San Jose Barracuda Enact Revenge Against The Reign
The San Jose Barracuda did not have a good week on the ice to conclude October as they lost a pair of games to the San Diego Gulls, affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks, and once to the Ontario Reign, affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings. The final two losses to the Gulls and Reign happened on back-to-back nights in which the Barracuda were shut out by identical 3-0 scorelines.
However, San Jose was able to enact a little revenge against Ontario this past week as the Barracuda were able to record their first home win as a franchise at SAP Center with a 4-2 victory over the Reign on Nov. 1. The win evened San Jose’s record at 3-3-0-1 (seven points), while handing Ontario their first loss of the season.
It was a banner day for a pair of former first-round picks for the San Jose Sharks as Mirco Mueller (2013) and Nikolay Goldobin (2014) each recorded their first goals of the season. John McCarthy and Jeremy Langlois found the back of the net for a Barracuda team that snapped a scoreless streak of more than 164 minutes.
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For Sharks fans, it’s great to see players such as Mueller and Goldobin make an impact in this game. Both of these players are definite building blocks for the future of this franchise, and their development is one of the key things that needs to happen with the Barracuda this year. Mueller has posted one goal and one assist (plus-one rating) through four games thus far, while Goldobin has registered one goal and one assist (minus-three rating) in five games to date. Their situation will be one to monitor over the course of the season as the organization and the fans want to see improvement in their games.
In goal, it was Aaron Dell who got the win, his third of the season. Dell has outperformed Troy Grosenick to this point, posting a 3-1-0 record with 2.16 goals-against-average (GAA) and a .930 save percetange, while Grosenick has an 0-2-1 record with a 2.90 GAA and a.917 save percentage.
I think Grosenick has the better long-term potential, but right now and even last season, it’s been Dell who has produced the better results on the ice.
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The Barracuda return to action this week with back-to-back home games against the Gulls and the Bakersfield Condors (Edmonton Oilers) over the weekend. The game against San Diego takes place at 1:15 p.m. on Nov. 7 before the Sharks host the Ducks later that night so head out to SAP Center for a full day of hockey in the South Bay.