BARRACUDA UNDONE IN SECOND, FALL TO KNIGHTS 7-3

Jan 29, 2021

Las Vegas, NV - The San Jose Barracuda (2-2-0-1) continued exhibition play on Friday in Las Vegas, taking on the Henderson Silver Knights (1-0-0-0) in the first-ever meeting between the teams. After jumping out to an early lead, the Barracuda allowed five goals in the second period, eventually falling 7-3.

 

In the loss, Zachary Sawchenko allowed six goals on 25 shots in his season debut. On the other side, Logan Thompson faced 35 shots, allowing three goals en-route to the win.

 

In the first, Henderson’s Jimmy Schuldt was called for tripping at 4:27, and on the ensuing power-play, Rudolf Balcers would

find Alex True (1) in front of the net for a tap-in goal. The Barracuda would

hold their lead until the 19:06 mark, that’s when Reid Duke (1) took advantage of a fortuitous bounce in front, ripping home the equalizer, also on the power-play. The shots would read 10-9 in favor of Henderson after 20 minutes, with each team cashing in on their lone power-play.

 

In the second, the Silver Knights would explode with five goals to grab a 6-1 lead. Those five goals would come on just 11 shots. Dylan Sikura (1) began the onslaught at 6:42 on the power-play, sniping a cross-ice pass, top-shelf, short-side. Then Ben Jones (1) would carry the puck up ice on a two-on-one after a defensive zone faceoff win, and beat Sawchenko low and on the far side at 8:16. Less than two minutes later, Zach Hayes (1) would fire one in from the left point at 9:54, extending the lead to 4-1. 2020 AHL All-Star, Lukas Elvenes (1) would rip a low shot through the five-hole of San Jose’s netminder at 11:32 on the man-advantage and then Former Shark’ prospect Danny O’Regan (1) completed the five-goal period at 15:35.

 

In the third, the Barracuda pushed back, outshooting Henderson 18-to-five and Ryan Merkley (1) finally stopped the bleeding as he jumped down to the slot from the right point and sniped a shot top shelf past Thompson at 13:35. At 15:08, Zach Gallant (1) would dangle his way past a pair of Knights in between the hashes, before beating Thompson on a forehand-backhand move. Unfortunately, after cutting the lead down to 6-3, it was too little too late and Brayden Pachal wiped out any comeback hopes with an empty-netter at 19:39.

 

The Barracuda are backin action on Saturday in Las Vegas, as they square off with the Silver Knights again. Nick Nollenberger will have the preseason radio call from Sin City

starting at 6:30 at SJSharks.com/listen, SJBarracuda.com/listen, and on the

Sharks+SAP Center App.