GAMEDAY: BARRACUDA AT REIGN
Dec 5, 2019
SAN JOSE BARRACUDA (7-11-0-1) vs ONTARIO REIGN (10-10-2-0)
FRIDAY, DEC. 6 | 7:00 P.M. | TOYOTA ARENA | ONTARIO, CA
LISTEN | WATCH | GAME NOTES | BIOS
Tonight’s Matchup: On Friday, the Barracuda square off with the Ontario Reign (Los Angeles Kings) for the third time this season and the first of two games on the weekend at the Toyota Arena. The Barracuda are 0-2 against Ontario this year and have been outscored 10-2 in the two games.
Last Time Out: The Barracuda jumped out to a 2-0 lead against the Bakersfield Condors after goals by Sasha Chmelevski and Joel Kellman before the Condors answered with two unanswered from Dimitri Samorukov and Ryan McLeod in the second period. In the third, Evan Weinger made it back-to-back games with a goal before William Lagesson tied it at 3-3 and Cooper Marody gave Bako a 4-3 lead, an advantage they'd not give up. Stuart Skinner made 34 saves in the win for the Condors.
About Ontario: The Reign enter Friday sitting at the third spot in the Pacific Division after a 3-2 win at Stockton on Wednesday night. Much like the Barracuda, the month of November was not kind to Ontario who went just 4-9-1 in November, had a six-game losing skid and scored a goal or less five separate times, including being shut out twice. The Reign are averaging a league-high 19 penalty minutes per-game and rank 28th in goals-per-game and 10th in goals-against-per-game.
Blichfeld Beasting: Rookie forward Joachim Blichfeld leads the Barracuda in goals (7), ranks second in points (13) and is T-first in power-play goals (3). Among AHL rookies, Blichfeld is 12th in scoring, T-sixth in goals and T-third in power-play goals. Last year, Blichfeld led the WHL in scoring (53 goals, 61 assists) and was named the WHL Player of the Year (Four Broncos Trophy) as a member of the Portland Winterhawks. The Sharks selected the Denmark native with the second-to-last pick (210th) in the 2016 draft.
Maxed Out: Sophomore forward Max Letunov extended his point streak (one goal, eight assists) to a career-high six games on Friday and now leads the Barracuda in points (15) and co-leads the team with three power-play goals. The Sharks originally acquired Letunov from the Arizona Coyotes in a draft-day trade in 2016.
Excellent Evan: California native and second-year-pro Evan Weinger has goals in back-to-back games and points in three straight and six of his last seven. Weinger is T-fourth in the AHL in shooting percentage (6/18 = 33.3%) and is now second on the Barracuda in goals.
Youth Movement: The Barracuda are the AHL’s youngest roster with an average age of 22.79-years-old. No other team in the league is under 23-years-old. In fact, six players on the 'Cuda roster are 21-years-old or younger, including two players under 21 (Sasha Chmelevski [20] and Ivan Chekhovich [20]).