Category: AHL

Barracuda Finish Weekend With Loss to Gulls

Published on by M WalshLeave a comment

By Mary Walsh

photo credit: San Jose Barracuda–San Jose goaltender Aaron Dell was in the headlights as the San Diego Gulls made work on net in their 3-1 victory at SAP on Sunday

SAN JOSE– The San Diego Gulls beat the San Jose Barracuda by a score of 3-1 Sunday. The teams split the weekend meeting with a win each. Two goals were scored by Antoine Laganiere, and one by Matt Bailey for San Diego. Goaltender Anton Khudobin made 34 saves on 35 shots for the win. The Barracuda goal was scored by Ryan Carpenter, while Aaron Dell made 17 saves on 19 shots.

The Gulls took six penalties in all, the Barracuda took none. The Barracuda did have two goals discounted, which did not happen to the Gulls. Anton Khudobin was in net for the San Diego Gulls on Sunday. His backup ws Matt Hackett. Khudobin has played 99 NHL games with Boston, Carolina, Minnesota and Anaheim. Hackett has played in 26 NHL game with Buffalo and Minnesota. It would appear that the Anaheim Ducks are not taking any chances with goaltending this season.

Nevertheless, the less experienced Aaron Dell only let two pucks get by him, while Khudobin let three in. Two did not count but they did get by him.

San Diego scored less than four minutes into the game, when Barracuda goaltender Aaron Dell collected the puck behind the net and passed it forward, where a Gull was lurking. He made the initial save on the quick shot that followed, but in doing so he slid too far from the net. Matt Bailey caught the rebound and put it behind Dell for his third goal of the season. An assist went to Antoine Laganiere.

The fifteen minute mark approached and San Jose was still trying to get their second shot on goal, while San Diego had nine. They got it, in the course of a power play. Harry Zolnierczyk was in the box for slashing. The Barracuda got credit for three shots on that power play, but the score remained unchanged.

The Barracuda had one more shot in the period. The first ended with the score 1-0 and the shots 11-5 San Diego. The Barracuda made up some lost ground in the first few minutes of the second period, creeping closer on the shot clock and even almost scoring a goal off a peculiar bounce that coincided with some confusion in the Gulls’ zone. The goal did not count but the shots were 12-9 at that point. San Jose was on the hunt and San Diego was caught a little bit off guard.

The Barracuda completed the shot clock comeback with a power play at 6:27, a too many men penalty to San Diego. That power play went by with the score still 1-0 visitors. The shot clock read 14-13 Barracuda 102 seconds later, when the Gulls scored again, this time through a chaotic coverage breakdown by the Barracuda. The goal was Laganiere’s 12th of the season. Assists went to Corey Tropp and Matt Bailey. It was the second shot of the period for the Gulls.

The Barracuda had a third consecutive power play at 11:40 of the second. This time it was Stu Bickel in the box for tripping. Still no goal fro San Jose. At 14:02, San Jose had a fourth power play and San Diego still had none.

That fourth power play made all the difference. Karl Stollery carried the puck off the wall into the slot, where he sent it in the direction of Ryan Carpenter, who was at the side of the net with his stick ready for a deflection. Trevor Parkes was battling with a Gull in front of Khudobin so the goaltender never saw the shot coming. It was Carpenter’s 4th of the season. Assists went to Stollery and Barclay Goodrow.

The shot count for the second period was 19-4 Barracuda.

San Jose had their fifth power play at 3:12 of the third, thanks to a tripping penalty on Corey Tropp.

After a frustrating sequence in and out of the Gulls’ zone, the Barracuda finally connected on a pass or two and Nikolay Goldbin took a shot from near the goal line at 9:04 of the third. The puck went in, but the presence of a teal skater on the other side of the blue paint qualified as interference. He did not really seem to be in the way but that is how the officials called it. For the second time in the game, a Barracuda goal was waived off.

The sixth Barracuda power play came with a little more than eight minutes remaining in the third period. Joseph Cramarossa was the culprit, confined for high-sticking.

Dell came out of his net with just under two minutes left, but the additional skater did not make the difference. The final shot count was 35-19 Barracuda.

While no Barracuda player had more than three shots, eight different players finished the game with three. It was a solid effort.

The Barracuda next play on Wednesday, in San Jose at 7:30 PT, against the Ontario Reign.

Penny, Power Play Lead to 3-0 Barracuda Win

Published on by Matthew Harrington

By Matthew T.F. Harrington

photo credit: San Jose Barracuda–Barracuda goalie Aaron Dell made 26 saves against the San Diego Gulls for the shutout on Saturday night at SAP Center

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Barracuda coach Roy Sommer wound up a penny richer Saturday, then added a victory to his windfall Saturday.

“I have to attribute this win to (Sharks associate coach) Larry Robinson,” said Sommer. “He found a good luck penny, and he said when you find a good luck penny you have to give it to someone. Then you put it in your shoe and here it is.”

With penny firmly secured in his loafer, Sommer led his charges to a 3-0 win over the San Diego Gulls at SAP Center, moving back into the final playoff spot by percentage points. Nikolay Goldobin and Joakim Ryan scored power play goals, while Trevor Parkes added an empty net goal. Aaron Dell picked up his second shutout of the season for San Jose, making 26 saves.

“They had a couple chances,” said Dell. “But for the most part we kept them to the outside. We did a great job all night of staying inside on them.”

San Jose (28-21-7-3) dominated the special teams play Saturday, going 2 for 5 on the power play in a penalty-filled contest that saw a combined 17 infractions.

“I told these guys if the (power play) is successful against these guys, we’ll win,” said Sommer. “That won the game for us tonight.”

While the Barracuda were successful a man up, they managed well enough down a skater as well. Despite San Diego going on the power play 6 times, including a 5-on-3, the Barracuda netminder only had to make 4 saves on the penalty kill.

“We weren’t letting them set up,” said forward John McCarthy on what the kill did successfully Saturday. “They never really got into the zone. They just kept trying to chip it in. We were beating them to the pucks and making the close plays to get it out.”

Goldobin scored his first goal in 4 games 13:23 into the game with the Barracuda on the power play. The 20-year-old winger streaked down the right boards of the Gulls zone before pulling the puck back to work his way into the slot. From there the Russian winger sniped a shot past Gulls keeper Anton Khudobin for his 17th strike of the season and 5th goal in the last 9 games. Jeremy Morin and Bryan Lerg assisted on the man advantage marker.

“As he goes, we go,” said Sommer. “We could have 3 20 goal scorers with him and Lerg and Goodrow. I haven’t had a 20 goal scorer in a long time.”

The Barracuda again scored on the power play in the 3rd, with a skater who is probably at the bottom of Sommer’s list of potenatial 20 goal scorers. Defenseman Joakim Ryan netted his 2nd goal of the season just 1:19 into the 2nd frame. He ripped a shot from straightaway center at the point that worked its way around a Bryan Lerg screen past Khudobin for the 2-0 lead.

Morin and Lerg again picked up the assists. Lerg also picked up the primary helper on Parkes’ empty net goal with 37 seconds left in regulation.

While Sommer will have his lucky penny in tow hoping for a similar result, he knows Sunday’s matinee against San Diego (33-22-2-2) won’t be a carbon copy of Saturday’s decisive win.

“It’ll be a different game tomorrow,” said Sommer. “I liked the energy tonight. We have a lot of tough games ahead. I told the guys to not look too far ahead, focus on tonight, first five minutes, next five minutes. Then we’ll worry about Sunday.”

 

 

Barracuda beat Wild in overtime

Published on by Eric HeLeave a comment

By: Eric He

photo credit: San Jose Barracuda

It was a happy mood all-around at SAP Center on Saturday as the San Jose Barracuda followed up a San Jose Sharks win with a victory of their own — a 3-2 overtime defeat over the Iowa Wild.

Jeremy Morin recorded the game-winning goal in overtime on a shot from the right point to give the Barracuda the win.

The Barracuda jumped ahead 2-0 in the first period on goals by Trevor Parkes and Ryan Carpenter. Parkes scored just two minutes into the game, putting home a rebound. Carpenter finished off a nice find by Mirco Mueller on a power play.

But Iowa responded with two goals in the second. Brett Bulmer and Christoph Bertschy scored less than three minutes apart midway through the period to even the score 2-2 heading into the third.

The final stanza was scoreless, but the Barracuda managed to come out on top thanks to a clutch goal in overtime.

San Jose was able to hold Iowa to no goals on three power play opportunities. Goaltender Aaron Dell made 29 saves and the Barracuda outshot the Wild 33-31.

The Barracuda continue their season-long six-game home stand on Saturday against the San Diego Gulls.

San Jose Barracuda Wednesday game recap: The Ontario Reign continue their mastery over the San Jose Barracuda.

Published on by rxsluggerLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

photo credit: San Jose Barracuda

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Barracuda met the Ontario Reign for the eleventh time this season. It looked like the Sharks against the LA Kings as the uniforms were replicas of the parent clubs. The Reign currently reside in first place in the Western Conference. The Reign entered the game with a record of six wins, two overtime wins, and just two losses against the Barracuda this year. The Teams played a very entertaining game in front of a very sparse crowd, and the result was the same. The Reign triumphed 3-2 in overtime. The Reign started Peter Budaj in goal, and the Barracuda had twenty-four-year-old Joel Rumpel tending the nets. Budaj is thirty-three years old and is the best goalie in the AHL. Budaj played for three NHL clubs in his career. He saw time with the Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens, and the LA Kings. He entered the game with a sparkling 1,63 goals against average and a 93.2% save percentage. Rumpel was making his second start for the Barracuda since coming over in a trade with the Allen Americans. The Barracuda needed a win as they are residing in ninth place in the conference and would not make the playoffs if the season were to end today.

The San Jose Barracuda, without question, won the first period. They outplayed and outskated the Western Conference leader, the Ontario Reign. The Barracuda had twelve shots on goal and held the Reign to just two shots on goalie Joel Rumpel. Not much happened until about halfway through the period. Right-winger Jeremy Langlois had a partial breakaway down the right side of the rink. He put a good shot on goal, but the Reign’s goalie Peter Budaj made a terrific stop to thwart Langlois. The Reign went on a power play when Trevor Parkes was called for tripping. The Barracuda penalty kill stopped the Reign cold as they did not allow a shot on goal. The Barracuda lit the lamp with 12:25 played to take a 1-0 lead. Trevor Langlois scored on a rebound. Jeremy Morin blasted s shot from the left side that Budaj stopped but the rebound went to Langlois, and he spun around and put it past Budaj for the score. The other excitement in the period was a fight between Alex Gallant and Ryan Horvat of the Reign. They both went to the penalty box for five minutes.

The Reign took control of play in the second period. They kept the Barracuda from mounting an attack for most of the period and were on the attack until they were called for two penalties late in the period. The Barracuda went on a power play with 3:54 played. Ryan Carpenter fed Michael Haley with a beautiful pass, but Budaj came up with the save. With 12:46 played, the refs called a penalty on Trevor Parkes for boarding. The Reign scored eight seconds later to tie the game. Michael Mersch scored his twenty-second goal of the year and assists went to Kevin Gravel and Nic Dowd. The Barracuda went on a power play when Vincent LoVerde went to the penalty box for holding. His teammate, Derek Forbort joined him there forty-seven seconds later. The “Cuda had a two-man advantage for 1:18 but could not convert. The Reign killed both penalties. The Reign outshot the Barracuda 8-6. Most of the Barracuda’s opportunities came late in the period.

Both teams played well in the third period. The Reign had the edge in the first half of the period. They scored a power-play goal with 10:21 played. The Barracuda refused to quit and took control of the game but couldn’t get the puck past Budaj. With about ninety seconds left in the contest, coach Roy Sommer pulled his goalie, and the move paid off as the Barracuda scored with just 32.4 seconds left in the game.

The Reign won the game in overtime as they scored just twenty-three seconds after play began. Final score 3-2 for Ontario.

Barracuda Fall to Reign Again

Published on by M WalshLeave a comment

By Mary Walsh

photo credit: San Jose Barracuda

The San Jose Barracuda lost by a score of 4-1 to the Ontario Reign on Sunday. In ten games already played against Ontario, San Jose has just two wins and two overtime points. The teams will play two more times, on March 16 and March 30, both at SAP Center.

Ontario’s Peter Budaj stopped 18 of 19 shots, while Troy Grosenick made 19 saves on 23 shots for San Jose. Neither team scored on the power play, though the Reign only had one chance while the Barracuda had four. Micheal Haley and Kurtis MacDermid had the only fight in the game, though MacDermid also went to the box two other times, once for diving and once for delay of game.

The first goal of the game was scored by Brett Sutter, acquired near the trade deadline by the LA Kings from the Minnesota Wild. It was his first goal for Ontario, in his fourth game with them. Andrew Crescenzi picked up the assist.

The second period saw more goals for the Reign. At 1:09, Michael Mersch, the team’s leading goal scorer gave Ontario a two goal lead. Assists went to Nic Dowd and Sean Backman, the team’ points leader. The Reign added a third goal at 13:15, this time from Dowd, with assists going to Mersch and Backman.

The Barracuda finally got on the board in the third, with a goal from John McCarthy. It was his 14th of the season, and the only point earned by a Barracuda player in the game.

Ontario extended their lead to three again, at 14:58. While Ontario defenseman Andrew Forbot sat in the box for tripping, Justin Auger scored shorthanded. Crescenzi picked up an assist.

San Jose is not out of playoff contention yet, they are getting close. They sit fourth place in the Pacific Division, five points behind the third place San Diego Gulls. The new AHL playoff format allows the fourth place team in the Pacific into the playoffs if they have more points than the fifth place team in the Central division. The Barracuda would need even more points to catch the Charlotte Checkers.

The Barracuda next play on Wednesday at 7:30 PT. As mentioned above, they will face the Reign again at home.

Barracuda’s comeback attempt comes up short in Bakersfield

Published on by Eric HeLeave a comment

By: Eric He

The San Jose Barracuda fell behind 3-0 to the Bakersfield Condors on the road Saturday night, and could not come back from a three-goal deficit in a 3-2 defeat.

They were able to claw within a goal and apply pressure late for a chance to even the score, but ran out of time, falling to 5-5-0-1 against the Condors this season.

The Condors scored twice in the first period with a couple of goals by Matt Ford and Ryan Hamilton off rebounds, and then added on early in the second on a marker by Tyler Pitlick, who took advantage of a juicy rebound by Barracuda goaltender Aaron Dell.

Still, San Jose fought back with two goals by Bryan Lerg, the second of which came off a neat move in front to close the deficit to just one.

But despite outshooting Bakersfield 33-28, the Barracuda could not find the equalizer, snapping their two-game win streak.

It will be a quick turnaround for San Jose as the Barracuda face the Ontario Reign at home on Sunday.

Barracuda stand strong in 4-1 win over Stockton

Published on by Eric HeLeave a comment

By: Eric He

photo credit: San Jose Barracuda

The San Jose Barracuda began a short two-game road trip on the right track with a convincing 4-1 victory over the Stockton Heat on the road on Wednesday night.

The Barracuda jumped ahead with two second period goals. Nikolay Goldobin got things started with a power-play marker  less than eight minutes into the period. Seven minutes later, Goldobin found Jeremy Morin for a goal that put San Jose ahead 2-0.

The sense of urgency continued in the final period, as John McCarthy connected on a breakaway early on to extend the lead to three goals. Barclay Goodrow recorded his team-high 17th goal of the season, fending off a late surge by the Heat for a strong road win.

Aaron Dell stopped 30 shots for the Barracuda, who were 1-of-4 on the power play and were outshot 31-23 by the Heat. But San Jose was able to hold Stockton to just two power plays, killing off both penalties.

The Barracuda currently stand at fourth in the Pacific Division and will play the Condors on Saturday on the road.

Barracuda Down Condors 4-2

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By Mary Walsh

photo credit: San Jose Barracuda

SAN JOSE– The San Jose Barracuda climbed a little closer to a playoff spot with a 4-2 win over the Bakersfield Condors. Petter Emanuelsson scored two goals for San Jose, while John McCarthy scored the game winner and Jeremy Morin added an insurance goal into an empty net. Joel Rumpel made 24 saves for the Barracuda in his first AHL game. After the win, he said that he was “a little bit nervous before the game. But the guys let me feel the first couple from the outside, so it was easy from there.”

The teams took ten penalties in the first two periods alone, not counting fighting majors. The only goal scored during any of those penalties was a short-handed goal by Bakersfield’s Jujhar Khaira. After the game, John McCarthy explained how that takes a toll on a team, even when the penalty kill is successful:

It kind of gets in way of the flow of the game. We’re not really rolling our lines when that happens so that’s something we’ve got to work on going forward. I think even last game, first period we took too any penalties. There’s a lot of guys who aren’t killing penalties then they’re kind of out of the flow of the game.

Some players, though, thrive on the penalty kill. After the game, assistant coach Ryan Mougenel said of McCarthy:

One of Mac’s biggest strengths is the penalty kill. I think it’s really kind of translated into his offense. Sometimes it’s little things, like some guys at practice have to watch pucks go in the net to have success, to score, like Goldobin. He [McCarthy] builds his confidence through the pk and he’s one of our most consistent guys.

The penalties started early and came often after that. The first was a cross-checking penalty to Bakersfield’s Rob Klinkhammer at 4:18. San Jose had a couple of shots and the Condors only cleared the puck once, but the Barracuda could not get a puck past goaltender Eetu Laurikainen.

That came a few seconds after the penalty expired. It was not a beautiful zone entry, but the Condors fumbled an interception at their blue line, putting the puck in front of Petter Emanualsson. He got moving quickly and before the defenders could get after him, he had taken his shot and scored.

Half way through the first period, the shots were 9-5 Barracuda. The shots stayed that way even when the Condors scored the tying goal. A strange bounce sent the puck into the blue paint, off of a body and into the net, surprising even the Bakersfield player who was on his way behind the net to collect the puck. The goal went to Mitch Moroz, with an assist to Dillon Simpson.

Fighting majors took Gus Young and Kale Kessy out of the game for five at 12:04. Karl Stollery and Andrew Miller joined their teammates in the box with coincidental minors for slashing and roughing respectively.

Bakersfield’s Jujhar Khaira thought had scored the go-ahead goal, but he had done so over the prone body of the Barracuda goalie. Rumpel was thus prone only because Dillon Simpson had skated into and fallen over him seconds earlier. The goal was disallowed for goaltender interference and the Barracuda got a power play. The final 30 seconds of that power play were amplified into a five on three when Matthew Ford also went to the box, this time for cross-checking.

The Barracuda found themselves on the other end of a five on three early in the second period. At 1:43, Nikolay Goldobin went to the box for tripping. Just under 90 seconds later, Stollery joined him after being called for interference. San Jose escaped the penalties unscathed, and drove the play to the other end to rebuild their shot lead.

By the middle of the second period, the Barracuda again had the shot lead at 22-18, and again took the lead on the scoreboard. A good rush from Ryan Carpenter on the wing and Petter Emanuelsson up the middle beat the Condors to the punch. Assists went to Carpenter and Gus Young.

The Condors responded by taking an interference penalty. Kessy had been in the box for less than a minute when Khaira won a race to the puck and went all the way down the ice to tie the game again. Kessy got out of the box just long enough to take two more penalties and sit for four minutes, called for high-sticking and unsportsmanlike conduct.

With 2:30 left in the four minute power play, the Barracuda lost Jevpalovs to a penalty. With less than two minutes left in the Bakersfield penalty, Jeremy Langlois went to the box for kneeing, putting the Barracuda down 3-4. San Jose weathered that too, but had squandered a perfectly good power play.

The Barracuda were back on the penalty kill less than two minutes into the third period. Julius Bergman went to the box for holding at 1:06.

Eventually, the penalties burned themselves out and with just over four minutes left, John McCarthy won the race to a puck as it exited the Barracuda zone: “I think somebody was catching up to me on my inside so I didn’t have time to move it to my forehand and shoot. So I just got it to the net and hopefully if it didn’t go in maybe we would have got a second whack at it. But it went in.” It squeaked by on the short side, bouncing off of the goaltender’s back. Assists went to Parkes and Stollery.

The Condors pulled their goaltender withe less than 90 seconds remaining and Morin scored the empty netter with six seconds to go.

The Barracuda next play on Wednesday at 7:00 PT against the Heat in Stockton.

The San Jose Barracuda Demolish the Stockton Heat, win 7-1.

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by Jerry Feitelberg

photo credit: San Jose Barracuda

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Barracuda routed the Stockton Heat Tuesday night at the SAP Center. The Barracuda dominated play all night long and continued their mastery over the Heat. The final score was 7-1.The Barracuda own a 7-0-1-1 record against Stockton and have three more games with them before the end of the season. The Barracuda’s record improves to 24-18-6-3 while Stockton drops to 23-22-1-2.

The San Jose Barracuda played a  strong first period against the Stockton Heat. The Barracuda took a 1-0 lead with less than three minutes played in the first period. Captain Bryan Lerg scored his fourteenth goal of the year. The puck went behind the net, and a Lerg received a great pass from Barclay Goodrow. Lerg was in the slot, and he blasted it by Heat goalie Kevin Poulin for the score. Goodrow and John McCarthy assisted. The Barracuda added a second goal at the 7:03 mark of the first period. The Barracuda was on a power play, and left-winger John McCarthy scored on a rebound. Assists went to Lerg and Joakim Ryan. The Barracuda had two more power plays in the period, but they could not score. They attacked the net, but the Heat goalie kept them off the board. The Barracuda had an 11-5 advantage in the shots on goal department. San Jose in the lead 2-0 after one period.

The Barracuda continued to play well in the second period. They scored two goals in the period to take a 4-0 lead until late in the period when the Heat scored to make it a 4-1 game. The Barracuda’s Jeremy Langlois scored a shorthanded goal with 5:49 played to give the ‘Cuda a 3-0 advantage. Langlois streaked down the right side of the rink then cut in front of Poulin and beat him with a wicked backhanded shot. The assist went to Michael Healy.Nikolai Goldobin made it 4-0 when he scored on a five on three man advantage. Defenseman Karl Stollery made a great pass from behind the net to set up the goal for Goldobin. It was the twelfth tally of the year for the twenty-year-old rookie, who was the first draft choice of the San Jose Sharks. Assists went to Stollery and Lerg. Lerg has a goal and two assists so far. The Heat’s Hunter Shinkaruk scored on a power play with just 3:14 left in the period. It was his first goal of the year as a member of the Heat and his twenty-second of the season.

The Barracuda’s Nikolai Goldobin scored his second goal of the night with 9:05 played in the third period. The Barracuda were on a power play and were forcing play in front of the Heat’s net. Poulin blocked a couple of shots but the rebound found its way to Goldobin’s stick, and he put it in for the score.The Barracuda scored their sixth goal of the night when Michael Haley beat Poulin for the score. Karl Stollery made a great pass to Haley, who was in perfect position in front of the net. The blowout continued when Ryan Carpenter scored the Barracuda’s seventh goal of the game.The goal came with a little over three minutes left to play.

Attendance wasn’t announced but it was a very sparse crowd.

Barracuda fall to Gulls 5-2 to end road trip

Published on by Eric HeLeave a comment

By: Eric He

photo credit: San Jose Barracuda

The San Jose Barracuda wrapped up a four-game road trip with a 5-2 loss in San Diego against the Gulls on Saturday night.

Despite outshooting San Diego 43-26, San Jose was unable to find the back to the net enough times. The Barracuda fell behind 2-0 early as Brian McGrattan and Nic Kerdiles scored in the first period for the Gulls.

The Barracuda cut the lead in half on a power play goal by John McCarthy, but the Gulls responded with two more scores as Kerdiles ripped a writers past Barracuda goaltender Troy Groesnick to extend the San Diego lead to 3-1. Late in the second period on a power play, Chris Wagner connected on a rebound for the Gulls for a three-goal lead.

Trevor Parkes’ goal 26 seconds into the third period narrowed the deficit back to two, but an empty-net goal by Wagner sealed the victory for San Diego.

The Barracuda fall to 23-18-6-3 and finish the road trip with two wins, a shootout loss and a regulation loss. Next up, they face Stockton at the SAP Center on Tuesday.