GAMEDAY: BARRACUDA VS HEAT (1-14-17)
Jan 14, 2017
Game #31 – San Jose Barracuda (17-9-1-3) vs. Stockton Heat (18-11-3-1)
Saturday, January 14, 2017
1:30 PM PST, SAP Center, San Jose, Calif.
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Afternoon Matchup: The San Jose Barracuda and Stockton Heat dance for the fifth time this season and fourth time at SAP. The Barracuda are coming off back-to-back wins over the Heat on home ice after beginning the season 0-2 against their Northern California rival. In 2015-16, the Barracuda went 9-1-1-1 against the Heat and a perfect 6-0 on home ice. The Heat are just 3-5-2 in their last ten games and are coming off consecutive losses.
Top Of The Class: Despite giving up a power play and shorthanded goal on Friday, the San Jose Barracuda still sit atop the AHL on the penalty kill (88.7%) and rank third in the league on the power play (26.8%).
O’Regan Rolling: Amongst AHL rookies, Forward Danny O'Regan ranks second in points (34), first in assists (22) and sixth in goals (11). He is eighth in the league overall in points and seventh in assists. He also ranks first on the Barracuda in points, first in assists and T-first in goals. O’Regan is riding his third five-game point streak (2+3=5) of the season from Dec. 31 to now.
Heed Check: Tim Heed made his NHL debut for the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night in Calgary. In his first NHL game, Heed logged 16 minutes and 29 seconds and registered one shot. Despite his recall, the blueliner is still ranked second in the league among defensemen in points (31) and T-second in assists (22). He is also fourth in goals (9), T-first in power play goals (6), and T-first in game-winning goals (3) among d-men. Heed is second on the Barracuda in points, second in assists, T-third in goals, first in power play goals and T-first in game-winning goals and is riding a five-game point streak (2+3=8) from Dec. 28 to now and has points in 10 of his last 11 games (4+13=17).
Ryan Rocking: Second-year pro Joakim Ryan has points in five-straight games (2+5=7), which matches a career long he set last season. Through just 30 games, Ryan is nearly on pace to double his points from last year and has already doubled his goals after scoring just twice last season. Ryan has five goals, and 16 assists through 29 games after totaling two goals and 26 assists in 66 games last season.
San Jose's Last Time Out: Sam Herr (4) and Sean Backman (7), on the power play, each scored in the first period, and the Barracuda never could recover, falling to the Ontario Reign, 3-2, at SAP on Friday night with first place at stake. The real dagger came in the second period after Nikita Jevpalovs (4) had cut the lead down to one, Justin Auger snuck behind the Barracuda defense and beat Troy Grosenick shorthanded to make it 3-1. Nikolay Goldobin cashed in on the power play in the second, but Jack Campbell made 35 saves to earn Ontario the win.
Stockton’s Last Time Out: The Bakersfield Condors and Stockon Heat exchanged their first four goals before Bakersfield scored three unanswered to roll to a 5-2 win on Friday night at Rabobank Arena. Anton Lander (11, 12, 13) netted a hat trick in the victory for the Condors and Griffin Reinhart (2) and Joey LaLeggia (5) also tallied in the the victory. Morgan Klimchuck (12) and Jamie Devane (4) scored for the Heat in defeat. David Rittich suffered the loss after allowing five goals on 34 shots, while Nick Ellis made 30 saves en route to the win.