark. Kyle Wood received the secondary assist.

San Jose extended their lead when Gambrell then fed a pass over to Jeremy Roy at the point and he wristed a shot past Khakonen for firth goal of the season at the 6:11 mark. Gambrell earned his third point of the night.

The Cuda put the game away when Nick DeSimone sent a pass from behind the right boards over a wide-open Jon Martin. Martin’s shot squeezed past Khakonen for his 10th goal of the season at the 11:17 mark. Perron received the secondary assist.

Korenar stopped 26 of the 28 shots he faced to earn his 19th win of the season. Khakonen made 23 saves on 28 shots in suffering the loss.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 0/2 on the power play. Iowa was 0/3.

Jonathan Dahlen made his debut for the Barracuda. He skated on a line with Alex True and Jon Martin. Dahlen, son of former San Jose Sharks foward Ulf Dahlen, was traded over to San Jose from Vancouver yesterday in a deal at the trade deadline for center Linus Karlsson. Dahlen has 14 goals, including eight on the power play, and 29 points he scored while with the Utica Comets of the AHL.

Gambrell changed his jersey number to seven with newly acquired Sharks foward Gustav Nyquist taking the number 14. Gambrell wore the number seven when he played collegiately at the University of Denver.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda travel down to Ontario to take on the Reign on Friday 3/1 at 7:00 pm at Citizens Business Bank Arena.

Heat snap losing streak against Barracuda in 4-1 win

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

by Marko Ukalovic

The Stockton Heat made the most of the last 20 minutes of the game. They scored four unanswered goals in the third period to defeat the San Jose Barracuda 4-1 on Sunday evening at Stockton Arena. The win snapped a pair of seven-game losing streaks. One against San Jose and the other on home ice.

San Jose (29-14-2-4) drew first blood in the first period. With Stockton on a power play, Alex True picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone, skated in on a breakaway down the right win and fired a shot past Heat goalie Jon Gillies (10-14-4) for a short-handed goal and his team-leading 18th goal of the season at the 7:45 mark. It was the third short-handed goal of the season for the Cuda and the 15th given up by Stockton, the most in the AHL.

Looking to regain the momentum for Stockton (22-25-4-1), forward Scott Sabourin dropped the gloves with Jeffery Viel seven seconds on the next shift after True’s goal.

Cuda goalie Antoine Bibeau (11-9-5) stopped all 10 shots he faced in the opening frame. The Cuda were also able to kill off two Stockton power plays.

In the second period, San Jose controlled play throughout the 20 minutes of the middle frame. They outshot Stockton 16-11 as Bibeau looked sharp between the pipes, not letting in any of the 11 Heat shots past him. However, they weren’t able to cash in on a four-minute power play to extend their lead.

Stockton received the equalizer on a short-handed goal in the third period. Rinat Valiev fed a pass over to Ryan Lomberg, who buried the puck past Bibeau for his seventh goal of the season at the 8:53 mark. It was Lomberg’s third short-handed goal on the season and Stockton’s 11th overall. Glenn Gawdin received the secondary assist.

Juuso Valimaki fired a shot off from the point that Kirby Rychel redirected past Bibeau on the power play for his team-leading 21st goal of the season at the 13:57 mark. Dillion Dube received the secondary assist.

Lomberg scored his second goal of the night on breakaway empty-net goal at the 18:16 mark. Then, the scoring was concluded on another empty-net goal by Stockton’s Spencer Foo as he scored his 14th goal of the season at the 19:28 mark.

Gillies had an excellent third period in keeping the Cuda off the board. He finished with 36 saves on 37 shots to earn his 10th victory. Bibeau made 30 saves on 32 shots in suffering the tough luck loss.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 0/5 on the power play. Stockton was 1/4.

The announced attendance was 3,217.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda return back home to host the Iowa Wild on Tuesday 2/26 at 7:00 pm at SAP Center.