The San Jose Barracuda tried to see head coach Roy Sommer tie the AHL record with 636 wins this past week, but unfortunately, the Barracuda saw their nine-game point streak snapped on Monday night.
San Jose hosted the Bakersfield Condors, top affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers, but it was the Condors who jumped out to a 5-1 lead en route to a 5-3 victory to end their extended point streak.
Despite outshooting Bakersfield by a 45-27 margin, it was a rough night all-around for San Jose. Goaltender Troy Grosenick got the start but was pulled less than seven minutes into the contest after surrendering three goals on six shots.
After Ryan Carpenter’s seventh of the season grabbed one back for the home team, the Condors would answer with two of their own to build a four-goal lead early in the third period. Karl Stollery (fourth goal of the year) and Bryan Lerg (10th of the season) would make the game a little more interesting, but ultimately, the early deficit proved too much to overcome as the Barracuda’s impressive nine-game point streak came to an end.
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San Jose began the week by wrapping up a three-game road trip with back-to-back games against the Rockford IceHogs, top affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks, and the Iowa Wild, top affiliate of the Minnesota Wild, on Jan. 15 and 16th. Raffi Torres made his debut in these two games as he works himself back into game shape after suspension and injury.
Sommer notched his 635th career victory in the AHL as the Barracuda notched a 5-2 victory over the IceHogs. Grosenick was much better in this one as he made 33 saves in recording his 10th victory of the season.
San Jose found themselves behind 1-0 early, but goals from Petter Emanuelsson and Lerg flipped the script in favor of the Barracuda after one period of play. After Rockford tied the game just over a minute into the second, it was all San Jose the rest of the way.
The Barracuda used goals from Trevor Parkes (sixth goal), Micheal Haley (12th) and Jeremy Langlois (eighth) to cruise to a convincing road victory over the top team in the Western Conference of the AHL.
One night later, San Jose was on the wrong end of a 2-1 overtime loss in Iowa as the Barracuda missed their first opportunity to have Sommer tie the all-time AHL wins record. Aaron Dell was fantastic between the pipes and a tough-luck loser in this one after making 45 saves in defeat.
Parkes’ seventh goal of the season gave the Barracuda a 1-0 advantage, but the Wild evened things up in the third period before ultimately securing the two points in overtime.
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With their recent run of really strong play, San Jose continues to hold steady in second place within the Pacific Division. Through 36 games, the Barracuda sport an 18-11-4-3 record with 43 points and a points percentage of .597.
San Jose returns to the ice with a home-and-home series against the division-leading Ontario Reign, top affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings, on Friday and Saturday night. This will provide a nice barometer for the Barracuda to see if they can challenge for the top honors in the Pacific.