San Jose Barracuda Bow Out In Four Games

San Jose’s inaugural season comes to an end following their Game 4 defeat against Ontario.

The San Jose Barracuda couldn’t follow in the footsteps of their parent club, the San Jose Sharks. After the Sharks dispatched the Kings in five games, the Barracuda were hoping to pull off an upset of their own against L.A.’s top affiliate, the Ontario Reign.

Unfortunately, it would not be the case as the Reign would end the Barracuda’s season after defeating San Jose by a 4-1 margin in Game 4 to take the series three games to one.

The Barracuda were simply no match for the Reign once things shifted to Southern California as San Jose struggled to generate any sort of consistent offense, being outshot 35-19 in the Game 4 after registering just 15 in their Game 3 defeat.

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San Jose found themselves behind once again as Nic Dowd scored his second goal of the series, depositing a rebound past Aaron Dell midway through the first to give the home team a 1-0 advantage.

In the middle frame, the Barracuda were able to knot things up at one as Jeremy Langlois scored his first goal of the playoffs, deflecting home a Barclay Goodrow attempt past Peter Budaj who shut the door from that point on.

However, more than three minutes later, the Reign would score the eventual game-winning goal as Justin Auger snuck one past a screened Dell.

Ontario would add two more goals in the final frame as San Jose tried to tie things up, but it wasn’t meant to be as the Barracuda were eliminated from the Calder Cup playoffs.

Speaking of Dell, you have to feel for him since he was simply under siege as the Reign peppered him with shot after shot. For the most part, he stood his ground with a 2.59 GAA and a .932 save percentage over the course of the four-game series.

While it’s always tough to be eliminated, the Barracuda did some good things in their first year. Nikolay Goldobin showed flashes of his offensive potential, but he will need to become more consistent to get more looks at the NHL level.

Also, San Jose made the smooth transition to the Bay Area, and it definitely appeared to give a boost to the Sharks whenever they needed to call someone up from the AHL.

Next: Sharks Protect Home Ice, Scoring A 3-2 Win In Game 2

All-in-all, not a bad first season for the Barracuda who will look to build upon their inaugural season by the Bay.

They’ve got some young pieces, including Kevin Labanc and Rourke Chartier who were signed before Game 4, that should excite fans moving forward. They have to become more dynamic up front and on the blue line, but the Barracuda were a success this year despite the playoff exit.

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