Tag: sap center

Sharks continue home dominance over Canadiens with 5-2 win

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, March 7, 2019

San Jose continued its two-decade home dominance over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night at SAP Center, winning 5-2.

The Sharks haven’t lost a home game to the Habs since Nov. 23, 1999, winning 12 straight over Montreal during that span. It was also San Jose’s eighth straight win overall in the series.

Tomas Hertl scored his career-high 30th goal of the season to spark the Sharks’ offense, and goaltender Martin Jones recorded 37 saves. In addition, Marcus Sorensen and Timo Meier each scored for the third straight game, Joe Thornton scored a goal, and Gustav Nyquist tacked on an empty-net goal for his first tally since joining San Jose.

With Calgary’s loss to Arizona, the Sharks pulled to within one point of the Flames in the NHL Pacific Division race with a game in hand.

Scoring for Montreal was Artturi Lehkonen and Andrew Shaw. The Canadiens remain two points ahead of Columbus in the Eastern Conference Wild Card race. Habs goaltender Antti Niemi made 20 saves.

San Jose won despite being outplayed for most of the contest, in part because of a flu bug that’s hit the team recently. The Sharks led 3-1 in the second period despite being outshot 23-8 at that juncture. Montreal also outshot the Sharks 16-5 in the first period.

By assisting on Sorensen’s goal, San Jose defenseman Brent Burns picked up his 60th helper of the season.

Erik Karlsson (groin) and Evander Kane were injury scratches for the third straight game for San Jose. The Sharks host St. Louis on Saturday.

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.

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.

Thornton Scores Hat Trick, but Bruins Rally Late Amidst Controversy then Win 6-5 In OT

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Photo credit: @BarDown 

By Jerry Feitelberg

Joe Thornton scored a hat trick and the San Jose Sharks erased a three-goal first period deficit, but the Boston Bruins escaped the SAP Center with a 6-5 overtime win Monday night. Charlie McAvoy scored the game-winner with 1:01 left in the extra skate to give Boston the sweep of the trio of California teams and Chris Wagner scored a controversial goal to tie the game late after Joe Thornton’s third goal gave the Sharks a then 5-4 lead.

Joe Pavelski had three points and Logan Couture picked up two in the loss. Neither San Jose’s Martin Jones (14 saves) nor Tuuka Rask of Boston (33 saves) were particularly sharp in net for their respective teams.

McAvoy’s overtime strike came after her and Evander Kane got tangled up in the Sharks offensive end after some physical play. Kane went off for a change, McAvoy stayed on and snuck into the slot for a pass from David Krejci (three assists), with the defenseman’s shot beating Jones for the win with 1:01 left in overtime.

The Bruins put themselves in the position to win despite managing only 20 shots, including four in the second period and seven in the third after Chris Wagner’s career-best eighth goal of the season. Wagner scored with 1:49 left in regulation after batting a puck down from midair behind Martin Jones. Since Wagner hit the puck once more before the puck crossed the goal-line and the official didn’t rule his touch a high stick and a stop of play, the play was not review-able and the game-tying goal counted. It was one of many moments of frustration between the Sharks and referees as Evander Kane also had a late breakaway blown dead after the Bruins net was dislodge and play continued without the net being replaced by a trailing official.

While one point is a small consolation for the Sharks, it was a tremendous comeback effort led by First Star and former Bruin Joe Thornton and teammate Joe Pavekski. With a first goal in toe for Jumbo but the Sharks trailing 3-1 after 20 minutes, the Sharks vets stepped up in a big way down the final 40. Pavelski scored a power play strike, his team-leading 32nd goal, 2:24 into the second to cut the Bruins’ lead to 3-2, but a Jake DeBrusk power play tally, one of three points for the winger, 6:30 into the second put the Bruins back up by two. Thornton scored his 12th goal of the season 3:57 from the second intermission and Logan Couture scored the ultra-rare short-handed penalty shot goal, beating Rask with 25 second left in the period after a Bruin covered the puck in the crease with their hand. Couture’s 22nd goal pulled San Jose down 4-3 heading into the final frame. Couture also assisted on Pavelski’s power play goal.

Thornton brought down a rain of hats with 6:28 left in regulation after doing something he was often criticized for not doing in Boston; he shot the puck. It was a rocket of a shot that may have deflected off McAvoy into the back of the net for Thornton’s first hat trick since 2010 and 13th goal of the year.

Boston held a 3-0 lead with just over 1:30 left in the first. Torey Krug picked up his sixth goal of the year 13:49 into the period on the man advantage, Zdeno Chara scored on a shot off a Sean Kuraly faceoff win 16:26 into the frame and Karson Kuhlman scored his first goal of his NHL career with 1:36 left in the period. Thornton scored with just three seconds left in the period to give San Jose a slight boost heading into the dressing room after the first period.

San Jose sits a point back of Calgary since the Flames won Monday night. The Sharks travel to Pittsburgh to face the former Stanley Cup foe Penguins Thursday, then travel to Columbus for a Saturday matchup against the Blue Jackets and then a Sunday tilt in the Motor City. The Sharks will then face these same Bruins in Boston in just over one week next Tuesday.

Barracuda shoot down Gulls 5-2

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Barracuda responded with a statement game of their own against the San Diego Gulls. After getting spanked 48 hours earlier, San Jose served up some revenge in a 5-2 victory over their Pacific Division rival on Monday afternoon at SAP Center.

With the win, San Jose reclaimed second place in the Pacific Division with 62 points while San Diego is currently in third with 60 points. This is San Jose’s second win in seven contests against San Diego this season.

San Diego (27-15-3-3) drew first blood in a wild back-and-forth first period. Adam Cracknell sent a go-ahead pass to Sam Steel from the red line to create a breakaway. Steel skated in and made a quick deke before sliding the puck between the five-hole of Cuda goalie Joesef Korenar (16-5-1) for his 14th goal of the season at the 4:02 mark of the first period.

San Jose (27-12-2-4) received the equalizer when Vincent Praplan fed a pass back to the right point to Jeremy Roy. Roy then sent a wrist shot through traffic that took a tricky bounce past Gulls goalie Jeff Glass (8-6-2) into the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season at the 5:48 mark.  Evan Weinger received the secondary assist.

“I thought we played a helluva game tonight compared to the one we played other night,” said Cuda head coach Roy Sommer. “Big turnaround. I thought our details were a lot better. We were a lot harder to battle. We played a little reckless. You can win a lot more games than lose when you play like that.”

The Gulls regained the lead just 11 seconds into their first power play of the game. Keifer Sherwood sent a pass from the point over to the left slot where Cracknell one-timed the puck off the pads of Korenar. Sam Carrick was camped out in front to clean up the rebound for his team leading 25th goal of the season at the 8:13 mark.

San Jose would only need 18 seconds to even it back up on the very next shift. Jeffery Viel chased down the puck to the right slot, spun around and fired a cross-ice pass through the crease over to Alexander True, who buried the puck past Glass for his team-leading 16th goal of the season at the 8:31 mark. Anti Suomela received the secondary assist.

“I think it was another great team effort,” said True. “They helped me score some goals, (but) it was a team effort.”

True second his second goal of the game and 17th on the season on the power play. Francis Perron made a nice play to keep the puck in the Gulls zone during a clearing attempt. After skating around a defender, he fed a pass down low to Dylan Gambrell behind the net, who made a sweet backhand pass over to True, who one-timed a wrist shot past Glass at the 12:30 mark.

“To get that big goal was huge for us,” said Perron. “Then after that we just kept on going and kept it (the momentum) going playing a really good team.”

Maxix Letunov gave the Cuda a 4-2 lead with just a minute and half left in the period when he was able to redirect a Nick DeSimone wrist shot from the right point into the upper left corner of the net for his ninth goal of the season at the 18:31 mark. Praplan received the secondary assist for a two point afternoon.

In the second period, the Cuda had two quality chances to extend their lead only to be stoned by Glass. Weinger had a point-blank chance stopped in the first three minutes and Letunov’s wraparound attempt was denied by a sprawling Glass at the six-minute mark.

San Jose cashed in for the second time on the power play. Captain John McCarthy feathered a pass from the point toward the net that deflected off Rourke Chartier and onto the stick of Gambrell. Glass made the initial save, but wasn’t able to hold onto the puck as Chartier cleaned up the rebound top-shelf for his sixth goal of the season at the 10:38 mark.

There was no scoring in the third period as San Jose clamped down defensively only allowing five shots on goal by San Diego.

Tensions were high and things were chippy throughout the game with after the whistle skirmishes behind the net, including Glass taking exception to True barreling his way into him on a rush early in third period.

“We play these guys a lot and I’m sure we don’t like them and they don’t like us,” said True. “It’s going to get chippy out there sometimes and you saw that (out there) tonight.”

Korenar finished with 25 saves on 27 shots to earn his 17th win on the season. Glass made 33 saves on 38 Cuda shots in suffering the defeat.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 2/5 on the power play. San Diego was 1/4.

Gambrell played his first game since being reassigned by the San Jose Sharks. He now has 30 points in 32 AHL game this season (11G, 19A).

San Diego has out scored San Jose 29-16 in the last six head-to-head matchups.

The announced attendance was 6,027.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda travel out to Iowa to begin a three-game road trip as they take on the Wild on Thursday 2/21 at 5:00 pm at Wells Fargo Arena.

Sharks Beat Canucks 3-2, Erik Karlsson Returns

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 Saturday. The win matches Calgary’s Saturday win to keep the Sharks tied in points with the Western Conference leaders to the North. Sharks goals came from Timo Meier, Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski, who happened to be playing on the same line. Martin Jones made 32 saves for the win. Vancouver got goals from Antoine Roussel and Brock Boeser, while Jacob Markstrom made 23 saves in the loss. Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson made his return from injury with an assist and 24:44 time on ice.

Timo Meier put the first goal on the board at 3:45 of the first on a power play. The second power play unit of Meier, Evander Kane, Joe Thornton, Erik Karlsson and Marc-Edouard Vlasic moved the puck well all around the offensive zone for some time before Karlsson found Meier in front of the net. Assists went to Karlsson and Evander Kane.

Antoine Roussel tied it up for Vancouver 57 seconds later, when the Sharks lost track of him in the neutral zone and Alex Biega found him with a good pass. He broke away ahead of the Sharks defense and beat Martin Jones before anyone could catch up with him.

At the end of the first period, the Sharks had scored on one of two power plays, while Vancouver had not scored on either of their power play chances. The shot count was 11-8 for the Sharks and the Sharks had won 52% of the faceoffs.

The score remained 1-1 until Logan Couture scored for the Sharks 11:08 into the second period. the play developed after Erik Karlsson broke up a Canucks rush across the Sharks blue line. After breaking up the pass, he sent the puck the other way for Burns to move it through the neutral zone. He sent it to Pavelski, who got it across the blue line line and handed it off to Couture. Couture carried it to the net, waited for his shot and took it.

That goal was followed up by a fight between Barclay Goodrow and MacEwen at 11:10.

The Canucks out shot the Sharks in the second period 18-6. The Sharks killed almost two penalties, the second being cut short by a high sticking penalty to Vancouver. That 90-second power play for San Jose was the only penalty Vancouver had to kill in the second period. The Sharks faceoff win percentage improved to 58% by the end of the second.

The Canucks tied it up again at 4:31 of the third. Brock Boeser bought the puck out from behind the Sharks net and paused as if to make a pass. This lured Martin Jones into moving forward and away from his post. As no one prevented it, Boeser put the puck between Jones and the post. Assists went to Elias Pettersson and Derrick Pouliot.

The Sharks took the lead back with a goal from Joe Pavelski at 13:06. Timo Meier took a shot as he moved across in front of the net but Markstrom kicked that back out. Pavelski was in Meier’s wake and that rebound came right to him for the shot. Assists went to Meier and Logan Couture.

The Canucks pulled Markstrom for the extra skater with just under two minutes left in regulation. Final score, 3-2 Sharks. The Sharks won the faceoff battle 61% of the time, with Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl responsible for most of those.

Marcus Sorensen had to leave the ice for a spell after taking a stick to the face in the final five minutes of the second period. He returned to play for the start of the third period.

The Sharks next play on Monday in San Jose against the visiting Boston Bruins at 7:00 PM PT.

Gulls dominate Barracuda in 8-3 win

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Diego Gulls took advantage of a change of momentum late in the first period and never looked back as they trounced the San Jose Barracuda 8-3 on Saturday afternoon at SAP Center.

San Diego is currently 5-1 against San Jose this season. The win also gave the Gulls 60 points as they moved into a tie for second place with the Cuda in the Pacific Division.

San Diego (27-15-3-3) drew first blood on a five-on-three power play late in the first period. With both Jacob Middleton and Jon Martin both off for hooking, Ben Street sent a cross ice pass over to Sam Carrick, whose one-timer beat Cuda goalie Antoine Bibeau (11-7-5) for his 23rd goal of the season at the 17:32 mark. Trevor Murphy received the secondary assist.

San Diego doubled their lead just seconds after their second power play ended. Carrick sent a shot on net that deflected off Chase De Leo for his 16th goal of the season at the 19:20 mark. Keifer Sherwood received the secondary assist.

Despite controlling the majority of the play in the opening frame and out shooting San Diego 16-10, San Jose (27-12-2-4) limped in to the first intermission down by two goals.

Gulls goalie Jeff Glass (8-6-2) was busy in the first period making key saves including one from point-blank range that kept the Cuda off the scoreboard.

San Diego kept their momentum going to start the second period. Ben Thompson fed a pass over to Murphy who skated across the slot past John McCarthy and Middleton and snapped a wrist shot past Bibeau for his eight goal of the season at the 3:17 mark.

Sam Steel picked up a loose puck along the boards and skated in and beat Bibeau through the five-hole for a 4-0 lead. The rookie forward’s goal was his 13th of the season at the 9:03 mark. Thomson and

San Jose finally got on the scoreboard just over a minute later. Alex True punched in a rebound off a Martin shot for his co-team leading 15th goal of the season at the 10:15 mark. Kyle Wood was credited with the secondary assist.

Carrick scored his second goal of the contest and 24th of the season on the power play when he took off on a breakaway and split two Cuda defenders to wrist one past Bibeau at the 11:05 mark.

Steel scored his second goal and 14th goal of the season on a two-on-one odd man rush with Korbinian Holzer. Steel skated in and blasted a shot that rung off the post into the back of the net for a 6-1 lead at the 15:24 mark. Kevin Roy was credited with the secondary assist.

San Diego dominated the third period. Corey Tropp scored when he was able to bang in his own rebound past Josef Korenar, who replaced Bibeau to start the third period, for his 16th goal of the season at the 12:29 mark. Jack Kopacka and Kalle Kossila received assists.

The Gulls continued their success on the power play. Roy sent a pass over to Alex Dostie and he wristed a shot into the back of the net for his second goal of the season at the 13:16 mark.

Rourke Chartier scored a goal on the power play in garbage time. Francis Perron sent a pass over to Chartier, who buried it past Glass for his fifth goal of the season at the 14:38 mark.

Keaton Middleton sent a shot from the blue line that sneaked past Glass over his right shoulder into the back of the net. The unassisted goal was Middleton’s sixth goal of the season at the 16:58 mark.

Glass was huge between the pipes for San Diego stopping 40 of the 43 shots he faced to earn his eight victory. Bibeau, who made his third consecutive start, made 14 saves on 20 after 40 minutes shots in suffering the defeat. Korenar made nine saves on 11 shots in mop up duty.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 1/7 on the power play. San Diego was 3/6.

Vincent Praplan was back in the line up after missing the past 12 games with an injury.

TJ Hensick made his debut with the Barracuda. The veteran of 630 AHL games was signed back on February 12th.

The announced attendance was 2,859.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda take on the Gulls on Monday 2/18 at 1:15 pm at SAP Center.

Barracuda beat Roadrunners 2-1 in a shootout

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By: Ana Kieu

The San Jose Barracuda had hoped to snap a three-game skid and they did indeed do that Wednesday evening at the SAP Center with a 2-1 win over the Tuscon Roadrunners in a shootout.

The Barracuda (27-11-2-4) went with a starting lineup that featured the likes of Antti Suomela, Rourke Chartier, Francis Perron, Jake Middleton, Nick DeSimone and Antoine Bibeau. Meanwhile, the Roadrunners (24-15-4-2) decided on a starting lineup that showcased Giovanni Fiore, Emil Petersson, Jeremy Gregoire, Dakota Mermis, Jordan Gross and Adin Hill.

Only one thing was on the Barracuda’s mind tonight and that was to get back in the win column against a Pacific Division rival. Well, at least from the average fan’s perspective, anyways.

This was a low-scoring game, but the Barracuda was able to secure a win in the shootout. There was a decent amount of penalties, and of course, the scrums that occurred as a result. Anyways, the score was in a scoreless deadlock after the first period. San Jose held a 6-4 advantage in shots over Tucson at the end of 20 minutes. The deadlock remained in tact after the second period. The only difference was that San Jose led Tuscon in shots 28-13 at the end of 40 minutes.

The third period, however, was a back-and-forth affair. Sure, San Jose might’ve wished they had snatched the first lead (and goal) of the evening, but they managed to tie the score 1-1 and that was pretty much all that mattered. Tuscon finally got on the board when Gregoire scored his seventh goal of the season at the 18:41 mark of the third. Assists were handed to Pettersson and Robbie Russo. Just 1:04 later, San Jose got even with DeSimone’s ninth goal of the season, which was a power-play goal. Assists were credited by Suomela and Kyle Wood. DeSimone’s power-play goal happened following a Russo slashing penalty.

The score remained in a 1-1 deadlock after both teams played the mandatory three periods. San Jose led Tuscon in shots 35-23 at the end of the full 60 minutes.

As a result, it went into overtime, but neither team scored the go-ahead goal to pick up a win, so the final result was determined by a shootout. In the first round, neither Pettersson nor Chartier scored. In the second round, Lane Pederson was unable to score, but Alexander True managed to score. In the third round, Jordan Gross got the game-tying score, but the Barracuda broke through when Perron notched the game-tying score to lift his team to a 2-1 victory over Tuscon.

Bibeau earned the Barracuda victory by making 23 saves on 24 shots. Hill made 39 saves on 40 shots in a losing effort for the Roadrunners.

The Barracuda’s three stars of the game were Perron, DeSimone and Gregoire.

The Barracuda continue their homestand with the first of two home-and-home games against the rival San Diego Gulls (26-15-2-3) on Saturday afternoon at 1:05 pm PT.

Wild run over Barracuda in 4-2 win

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By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Barracuda had not seen the Iowa Wild since 2016 and they didn’t care for what they saw on Tuesday evening at SAP Center. Iowa scored three unanswered goals to highlight a 4-2 victory over San Jose. The loss snapped San Jose’s four-game point streak at home.

Iowa (25-16-4-3) drew first blood on the power play more than half way through the first period. Dmitry Sokolov fed a pass over to Louie Belpedio at the left point and he wired a wrist shot top-shelf over the shoulder of Cuda goalie Josef Korenar (16-4-1), who was screened with traffic in front of the crease, for his fifth goal of the season at the 12:19 mark. Michael Kapla received the secondary assist.

The Wild dominated the opening frame as they controlled most of the play and outshot San Jose 12-8.

Iowa doubled its lead in the second period thanks to a failed clearing attempt by the Cuda. Will Bitten intercepted the puck and skated into the slot, where he fed a pass over Gerald Mayhew, who blasted a one-timer past Korenar for his 14th goal of the season at the 8:14 mark.

The Cuda looked shell-shocked after Mayhew’s goal as the Wild kept pouring on and scored 78 seconds later to go up 3-0. Colton Beck cleaned up a rebound on the right side of the net after Korenar initially stopped the shot by Matt Read along the left boards. Beck’s 13th goal of the season came at the 9:32 mark. Kapla received the secondary assist for a two-point evening.

“I think the chances (for Iowa compared to us) were 20-6,” said Cuda head coach Roy Sommer. “You’re going to have games like that. You can’t play .700 hockey all year, it’s pretty tough to do.”

San Jose (26-9-2-4) finally got on the board just over a minute later when Maxim Letunov intercepted a clearing attempt by Iowa and quickly fed a pass over to a wide-open Matt Fonteyne, who buried the puck in the back of the net, beating Wild goalie Kaapo Kahkonen (13-9-4) short side for his fourth goal of the season at the 10:38 mark.

Halfway through the third period, the Cuda had a chance on the power play to bring the deficit to a one-goal game, but Francis Perron had both of his point-blank chances in front of the crease denied by Khakonen.

San Jose seized a bit of momentum in what only took two seconds to cut the lead to 3-2. With Korenar on the bench for an extra attacker with 2:57 remaining in the game, captain John McCarthy won a clean face off inside the Wild zone and the puck trickled out to Nick DeSimone, who rifled a shot top-shelf past Khakonen for his eight goal of the season at the 17:05 mark.

“It’s kind of a set play,” said McCarthy. “Obviously we don’t know where the puck is gonna go after the face off but we were in desperation mode and Desi (DeSimone) got an open look and made a nice shot.”

Mayhew iced the game for the Wild when he intercepted a puck at the point and was able to skate down the right boards and score an empty-netter for his second goal of the night and his 15th goal of the season at the 18:41 mark.

“Most of that game, (for) two periods of the game we were pretty bad,” said DeSimone. “We’re not going to win hockey games when we’re not playing our game for 40 minutes and they’re taking it to us. That’s on us and we know that.”

Khakonen made 24 saves on 26 shots to earn his 13th win of the season. Korenar had a busy night between the pipes as he made 34 saves on 37 shots in suffering the defeat.

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

San Jose is 5-1-0-1 against the Central Division this season and 21-11-2-1 all time.

Jon Martin and Hunter Warner exchanged fisticuffs with each other a minute and half into the third period. Both received fighting majors.

The San Jose Sharks recalled forward Dylan Gambrell on Monday for their four-game road trip that began in Winnipeg tonight. Gambrell currently ranks third on the Barracuda in points (31), goals (11) and assists (17) with San Jose

The announced attendance was 2,534.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda travel down south to take on the red-hot Bakersfield Condors to start a three-game road trip on Friday, February 8 at 7:00 pm at Rabobank Arena.

Sharks Beat Coyotes 3-2 in OT

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks returned from their post-All Star break to beat the Coyotes 3-2 in overtime. Sharks goals came from Kevin Labanc, Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns. Coyotes goals came from Josh Archibald and Conor Garland. Sharks goalie Martin Jones made 31 saves in the win, while Coyotes goalie Darcy Kuemper made 32 saves in the loss.

The first penalty of the game went to San Jose at 3:53, a slashing penalty to Brenden Dillon. The Sharks killed that off efficiently and came out of it with some energy. Offensive pressure from the Sharks produced a Coyotes penalty at 7:30, a holding penalty to Ilya Lyubushkin. The power play did not produce much

In the last three minutes of the first period, Evander Kane had a great chance which he pretty much created with his speed on the way to the net. Kuemper stopped most of the shot but it did slip underneath him. It would have gone in had the goaltender not spun around, spotted the puck and swatted it away.

In the final five seconds of the period, Arizona’s Oliver Ekman-Larsson was called for interference on Joe Pavelski. As a result, the Sharks finished the first and started the second period on a power play.

At the end of the first period, the shot count was 10-8 Sharks.

Tim Heed was carrying the puck out from behind the Sharks net when Christian Fischer came up behind him and knocked the puck off of his stick. The loose puck was snatched up by Conor Garland, who caught Martin Jones out of position for the first goal of the game. That was 9:56 into the second period.

The Sharks responded at 12:09. Kevin Labanc and Joe Thornton converged on the Coyotes net while Marcus Sorensen carried the puck around the boards. Sorensen gave the puck to Brent Burns in the middle of the blue line. Burns took a shot which got to Thornton but did not go in. Labanc found it as it came out on the other side of the goal mouth and knocked it in from a tight angle. Assists went to Thornton and Burns.

They added a second goal just 44 seconds later. Timo Meier attacked the net after Logan Couture poked the puck through the neutral zone for him. Meier’s shot did not go in but Joe Pavelski was a few strides behind Meier and he arrived in position just in time to shoot the rebound in. Assists went to Meier and Couture.

The Coyotes scored under 30 seconds later, but the goal was called back after a standard review for whether or not the net was off its moorings (it was not), followed by a coach’s challenge for goaltender interference. Richard Panik, the shooter, did make significant contact with Jones, pushing him into the net.

Tim Heed was called for holding with just over five minutes to go in the second. The Coyotes had an extended delay on the penalty, before Barclay Goodrow finally blocked a shot and disrupted the unrelenting Arizona possession. The Sharks penalty kill was very aggressive, not giving the Coyotes any time to speak of in the o-zone. At 18:47, Justin Braun was called for holding, and that penalty kill was a little less effective. The Coyotes were able to set up and spend some time on the attack. The power play would carry over into the third period.

The shot count for the second period was dead even at 14 each.

The Sharks killed the rest of that penalty off but at 1:46, Brent Burns was called for high sticking. While he was trying to knock down a high puck, he caught Josh Archibald with the heel of his stick. With all but 40 seconds of that killed off, a line change between Logan Couture and Evander Kane caused a too many men penalty to the Sharks and a brief 5-on-3 power play for Arizona.

As the two man advantage ended, Brent Burns came out of the box at speed and caught a pass for a short-handed breakaway. Not long after, Couture and Hertl had a two on one short handed chance but they didn’t score either.

The ensuing even strength play tilted gradually in Arizona’s direction. Their fourth line finally broke through to tie the game with a goal from Josh Archibald at 7:10. Assists went to Mario Kempe and Lawson Crouse.

Arizona kept the pressure on and the Sharks had their hands full on defense for some shifts. As the period wore on, the game moved faster until the final couple of minutes during which there was so much north-south movement it almost looked like three on three. If that was an attempt to avoid overtime, it failed.

Arizona outshot San Jose in the third 11-9.

To start overtime, the Sharks seemed to have trouble making their passes connect. Luckily for San Jose, the Coyotes did not have much better luck in that regard. Finally, both teams tightened up, but it was San Jose who made it count. Tomas Hertl dropped the puck to Brent Burns, who pulled the puck in to draw the goalie to him, then pushed the puck back out in front of him and put it in the net off the far post. Hertl got an assist on the goal. The time of the goal was 3:14.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic returned to the lineup paired with Tim Heed, while Justin Braun was with Brenden Dillon. Vlasic had 23:59 of ice time, one shot on goal and finished a minus one in the game.

The Sharks will now head out for a four game road trip, starting on Tuesday in Winnipeg against the Jets at 5:00 PM PT.