GAMEDAY: BARRACUDA AT GULLS
Feb 13, 2024
SAN JOSE BARRACUDA (15-22-8-0, 38 pts.) vs. SAN DIEGO GULLS (18-18-7-0, 45 pts.)
WED, FEB. 14 | 7:00 P.M. | Pechanga Arena | San Diego, CA
LISTEN | WATCH | GAME NOTES | MEDIA KIT
Road Return: After a 4-2 win on Saturday night at Tech CU Arena against the Bakersfield Condors, the Barracuda return to the road and kick off a three-game road trip beginning on Wednesday night in San Diego versus the Gulls. The Barracuda are 1-0 against the Anaheim Ducks top affiliate, picking up a 5-4 win in the only meeting in Northern California on Nov. 21. In that game, the Barracuda jumped out to a 5-1 lead before the Gulls scored three times in the final 10 minutes to cut the advantage down to one but failed to level the score. A year ago, the Barracuda went 1-1 versus the Gulls at the Pechanga Arena and 3-1 in four games.
Last Time Out: Nathan Todd notched his first AHL hat trick and the Barracuda got 31 saves from Georgi Romanov en-route to a 4-2 win over the Bakersfield Condors on Saturday night at Tech CU Arena. The Barracuda also got a goal from Jacob Peterson and went three-for-three on the penalty kill in the second game of a road and home with Bakersfield. The Barracuda are now 4-2-1-0 over its last seven after dropping nine in a row.
Oh No, OT: The Barracuda dropped their league-leading eighth overtime game of the season on Friday and have now matched the franchise’s record for OT losses in a campaign, which was set in 2015-16, the club’s inaugural year. Of the eight losses, four of them have come while on the PK. San Diego has the second most overtime defeats this year at seven, and the two clubs have combined to go 1-15 in the extra session this season.
Cuda Check: The Barracuda have tightened up defensively over its last seven games, holding its opponents to three or fewer goals in all seven, and have gone 4-2-1-0 during the stretch.
Lone Star: Shakir Mukhamadullin helped lead Team Pacific to an AHL All-Star Challenge victory last Monday at Tech CU Arena in San Jose. Mukhamadullin, who made his NHL debut on Jan. 27 against Buffalo, has skated in three games with the Sharks this season, recording his first NHL assist on Jan. 31 at Anaheim. Among AHL defenders, the six-foot-four, 190-pounder, who was originally selected by New Jersey in the 2020 NHL Draft (first round, 20th overall), is T-sixth in assists (21), and T-seventh power-play assists (9) and points (26). On Cuda, he is first in power-play assists and power-play points (11), T-third in assists, fifth in scoring, and sixth in shots (77).
Todd’s Time: Forward Nathan Todd notched his first AHL hat trick on Saturday. It was the Barracuda’s first three-goal performance since Ozzy Wiesblatt scored a hat trick at San Diego on April 5, 2023. Since recording just one goal in his first 15 games with SJ, Todd has notched 12 in his last 29 outings and is averaging a point-per-game during that stretch (12+17=29). The Kemptville, Ontario, native is now second on the team in points (34) and shots (102), T-second in goals (13) and power-play goals (3), and T-third in assists (21).
Gull Setting: The Gulls enter Wednesday playing their best hockey of the season. San Diego has won three in a row and are 6-1-1-0 over its last eight and 9-3-2-0 since January 1. The Gulls swept the Calgary Wranglers this past weekend at the Scotiabank Saddledome, scoring 12 goals in the two games. Undrafted rookie netminder Tomas Suchanek has backstopped San Diego to three consecutive wins and has gone 7-0-1 in his last eight games. Suchanek is second in the league in save percentage (.930) and fifth in goals-against average (2.25). The Gulls are ninth in the AHL on the power play (20.4) and T-10th in goals for (3.11) despite averaging a league-low 26.49 shots per game.