Tag: AHL

by Marko Ukalovic

The San Jose Barracuda scored three goals in the third period to take control of a close game as they defeated the Henderson Silver Knights 5-3 took on Friday morning at Lee’s Family Forum.

San Jose has won a season best four games in a row, including five of their first six games and swept its second straight series. Henderson has lost four games in a row and five of their first six to start their season.

San Jose (5-1) drew first blood early in the first period with an even strength goal. Ethan Cardwell fed a pass back up to the point. Defenseman Jimmy Schuldt blasted a one-timer past Silver Knight’s goalie Akira Schmid for his first goal of the season at the 1:50 mark.

The Barracuda doubled its lead just under six minutes later. Luca Cagnoni continued his hot streak when his shot from the point was redirected by Andrew Poturalski for his second goal in back-to-back games at the 7:28 mark. Collin Graf picked up the secondary assist.

Henderson (1-5) struck back with an even strength goal 92 seconds later. A shot from the point by Calden Addison pinballed around a scrum in front of the crease. The rebound leaked out to the left wing where Brandon Hickey beat ‘Cuda goalie Yaroslav Askarov with a wrist shot the short side for his first goal of the season at the 9:00 mark.

San Jose scored an insurance goal early in the third period thanks to a turnover inside the Henderson zone. A failed clearing attempt along the right boards led to Ethan Frisch pinching in and sending the puck toward the net. Anthony Vincent redirected the puck past Schmid for his third goal of the season at the 4:07 mark.

Vincent, who only scored two goals last season, already has third goal in six games for the Barracuda.

Ethan Cardwell iced the game for the ‘Cuda late in the final frame. Vincent found Cardwell with a pass at center ice and the sophomore forward skated into the Henderson zone past two defenders before depositing the puck top-shelf to the short side for his first goal of the season at the 15:18 mark.

Gage Quinney scored a 5-on-3 power play late in the period. Quinney skated around from the right wing to up top before whipping a wrist shot past Askarov for his second goal in as many games at the 17:31 mark.

The Barracuda regained its three-goal lead with an empty net goal. Cardwell earned the assist of the game when he outbattled two Silver Knights defenders along the boards behind the net. Cardwell won the puck and flipped it over to Filip Bystedt who buried the puck into the empty for his second goal of the season at the 18:23 mark.

Kai Uchacz completed the scoring with a power play goal. Uchacz cashed in on a turnover behind the net and skated out on front and beat Askarov from point-blank range for his first goal of the season with 16 second remaining.

Askarov (4-0) remained perfect on the season as he stopped 28 of the 32 shots he faced to earn his fourth win of the season. Schmid (0-4) made 36 saves on 40 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 0-for-5 on the power play. Henderson was 1-for-2.

San Jose is 14-16-2-2 in the all-time series versus Henderson.

UP NEXT: San Jose returns home to host the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Wednesday 10/30 at 7:00pm at Tech CU Arena.

San Jose Barracuda defenseman Luca Cagnoni (#42) celebrates his second goal of the game against the Henderson Silver Knights with fellow teammates Andrew Poturalski (#22) and Joey Keane (#94) at the Lee’s Family Forum on Wednesday OCT 23, 2024. (San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

The San Jose Barracuda never won three games in a row last season.

They can check that box off of the list this season. Luca Cagnoni scored two goals to help his team defeat the Henderson Silver Knights 5-2 on Wednesday evening at Lee’s Family Forum.

San Jose has won three games in a row and four of its first five to start the season. Henderson has lost three games and four of its first five to start the season.

San Jose (4-1-0) drew first blood late in the first period with an even strength goal. Ethan Cardwell sent a pass down low over to Colin Graf behind the net. Graf skated out from behind the net and found Cagnoni in the left slot and the rookie defenseman blasted a one-timer past Silver Knights goalie Akira Schmid for his third goal of the season at the 15:57 mark.

Cagnoni, who has acted as a catalyst for the Barracuda offense, has scored a goal in three straight games.

The Barracuda doubled its lead with 10 seconds remaining in the opening frame. A turnover inside the Silver Knights zone led to Graf centering a pass from behind the net out to Andrew Poturalski in between the face off circles. Poturalski’ fanned on his first attempt but buried his second chance to the far side for his first career goal in a ‘Cuda uniform.

Henderson (1-4-0) had two power play opportunities but could not cash them in thanks to San Jose’s penalty kill remaining perfect to start the season, led by Barracuda goalie Yaroslav Askarov.

San Jose scored its third unanswered goal with the man advantage near the halfway point of the second period. Joey Keane sent a wrist shot up high on net and Scott Sabourin deflected the puck past Schmid for his second goal at the 9:13 mark.

Henderson answered to get on the scoreboard just under three minutes later. Dysin Mayo received the puck at the right slot from Gage Quinney. With Mitch McLain providing a screen on Askarov, Mayo lasered a wrist shot into the back of the net for his first goal of the season at the mark 12:10 mark

It was the first goal Askarov had given up in his three starts. He went 152:09 of shutout hockey before Mayo’s goal.

The Barracuda regained their three-goal lead late in the middle frame. A wraparound attempt by Brandon Coe was initially saved by Schmid. The rebound hit off Filip Bystedt and bounced out to the middle where Cagnoni lifted a backhander past the Silver Knight goalie for his second goal of the game and fourth of the season at the 15:07 mark.

San Jose earned its biggest lead near the halfway mark of the third period. Braden Hache led a rush up the ice. Hache’s pass intended for Kasper Halttunen took a favorable bounce into the Henderson’s zone. Coe skated in a on breakaway and slid the puck past Schmid from point-blank range for his first goal of the season at the 9:25 mark.

The Silver Knights scored their second goal after a bad rebound was given up by Askarov. Matyas Sapovaliv cleaned up the juicy rebound off of a Braeden Bowman shot that leaked out to the middle of the ice for his first goal of the season at the 11:57 mark.

Askarov (3-0) stopped 26 of the 28 shots he faced to earn his third victory of the season and is 4-0 in his career against Henderson. Schmid (0-3) made 18 saves on 23 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 1-for-5 on the power play. Henderson went 0-for-4.

The Three Stars of the Game: 1) Cagnoni 2) Graf 3) Mayo.

Graf extended his point streak to five games.

UP NEXT: San Jose concludes its two-games series with Henderson on Friday 10/25 at 11:00am at Lee’s Family Forum.

San Jose Barracuda forward Scott Sabourin (#49) redirects a puck past Iowa Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt (#30) for his first goal of the season at Tech CU Arena on Sunday OCT 20, 2024.

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Barracuda scored five goals in the second period to route the Iowa Wild 7-3 on Sunday afternoon at Tech CU Arena.

San Jose swept the two-game series and has jumped out to a great start in the young season. Iowa remained defeated through their first four games.

San Jose (3-1-0) drew first blood early in the first period with an even strength goal. Anthony Vincent sent the puck back up to the point to Luca Cagnoni. The rookie defenseman skated in from the left wing and lasered in a wrist shot just inside the near post past Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt for his second goal of the season at the 2:08 mark.

The Barracuda doubled its lead 24 seconds later. Collin Graf found Justin Bailey inside the Wild zone. Bailey skated in all alone and beat Wallstedt to the far side with a wrist shot for his first goal of the season at the 2:36 mark.

Iowa (0-4-0) answered back 35 seconds later. Micheal Milne sent a cross-ice pass over to Hunter Haight who buried a wrist shot past Cuda goalie Georgi Romanov for his first goal of the season at the 3:01 mark.

The Cuda regained their two-goal lead late in the second period thanks to a great individual play from Lucas Vanroboys in the neutral zone. Vanroboys collected a loose puck near the red line then skated around three Wild defenders before tucking the puck underneath the pads of Wallstedt inside the crease for his first goal of the season at the 13:23 mark.

San Jose went up 4-1 with a power play goal exactly two minutes later. Ethan Cardwell sent the puck from the left wing into the middle of the crease where Scott Sabourin redirected the puck past Wallstedt for his first goal of the season at the 15:23 mark.

Iowa cut the lead in half on the next shift. An odd man rush led to Cameron Crotty finding Haight in the left slot and Haight beat Romanov with a wrist shot to the short side for his second goal of the game at the 15:50 mark.

San Jose made Iowa pay on their next shift. Brandon Coe sent a backhanded pass through the crease to an unmarked Filip Bystedt in front of the crease and the Swedish center buried the puck into the back of the net for his second goal of the season at the 16:03 mark.

The Barracuda weren’t done yet as over a minute and a half later they increased their cushion by four goals. Colin White cleaned up a rebound off a shot from the point by Cagnoni for his second goal of the season at the 17:40 mark.

San Jose scored its fifth goal of the period when Ethan Frisch fired a slapshot from the left point past Wallstedt for his first goal of the season at the 18:07 mark. Donovan Houle picked up his second point of the game with the primary assist. That ended the night for Wallstedt as he gave up seven goals on 25 shots. Backup goalie Samuel Hlavaj replaced Wallstedt to start the third period.

The Wild scored its third goal at the halfway mark of the third period.

Romanov earned his first victory of the season as he stopped 36 of the 39 shots he faced. Hlavaj only faced five shots in the final 20 minutes and saved all five.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 1-for-3 on the power play. Iowa went 0-for-2.

San Jose is 10-4-2-0 all time versus the Wild including 6-1-2-0 at home.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Sabourin 2) Haight 3) Cagnoni.

UP NEXT: San Jose takes on the Henderson Silver Knights on Wednesday 10/23 at 7:00pm at Dollar Loan Center.