Category: San Jose Barracuda

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Reign get OT shootout victory 3-2 against Barracuda Friday

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The San Jose Barracuda forward Jayden Halbgewachs (89) takes the puck up ice as he’s pursued by the Ontario Reign’s forward Nick Halloran (32) on Fri Jan 22, 2021 at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo CA (photo from sjbarracuda.com)

On the SJ Barracuda podcast with Marko:

#1 Marko, the Barracuda lost a razor edge close game in Ontario on Friday night 3-2 in a overtime shootout. The Barracuda came out at 15 seconds at the start of the game and getting on scoreboard.

#2 Marko, Talk about Kurtis Gabriel over two games he scored 36 seconds into Thursday night’s game against San Diego and Friday night against Ontario 15 seconds if the two thoughts here is his two quick goals out of opportunity or out of design by Barracuda head coaches Roy Sommer.

#3 With the score tied at 1-1 the Reign’s Blaine Byron scored his first goal of the season after intercepting a pass in the neutral zone and took the puck to the slot and shot the puck in the attacking zone past the Barracuda’s goalie Josef Korenar at 0:51 of the second period.

#4 The Barracuda’s Ryan Merkley passed to Jayden Halbgewachs who was at the door step of the goal and scored to tie the game up at 6:24 2-2.

#5 The pre season continues as the Barracuda will face the Tucson Roadrunners at Tucson Convention Center on Wed Jan 27th a 4:00pm face off. Marko the Roadrunners have always given the Barracuda headaches how do you expect the outcome of a game like this?

Join Marko Saturday nights for a look at the SJ Barracuda podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

Reign edge Barracuda in 3-2 shootout win

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Final score image from @ontarioreign 

by Marko Ukalovic

EL SEGUNDO, Calif—The Ontario Reign scored on all three shootout attempts to upend the San Jose Barracuda on Friday afternoon at the Toyota Sports Performance Center.

Kurtis Gabriel didn’t wait long to score is second goal of the pre-season. It took only 15 ticks into the game for him to get San Jose on the board. Gabriel redirected a Zach Gallant shot from atop the circle past Reign goaltender Jean-Francois Berube.

The Reign would manage to even the score on the power-play as 2020 second overall pick Quinton Byfield took advantage of a fortuitous bounce on a partially blocked shot below the right circle, and slid it into the open net for his second goal of the season at the at the13:35, mark..

The Barracuda outshot Ontario 11-7 in the opening 20 minutes.

In the second, with 51 seconds remaining in the frame, Ontario took its first lead as Blaine Byron intercepted a neutral-zone pass, cut to the slot as he entered the attacking zone, and beat ‘Cuda goalie Josef Korenar with a quick snipe for his first goal of the pre-season. 

Antti Suomela had a chance earlier in the period on a two-on-one rush but his shot from the far circle was turned aside by Berube. After two periods, the shots read 19 for each team.

In the third at 6:24, Ryan Merkley found Jayden Halbgewachs on the doorstep, for the equalizer for his second goal of the pre-season.

With under five minutes to play, the Barracuda nearly regained their lead on a similar play, this time Thomas Gregoire set up Gallant for a glorious close-range opportunity, but it wouldn’t go and the score would remain level.

Halfway through the three-on-three overtime, Ontario rushed up the ice on a two-on-one but Korenar came up large with a game-saving stop. Neither team would generate much in the way of offense in the remaining two and a half minutes.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda are back in preseason action on Wednesday 1/27 at 4:00 p.m. as they take on the Tucson Roadrunners at the Tucson Convention Center in Tucson, Arizona.

Barracuda rebound with convincing 4-1 win over Gulls

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The San Jose Barracuda’s defenceman Karlis Cukste (77) and the San Diego Gulls forward Andrew Potvralski (22) try and engage the puck at FivePoint Arena in Irvine on Thu Jan 21, 2021 in pre season action (sjbarracuda.com photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

IRVINE, Calif-The San Jose Barracuda jumped out to a quick start and never looked back as they scored four unanswered goals to beat the San Diego Gulls 4-1 in their second pre-season game on Thursday evening at FivePoint Arena.

San Jose split the two-game series with their SoCal division rival.

San Jose got on the attack early as a Gulls offensive zone turnover resulted in an odd-man rush for the Barracuda. Lean Bergmann set up Kurtis Gabriel in front of the net and Gabriel beat Gulls goalie Anthony Stolarz for the game’s opening goal just 32 seconds into the contest.

“I think they came out with a lot of speed early,” said Gulls head coach Kevin Dineen. “We certainly, after our last game, were feeling pretty good about ourselves. It was a good lesson for our players in knowing that this is a pretty good league. There are some good players out there. They came very hard at us and I felt like we got caught off guard. Those are the kind of things you’re glad happens in training camp, that these lessons are learned. You’re playing against good players and you need to be prepared every single night.”

The Barracuda extended their lead with a couple of power-play goals. The first was scored by Jayden Halbgewachs, who evaded a Gulls defender in front to send a forehand shot past Stolarz at the 4:50 mark of the opening frame.

Later on in the period, San Jose struck again on the man advantage as Antti Suomela one timed a shot by Stolarz, pushing the Barracuda lead to 3-0 with 4:42 remaining in the first.

San Jose struck again in the second period, with Kyle Topping snapping a wrist shot past Stolarz at the 11:18 mark of the middle frame, extending the Barracuda lead to four goals.

“We’re a development league and part of the development process is not always a smooth road,” said Dineen. “There are going to be bumps along the way, whether they are personal or as a team. I was happy with stretches of our game tonight, but at other times there are some hard lessons to be learned. That certainly played out tonight.” 

Late in the third period, Sam Carrick put the Gulls on the board. Shortly after San Diego finished killing a minor penalty, Jack Kopacka poked a loose puck towards Sam Carrick at center ice. Carrick rushed ahead on a breakaway and beat ‘Cuda rookie goaltender Samuel Harvey with a wrist shot over the glove, cutting San Jose’s lead to 4-1, the eventual final score. Carrick has collected 4 points (3G, 1A) in two preseason games.

In total, the San Jose would put 43 shots on Stolarz including 19 in the opening 20 minutes. While San Diego had its moments of heavy pressure at both the end of the second and third, the Gulls would beat Harvey just once on 34 shots.

Harvey (1-0) earned his first pro win in his pro debut, playing perfect hockey through the first 57 minutes and 38 seconds. Stolarz who celebrated his 27th birthday on Tuesday, took the loss in his season debut, allowing four goals in total.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda are back in preseason action on Friday at 3:00p.m. as they take on the Ontario Reign at the Toyota Performance Center in El Segundo, Ca.

Barracuda fall to Gulls 5-1 in pre-season opener

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San Jose Barracuda goaltender Josef Kornear (32) looks behind him as the San Diego Gulls forward Alex Dostie (10) battles for the puck at FivePoint Arena in Irvine on Tue Jan 19, 2021 (@sjbarracuda photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

IRVINE, Calif-It had been over 10 months since the San Jose Barracuda were in a hockey rink.

The ‘Cuda were dominated by their Pacific Division rival the San Diego Gulls 5-1 in both team’s pre-seasoner opener on Monday evening at FivePoint Arena.

San Diego wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. Just over five minutes into the action, with the Gulls already on the game’s first power play, Andrew Agozzino converted a backdoor pass from Trevor Zegras, to give San Diego an early 1-0 advantage.

San Jose responded quickly, evening the score at one just 1:37 later as a shot from the point by Joakim Blichfeld snuck through traffic and past Gulls netminder Lukas Dostal.

With just over a minute remaining in the game’s opening period, San Diego retook the lead after a long shift in the offensive zone. Andrew Poturalski collected a bouncing puck along the wall just in front of the San Jose bench, curled towards the middle of the ice and fired a low shot off of his linemate, Benoit-Olivier Groulx and past Josef Korenar. Chase De Leo also collected an assist on the go-ahead goal as the Gulls took a 2-1 lead into first intermission.

Sam Carrick doubled the Gulls lead just two minutes into the second period as he capitalized on a San Jose turnover. As the Barracuda attempted to break out of their own zone, San Jose forward Vlad Kotkov was intercepted by Carrick, who one-timed the errant pass by Korenar to give the Gulls a 3-1 lead at the 2:11 mark of the middle frame.

Another power-play opportunity halfway through the second period, allowed the Gulls to quickly convert once again and extend the lead. Once again, Zegras found Agozzino uncovered on the backdoor but this time the veteran winger made an extra pass to Carrick, who slammed home his second goal of the game, putting San Diego ahead 4-1 with 10:39 left in the second period.

The Gulls capped the offensive onslaught just two minutes later as Jack Kopacka raced down left wing and caught Korenar by surprise, firing a quick wrist shot just under the crossbar, extending the Gulls advantage to four.

The teams traded chances in the third period with neither side finding the back of the net.

Dostal, appearing in his first game as a member of the Gulls, made 28 saves to earn the win.

UP NEXT: San Jose concludes its tow-game series with San Diego on Thursday 1/21 at 6:00pm at FivePoint Arena.

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: How Covid 19 ordinance will keep Cuda games real quite

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sjbarracuda photo: Stat graphic from Tuesday night’s game in Stockton between the San Jose Barracuda and Stockton Heat

On the Barracuda podcast with Marko:

#1 Santa Clara County announced on Monday due to Covid 19 Virus that no more crowds of over 1000 people may assemble for any type of meetings or events which would effect the San Jose Barracuda who has their games in SAP Center. Although the Barracuda play in a 17,000 seat capacity building they usually draw no more than 3500 fans but the place will further be empty by the new ordinance from the county.

#2 The Barracuda (21-27-5-2) got a huge win over the Stockton Heat (30-17-4-4) at Stockton Arena, the win was the first against the Heat this season and the Cuda picked up their six consecutive game where they have scored a point.

#3 Barracuda goaltender Josef Korenar stopped 22 out of 26 shots in goal but the Barracuda provided enough offense to get Korenar the win.

#4 The Barracuda’s Lukas Radil had himself an evening scoring his first two goals and four point game of his career.

#5 It’s onto San Diego for a Friday night face off with the Gulls Marko sets this game up for us.

Join Marko for the Barracuda podcasts each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Barracuda use four-goal second period to bury the Heat 7-4

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sjbarracuda photo

by Marko Ukalovic

STOCKTON, Calif- Better late than never has never applied more to the San Jose Barracuda when it comes to the Stockton Heat. The ‘Cuda used a four-goal second period outburst to take control of the game to defeat their NorCal rival 7-4 on Tuesday evening at Stockton Arena.

San Jose finally snapped their nine-game losing streak against Stockton this season, while extendeing their point streak to six games. San Jose is now 1-7-1-1 against Stockton. The Heat currently sit in third place in the Pacific Division with 68 points.

Stockton (30-17-4-4) drew first blood 46 seconds into the first period. Heat captain Byron Froese fired a shot on net that ‘Cuda goalie Josef Korenar saved but couldn’t control the rebound. Buddy Robinson crashed in and cleaned up the rebound for his 17th goal of the season. He is second in goals for the Heat.

San Jose (21-27-5-2) scored the eqaulizer just under five minutes later. Maxim Letunov led a rush up the ice. He fed a pass over to Danil Yurtaykin who then found Lukas Radil and the Czech forward completed a tic-tac-toe goal with a wrist shot that beat Heat goalie Jon Gillies for his fifth of the season at the 5:30 mark. It snapped an eight-game goal-less draught.

Stockton regained the lead on the power play late in the opening frame. The Heat only needed nine seconds to light the lamp when Martin Pospisil jammed home a loose puck that Korenar struggled to keep from going past the goaline. Glen Gawdin and and Adam Ruzicka were credited with assists on Pospisil’s third goal of the season at the 19:18 mark.

San Jose tied it up for a second time early in the second period in what began a span of three-unanswered goals for the ‘Cuda. Keaton Middleton received a pass from Sasha Chmelevski and skated into the Heat zone. The ‘Cuda defenseman snapped home a wrist shot past Gillies on the shortside for his fourth goal of the season at the 2:03 mark. Radil picked up the secondary assist.

The Barracuda gained their first lead of the night when Danil Yurtaykin fired a shot past Gillies just over two minutes later. The rookie forward scored his second goal of the season at the 4:35 mark. It was his first goal since November 13, 2019, ending a 29 game skid.

Before the Heat could even blink after Yutaykin’s goal, Tristan Langan set up Ivan Chekhovich who buried a wrist shot past Gillies for his fourth goal of the season at the 5:10 mark. For Langan his helper was his first point in the AHL.

That ended the evening for Gillies who was replaced by backup netminder Artyom Zagidulin. Gillies finished the night giving up four goals on 12 shots in 25:10 of action.

Stockton stopped the bleeding over two minutes later when Rob Hamilton sent in a shot on the net where Robinson, was once again at the right place at the right time, tapped home another rebound for second goal of the game and 18th of the season to cut the lead to one-goal at the 7:24 mark.

San Jose regained a two-goal lead when Jeffery Viel led a rush up the ice. He fed a pass over to Anthony Greco who found a trailing Jonny Brodzinski with a drop pass. Brodzinski fired a wrist shot past Zagiudukin, who was screened on the play by his own defenseman, for his 14th goal of the season for the red-hot foward at the 12:09 mark.

The Heat pressed back just 31 second later as they closed out the scoring in a wild middle frame. Korenar failed to clear the puck from his crease as his attempt went right on the stick of Froese and he scored into an empty net for his 19th goal of the season. Alexander Yelesin and Hamilton were credited with assists.

The Barracuda dominated the second period as they out shot the Heat by a 2-to-1 margin 14-7.

San Jose wrapped up the game with two goals in a span of 13 seconds late in the third period. First Yurtaykin fed a pass over to Radil who skated down the left wing and buried a wrist shot to the far side past Zagidulin for his second goal of the night and sixth of the season at the 16:09 mark.

Then Jayden Halbgewachs scored his team leading 19th goal at the 16:22 mark to ice the game for the Barracuda. Chmelevski and Middleton picked up the helpers on the play.

Korenar played an outstanding game making 22 saves on 26 shots to earn his 12th win of the season. Zagidulin stopped 16 of the 19 shots in suffering the loss.

GAME NOTES: San Jose went 0-for-3 on the power play. Stockton was 1-for-3. The Heat came into the game with the league number one power play at 25.5%.

Six different skaters scored goals for the ‘Cuda.

Radil’s two goals were his first multi-goal game of his career.

Yutaykin with his 1G, 2A finished with his first ever three-point game in his career.

Ruzicka now has one goal and three assists in four games against San Jose this season.

The announced attendance was 1,639.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda continue their three-game roadtrip when the travel down to San Diego to take on the Gulls on Friday 3/13 at 7:00pm at Pachenga Arena.

Gulls comeback to stun Barracuda with 3-2 overtime win

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photo from sjbarracuda.com

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif- The San Diego Gulls flipped the script in their favor a night after the San Jose Barracuda came back from a two-goal deficit. This time around they would have the last laugh as Isac Lunderstrom scored the game winning goal with three seconds left in overtime to complete a 3-2 come from behind victory for the Gulls on Saturday evening at SAP Center.

Lunderstrom finished off a give-and-go with Josh Mahura with a wrist shot from the left wing that beat ‘Cuda goalie Josef Korenar for his sixth goal of the season at the 19:57 mark of the extra session.

San Jose, who have played four of their last five games in overtime, had its season high three-game winning streak snapped. However they have earned a point in a season high five-game point streak. They finished their six-game homestand with a 3-1-2 record. With the win, San Diego is in sole position of fourth place in the Pacific Division with 66 points.

It was a war of attrition on special teams between the two divsion rivals. The Barracuda struck first early in the first period with a short-handed goal. With Keaton Middleton in the sinbin for cross checking, Jeffery Viel raced in from the right wing and his shot had Gulls goalie Kevin Boyle knock the net loose but not off its bearings. The puck was still live and Evan Weinger quickly tucked it into the net for his ninth goal of the season at the 1:50 mark. It was also Weinger’s third short-handed goal of the year and the Barracuda’s sixth of the season.

San Jose (20-27-5-2) doubled its lead on the power play late in the opening frame. Jeffery Viel centered a pass from behind the end line that deflected off the skate of Anthony Greco over to Jonny Brodzinski who blasted a one-timer past Boyle for his 13th goal of the season at the 16:47 mark.

Brozinski has five goals in his last four games and is on a current four-game point streak.

Shots were even at 11 for both teams in the first period as the Barracuda controled the majority of play.

San Diego (29-18-6-2) cut the lead in half on the power play early in the second period. Brendan Guhle sent a pass back up to the right point where Mahura sent in a shot on net that Chris Mueller redirected the puck past the five-hole of Korenar for his 19th goal of the season at the 5:59 mark.

The Gulls scored the equalizer with a short-handed goal of their own, their 17 of the season, over five minutes into the third period. Simon Benoit set up Sam Carrick who wrapped around a shot past Korenar for his 22nd goal of the season at the 5:48 mark. Carrick leads the Gulls with four short-handed goals.

San Diego gained momentum and dominated the rest of the period as they had San Jose on their heels outshooting them 10-4.

The Gulls had two glorious chances to end the game earlier in overtime but Korenar made two spectacular saves to keep the ‘Cuda in it. The most notable was stopping Carrick on a 2-on-0 breakaway where the puck was on the goaline but Korenar somehow kept it from crossing the line at the 2:50 mark.

Boyle finished the evening stopping 24 of the 26 shots he faced to earn his eighth win of the season and fourth in a row for the Gulls backup goaltender. Korenar made 31 saves on 34 shots suffering the tough luck loss.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 1-for-5 on the power play. San Diego went 1/2.

Viel registered two assists in the game, his eighth multi-point performance of the season and fifth helper in his last three games.

Saturday’s game was the third-straight between the Barracuda and Gulls that needed overtime to decide it.

The announced attendance was 3,661.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda travel out to Stockton to take on the Heat to start a three-game road trip on Tuesday 3/9 at 7:00pm at Stockton Arena.

Minnesota United uses set pieces to dominate Earthquakes 5-2

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photo from bayareanewsgroup.com: San Jose Earthquakes’ Danny Hoesen (9), front right, fights for the ball against Minnesota United FC’s Romain Métanire (19) in the first half of an MLS soccer match in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, March 7, 2020

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif- In a game that featured the heavans opening up with a steady rain throughout the match, the Minnesota United scored four goals in the first half to dominate the San Jose Earthquakes in 5-2 victory on Saturday evening at Earthquakes Stadium.

The game went on despite warnings earlier in the week from Santa Clara County officials regarding the Coronovirus in wanting to cancel large group outings such as sporting events and concerts.

Minnesota United (2-0-0) scored the opening goal at the 13th minute mark off a corner kick. Jon Gregus floated a ball into the center where defenseman Ike Opara cleanly headed the ball past Quakes goalie Daniel Vega for his first goal of the season.

San Jose (0-1-1) scored the eqaulizer thanks to a controversial non-call. Minneota United defender Chase Gasper tripped up Tommy Thompson just inside the box as Thomspon tried dribbling the ball around Gasper. There was no call on the initial play but after video review referee Baldomero Toledo awarded a penalty kick to the Quakes.

Quakes captain Magnus Eriksson finished off the penalty kick into the lower right corner of the net for his first goal of the season a minute later at the 19th minute.

Minnesota United didn’t need much time to regain the lead. Luis Amarilla led a rush into the Quakes zone. He made a nice pass over to Jan Gregus who fired a shot from outside the box past Vega for his first goal of the season at the 26th minute.

“A football team that wants to fight for important things, can’t give away so many defenseive mistakes. I told the players these are losses you should remember your whole life. Because if you always make three mistakes a game, you’re being very generous to your opponents and it’s impossible to win in football that way,” Quakes head coach Matias Almeyda said.

Six minutes later Minnesota United caught the Quakes napping on defense. Team leading point scorer Kevin Molino centered a ball into the middle where Amarilla was left all alone to head the ball into the upper left corner of the net for his second goal of the season at the 32nd minute.

“There’s a great collective spirit,” said Minnesota United head coach Adrian Heath when asked about his team’s start. “They do what’s asked of them. They hold each other accountable which is always important. It doesn’t surprise me they start we’ve had.”

Minnesotsa United went up by three goals right before half time. They were awarded a penalty kick in the third minute of extra time off a set piece. Goram Kashia tackled Opara inside the box resulting in the penalty. Amarilla’s shot was saved by Vega, but Robin Lod came in and cleaned up the rebound for his first goal of the season.

The Quakes cut the lead in half in the 53rd minute. Off a corner kick, Eriksson’s attempted cross was deflected into the middle of box where Vako collected the ball, made one touch, and then buried a shot past United goalie Tyler Miller for his first goal of the season.

Opara scored his second of the game off an identical corner kick in the 71st minute. Once again he was left unmarked and his header split two Qukes defenders and past the reach of Vega.

“Honestly Jan (Gregus) is great with his services. If we do our runs consistently, we got enough guys more than capable getting chances. It wasn’t San Jose (doing a poor job of defending), that’s just how much we believe in what we can do. Tonight it finally came through,” said Opara.

Miller made four saves on six shots on target to earn his second victory of the season. Vegas eight saves on 10 shots on target in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished the match with 20 shots. Minnesota United has 17.

San Jose finished with 6 corner kicks. Minnesota United had 8.

Cade Cowell substituted for Danny Hoesen to start the second half. At 16 years old and 150 days, he is the youngest player to make his Quakes debut. He is the fifth youngest ever in MLS history.

Amarilla was issued a yellow card in the 67th minute for unsporting behavior.

UP NEXT: The Earthquakes travel out to Philadephia to take on the Union on Saturday 3/14 at 4:30pm at PPL Park.

Halbegwachs overtime heroics give Barracuda 3-2 comeback win over Gulls

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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.

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Barracuda looking for second win against Wild tonight

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sjbarracuda photo: The San Jose Barracuda host the Iowa Wild tonight at SAP Center as the Barracuda attempt to win their second game against the Wild

On the Barracuda podcast with Marko:

#1 The San Jose Barracuda (18-27-4-2) edged out a close contest with the Iowa Wild (36-16-4-3) on Monday morning 2-1.

#2 The Barracuda were playing a pretty decent team in the Wild on Monday and they went all out on defense to prevent Iowa from piling on goals.

#3 Jonny Brodzinski provided all the offense San Jose would need scoring two goals opening the game at 0:29 with a goal and an overtime goal

#4 The Barracuda’s Josef Korenar (10-16-2) stopped 42 shots and played much of the game standing on his head but his prevent defense kept the Wild out of the game.

#5 It’s Iowa again tonight as the Barracuda hope to sweep the Wild in the second of two games

Marko Ukalovic does Barracuda podcasts each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com