San Jose Barracuda Fighting For Their Playoff Lives
San Jose was unfortunate to split a pair of games against San Diego after having a pair of goals disallowed on Sunday.
It looks like it’s going to come right down to the wire for the San Jose Barracuda and whether they will be able to qualify for the Calder Cup playoffs. With eight games remaining in their inaugural campaign, San Jose finds themselves on the outside looking as they trail the Charlotte Checkers by the slimmest of margins for the final postseason spot.
As it currently stands, the Barracuda trail the Checkers by .001 in the points percentage column as the two teams will continue to duke it out down the stretch.
San Jose got off to a great start last week as they blanked their division rivals in the San Diego Gulls, top affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks, by a 3-0 final on Saturday night.
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Nikolay Goldobin opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the first which turned out to be the game-winning tally in this one. He snapped home his 17th goal of the season which ties him with Bryan Lerg and Barclay Goodrow.
Speaking of Lerg, the captain had three assists in this one after picking up helpers on third-period goals from rookie Joakim Ryan and Trevor Parkes. Aaron Dell was solid in nets, making 26 saves in recording his 14th victory of the season and second shutout.
One day later, the same two teams were back at it and some unfortunate calls went against San Jose in their 3-1 defeat at the hands of San Diego.
The Gulls were able to get on the board first following a Dell misplay as San Diego was the much better outfit in the opening 20 minutes, outshooting the Barracuda by an 11-5 margin.
The first of two disallowed goals would occur in the second when Lerg’s potential game-tying goal was waived off at it was deemed he knocked the puck past Anton Khudobin with his glove. Of course, the Gulls would double their advantage just a few minutes later.
However, Ryan Carpenter would get the Barracuda on the board after a nice bounce back period from San Jose who outshot San Diego by a 19-4 margin.
In the third, the Barracuda had their second, game-tying goal disallowed as Goldobin’s second goal in as many games was waived off after incidental contact with the goaltender. Upon review, it was clear this was a blown call as Jeremy Morin made no contact whatsoever with Khudobin.
An empty-net goal from the Gulls would seal the deal as the Barracuda were robbed of at least a point after dominating the last 40 minutes of this contest.
Next: Couture's Hat Trick Leads Sharks Past Canucks
San Jose now faces a key three-game stretch this week as they take on the division-leading Ontario Reign, top affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings, tonight at SAP Center before heading out for a pair of road games over the weekend.
The Barracuda will travel to Bakersfield on Friday night to take on the Condors, top affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers, before wrapping up the week in San Diego with another matchup against the Gulls as San Jose needs every point they can get at this point in the season.