GAMEDAY: BARRACUDA VS HEAT (12-26-16)
Dec 26, 2016
Game #23 – San Jose (12-6-1-3) vs. Stockton (16-7-1-1)
Monday, December 26, 2016
5:00 PM PST, SAP Center, San Jose, Calif.
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Tonight’s Matchup: The San Jose Barracuda are riding a season-long five-game point streak as they welcome the first-place Stockton Heat to SAP Center for the third time this season. The Barracuda beat Stockton in the final game before the Christmas break, 6-3, and now have points in nine of their last ten games and currently hold the fourth and final playoff spot in the Pacific Division.
Last Monday’s loss for Stockton snapped a three-game winning streak for the Heat and was their first defeat against their northern California counterpart. San Jose is 1-2 against the Calgary Flames affiliate this season and 10-3-1-1 all-time and 7-1-0-0 at home.
Top Of The Class: The San Jose Barracuda rank second in the AHL on both the power play (26.5%) and penalty kill (86.7%). San Jose has allowed just two goals on their last 35 PK’s and is six for their last nine on the power play. Adam Helewka and Tim Heed lead the team with four power-play goals each.
Dazzling Danny: Since Danny O’Regan made his NHL debut on Nov. 21 versus New Jersey, he has found the scoresheet in 10 of his last 11 games and continues to pace the Barracuda in points (7+20=27). O’Regan ranks first in the AHL in points among rookies and eighth among AHL skaters. The center-man had three assists in San Jose’s 6-3 win over Stockton last Tuesday and is now riding a five-game point streak (0+9=9) from Dec. 10 to now. The former Boston University product is first on the Barracuda in points, first in assists, second in plus/minus, and third in goals. O’Regan had a five-game point streak from Nov. 22 to Dec. 4 (2+5=7).
Feed Heed: Tim Heed recorded his third three-point game last Tuesday against Stockton and is now riding an AHL career-long five-game point streak (2+7=9) from Dec. 10 to now. Heed is fourth in the AHL in points (7+16=23) among d-men and the first year American Leaguer is second on the Barracuda in points, second in assists, T-second goals and is first in plus/minus (+10).
Red-Hot Rebel: Former Red Deer Rebels forward Adam Helewka is firing on all cylinders after suffering a lower-body injury in training camp. The Burnaby, BC, native has scored four goals in his last three games and now has 10 points (7+3=10) in just 12 games. Helewka is T-first in the AHL in shooting percentage at 35.0% (7/20) and T-first on the Barracuda in power-play goals (4).
Last Time Out: Tim Heed and Danny O'Regan each had three points and extended their point streaks to five games as the San Jose Barracuda topped the Stockton Heat, 6-3, on Tuesday afternoon at SAP Center. Adam Helewka (7) continued his tear as the rookie forward netted his fourth goal in his last three games to get San Jose on the board in the first. Helewka was able to sneak behind the Heat defense before going top-shelf far side at 3:58 on the team's first shot. Nikolay Goldobin (4) made it 2-0 Barracuda on a five-on-three power play as he swiped a loose puck past Jon Gillies from the left side of the net at 13:38 after Heed's shot was blocked and deflected to Goldobin. Stockton cut into San Jose's advantage with less than a minute left in the first. Hunter Shinkaruk fired a shot from the right wing on the rush and Brandon Bollig guided the rebound into the open net at 19:08. In the second, O'Regan backhanded a perfect pass to John McCarthy (5) on the penalty kill and McCarthy steered the puck past Gillies for his second shorthanded goal of the year at 4:53. Mike Angelidis (4) cut San Jose's lead back to one after banging a rebound past Mantas Armalis at 7:27. Barclay Goodrow (9) pushed the lead back up to a pair at 19:39 as the power-forward powered his way to the net from along the goal line and slid the puck through the five-hole of Gillies to make it 4-2 after two. Matt Frattin gave Stockton hope with a tape-to-tape pass from the point to Mike Jankowski (6) who tipped the puck short side to make it 4-3 at 12:18. But San Jose negated any Heat comeback hopes when Heed sniped a two-on-one pass short-side top shelf (7) on the power play, and then Ryan Carpenter (4) muscled in an empty netter to seal San Jose's first win over the first-place Heat, 6-3. Gillies (9-4-2) suffered the loss after allowing five goals on 44 shots and Mantas Armalis (6-2-2) earned the win in his first start since Dec. 8.