GAMEDAY: BARRACUDA AT EAGLES
Feb 8, 2020
SAN JOSE BARRACUDA (14-25-1-2) vs COLORADO EAGLES (25-14-3-1)
SATURDAY, FEB. 8 | 6:05 P.M. | BUDWEISER EVENTS CENTER | LOVELAND, CO
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Sky-High in Colorado: On Saturday, the Barracuda drop the puck on the second of two games in Colorado over the weekend against the Eagles (Colorado Avalanche). The Barracuda boast a 3-3 record against the Avs affiliate this year and a 1-2 mark at Colorado.
Last Time Out: On Friday, AJ Greer potted a pair of goals and added an assist while Hunter Miska made 31 saves on 32 shots to propel the Eagles to a 5-1 win over the Barracuda. Noah Gregor scored the Barracuda’s only goal, snapping a six-game goalless drought.
Scouting Report: The Eagles enter Saturday riding a three-game winning streak and now sit just four points behind the top-seeded Tucson Roadrunners with a game in hand. Colorado is the AHL’s best first-period team (+16) and have the third-best winning percentage in the AHL when scoring the games’ first goal (23-4-2-0 = .827). In addition, since mid-December, the Eagles have gone 15-4-1 over their last 20 games.
Showtime: Maxim Letunov and Alexander True each made their NHL debuts on Tuesday in Calgary, helping aid the Sharks to a 3-1 win. On Thursday, Letunov netted his first NHL goal and True recorded his first NHL assist in a 6-3 win over Edmonton. Prior to his recall, Letunov was pacing the Barracuda in points (30), assists (20) and tied for first in power-play goals (4). True ranks second all-time in scoring for the Barracuda (108), goals (50), fourth in assists (58) and fourth in games played (176).
Flipin’ the Switch: On Thursday, the Barracuda recalled forward Artem Ivanyuzhenkov from the Norfolk Admirals and reassigned goaltender Andrew Shortridge to the Allen Americans. In 17 games with Ads, Artem collected seven points (four goals, three assists) and 11 penalty minutes. And then on Friday, the Sharks assigned forward Antti Suomela to the Barracuda after a two and a half month stint in the NHL.
Home-Sweet-Home: The San Jose City Council unanimously approved a 200,000 square-foot expansion of Solar4America Ice at San Jose last Tuesday, which will add two additional recreational ice sheets to the facility, increasing the building’s total ice sheets to six. The expansion will make S4A Ice at San Jose the largest ice facility under one roof west of the Mississippi River. One of the additional ice sheets will be located inside a 4,200-seat, two-story spectator arena which will serve as the new home for the San Jose Barracuda. Construction for the facility is expected to begin in April 2020, with a targeted completion date of April 2022.
Youth Movement: The Barracuda enter Friday as the AHL’s youngest roster with an average age of 22.50-years-old. In fact, eight players on the 'Cuda roster are 21-years-old or younger, including 20-year-old Sasha Chmelevksi.