GAMEDAY: BARRACUDA AT SILVER KNIGHTS
Feb 1, 2022
SAN JOSE BARRACUDA (14-22-1-0) vs HENDERSON SILVER KNIGHTS (18-12-2-1)
WED., FEB. 2 | 7:00 P.M. | ORLEANS ARENA | LAS VEGAS, NV
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Silver Lining: The Barracuda continue their four-game road trip with the first of two games this week against the Henderson Silver Knights as they look to snap a three-game skid. The Cuda are 1-1 against the Knights so far this season after a two-game set at the SAP Center back on Jan. 7 and 8. The Barracuda fell in the first matchup 5-1 but answered back the following night with a 6-3 win. In the victory, Sasha Chmelevksi notched four points (3+1=4). The Barracuda are 0-4 lifetime at the Orleans Arena in the regular season and 0-6 in Las Vegas all-time between the playoffs and regular season, getting outscored 25-to-nine in the six games, which were all played a season ago.
Monday Blues: The Barracuda drew first blood with their first shot of the game 40 seconds in on Monday at the Toyota Arena, but the Reign would go on to explode for eight goals, three of them coming off the stick of Jaret Anderson-Dolan in an 8-5 win. Jayden Halbgewachs picked up a pair of goals, ending a 10-game goalless drought, while Nick Merkley and Sasha Chmelevski notched a pair of helpers. In total, nine different Reign skaters picked up multiple points, including Sam Fagemo who potted a pair of goals.
Knight Light: The Silver Knights are coming off a 4-0 loss at the hands of the Colorado Eagles on Saturday, the team’s first shutout loss on home ice in franchise history. In the defeat, the Knights mustered just 13 shots, going 0-for-3 on the power-play. The Silver Knights are 10-5-1-0 at home this year, wrapping up a four-game homestand on Thursday against the Barracuda. Henderson is seventh in the AHL in goals-against-per-game (2.76), 11th on the power-play (20.1%), and seventh on the penalty-kill (83.2%).
Sommer Time: On Jan. 8, 2022, head coach Roy Sommer picked up AHL victory #800 with a 6-3 win over the Henderson Silver Knights. The Oakland, Calif., native has been behind the bench for 1,711 games in the AHL, going 803-700-48-160 (W-L-T-OTL/SOL) over that span. During the 2015-16 season, the Barracuda’s first in San Jose, Sommer surpassed Fred “Bun” Cook (636 wins) for the most wins in AHL history, notching a 4-2 victory on Feb. 10, 2016, over Ontario. Sommer collected his 700th win on Dec. 3, 2017, at Bakersfield (2-1 W).
Reeds Rolling: Scott Reedy was held off the scoresheet in the Barracuda’s 8-5 loss to Ontario on Monday but still ranks t-third in the AHL in goals (18), first in power-play goals (10), and first in shooting percentage (31%). In addition, Reedy has skated in his first five games in the NHL this season with the Sharks.
Blichy Boiling: Joachim Blichfeld notched an assist on Monday and now ranks second on the team in points (27), goals (14), power-play goals (5), first in shots (103), and t-first in game-winners (2). The Denmark native is t-seventh in the league in goals (14) and t-sixth in power-play goals (5). Blichfeld, who led the Barracuda a season ago in scoring, is just two tallies shy of his career-high of 16 goals which he set in 2019-20 as a rookie.
Halbs Heatin': Fourth-year pro Jayden Halbgewachs potted a pair of goals on Monday and now has 11 points (4+7=11) in his last 13 games played. Halbgewachs ranks third on the Barracuda in points (25), goals (10), second in assists (15), t-third in power-play goals (4), t-first in power-play assists (9), and third in shots (78). Halbgewachs has also appeared in his first three NHL games this season, collecting an assist in an 8-7 win over the Coyotes on Dec. 29.
Minuteman: After collecting just four goals over his first 21 games this season, John Leonard has scored six times over his last 11 games including a goal on Monday in the Barracuda’s 8-5 loss to the Ontario Reign. Leonard has points in five of his last six games (4+2=6) and now ranks fourth on the team in goals (9), t-third in power-play goals (4), second in shots (96), and t-first in shorthanded goals (2). Two years ago, Leonard led all NCAA skaters in goals scored (25) as a member of the UMass Minutemen.