San Jose Barracuda picked up their second straight win over the Colorado Eagles on Wed Dec 15, 2021 at SAP Center in San Jose (image by San Jose Barracuda)
by Marko Ukalovic
SAN JOSE — The San Jose Barracuda played like a team possessed.
They used a five goal second period en route to a 10-5 victory over the Colorado Eagles on Wednesday night at SAP Center. The five-goal outburst was the most goals they have scored in a single period in a game this season as they set a new franchise mark scoring 10 goals for the first time in its history.
San Jose has won two games in a row. Colorado had its three-game winning streak snapped.
“It felt good,” said ‘Cuda head coach Roy Sommer about his team’s offensive output. “It’s kind of fun back there. We’ve been on the other side of that just last week so it was good to be on the right side of it this time that’s for sure.”
Colorado (10-9-1-2) drew first blood just under two minutes into the first period. Rob Hamilton sent in a shot from the point where an unchecked Jayson Megna was all alone in the crease to cash in the rebound for his first goal of the season at the 1:49 mark.
San Jose (8-11-1-0) answered back late in the period. Nick Merkley made a back pass to Patrick Holway who fired a shot on net that deflected off Eagles goalie Justus Annunen high up into the air and Joachim Blichfeld poked the puck into the back of the net for eighth goal of the season at the 13:24 mark.
Colorado regained the lead on the power play with under a minute remaining in the opening frame. Callahan Burke sent a cross ice pass over to Shane Bowers who wired a wrist shot past ‘Cuda goalie Alexei Melnichuk from the left slot for his first goal of the season at the 19:12 mark.
The Barracuda evened the score early in the second period on a short-handed goal. Adam Raska skated inside the Eagles zone on a two-on-one odd man rush with Evander Kane. Raska deked a pass and snapped home a wrist shot top-shelf past Annunen for his second goal of the season at the 1:58 mark.
San Jose gained their first lead of the game on the power play halfway through the second period. John Leonard found Jeffery Viel in the left shot and Viel one-timed a wrist shot past Annunen to the far top corner for his first goal of the season at the 10:37 mark.
The ‘Cuda doubled its lead 45 seconds later when Jacob Megna sent a seeing eyed wrist shot from the left point that went underneath Annunen for his first goal of the season at the 11:22 mark. Sasha Chmelevski recorded the only assist on Megna’s goal.
San Jose extended to a three-goal lead thanks to their second short-handed goal of the game. Adam Raska collected his own short-handed attempt and found Cole Moberg open in the middle of the ice as Moberg’s one-timer beat Annunen for his first career AHL goal at the 12:56 mark.
The Eagles answered back on the same power play 56 second later. Dylan Sikura skated in from the left wing, his initial shot was saved by Melnichuk but he cleaned up his own rebound for his seventh goal of the season at the 13:51 mark.
The ‘Cuda scored its fifth goal of the middle frame on the man advantage. Blichfeld sent in a shot from the between the faceoff circles and a Krystof Hrabik, who was camped out in front of the crease, jammed home the rebound for his first career AHL goal at the 16:35 mark.
Ryan Merkley picked up the secondary assist on Hrabik’s goal, his third of the night, for his first three-point game in his career.
“I’m feeling a lot more comfortable. I’m having a much better year than I did last year. That takes time. I believe in myself. I think I’m showing it. (I’m) running a good power play right now and getting better defensively. It was nice to get a few points there,” Merkley said.
Colorado cut the lead to a two-goal game with an even strength goal early in the third period. Martin Kaut cleaned up a rebound off of a Burke shot from the left end line for his fourth goal of the season at the 3:56 mark.
The Barracuda regained its third three-goal lead when Kane sent a pass up the ice that sprung Nick Merkley on a breakaway. Merkley skated in and beat Annunen through the five-hole for his fourth goal of the season at the 6:23 mark.
Kane finished with a four-point night with one goal and three assists, his first multi-point game as a member of the Barracuda.
“I liked our response in the second (period) obviously,” said Kane. “We don’t want to be giving up 5, 6, 7 goals (a game). It was nice to get the offense going.”
Nick Merkley scored his second goal of the night just under three minutes later. Scott Reedy found a streaking Merkley who one-timed a wrist shot past Annunen for his fifth goal of the season at the 9:05 mark.
That ended the night for Annunen as he gave up eight goals on 32 shots. Hunter Miska came in and finished the final 10 minutes of the game.
Colorado scored its third power play of the game when Keifer Sherwood and Hamilton played a give and go with each other that resulted in Hamilton beating Melnichuk with a wrist shot for his third goal of the season at the 10:23 mark.
San Jose tied their franchise mark for most goals in a game when Nick Merkley found a wide-open Kane just to the left of the net for an easy tap in into an open net for his first career AHL goal at the 14:39 mark.
The ‘Cuda set the new franchise mark when Viel scored his second goal of the game with 21 seconds left in the contest.
Melnichuk stopped 24 of the 29 shots he faces in earning the victory. Miska gave up two goals on the two shots he faced in mop-up duty.
GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 2-for-3 on the power play. Colorado was 3-for-7.
The San Jose Sharks placed forward Joel Kellman on unconditional waivers on Tuesday for the purpose of terminating his contract, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported.
Kellman has played in 10 games for AHL San Jose this year but has yet to get into action with the Sharks. At this point, it seems likely the 27-year-old Swede will head back to his home country where he began his professional career.
UP NEXT: San Jose begin a four-game road trip when they take on the Ontario Reign on Friday 12/17 at 7:00pm at Toyota Arena.
