GAMEDAY: BARRACUDA VS ROADRUNNERS
Mar 23, 2024
SAN JOSE BARRACUDA (19-29-9-2, 47 pts.) vs. TUCSON ROADRUNNERS (35-20-3-2, 75 pts.)
SAT, MAR. 23 | 2:00 P.M. | TECH CU ARENA | SAN JOSE, CA
LISTEN | WATCH | GAME NOTES | MEDIA KIT
Land and Sea: The Barracuda continue their four-game homestand on Saturday afternoon with the first of back-to-back games against the Tucson Roadrunners (Arizona Coyotes). The Barracuda are 1-3 versus the Yotes affiliate this season and 1-1 at Tech CU Arena. After Saturday, SJB has 12 games left in the regular season and four remaining on home ice. In four games against the Roadrunners, the Barracuda are averaging four and a half goals for and six goals against.
Morning Risers: The Barracuda improved to 6-2 lifetime in morning games on Wednesday as they upended the San Diego Gulls, 6-4. In the win, the defensive corps combined four eight points and five different skaters recorded multiple points. In relief, Eetu Makiniemi was perfect in 30:26 of action, stopping all 30 shots he faced, including a career-best 22 in the third period. The Barracuda scored all six of its goals during full strength.
Deep Dive: After dropping the first three meetings of the eight-game season series, the Barracuda are coming off a 6-4 win over the Roadrunners on Jan. 3, 2024 at Tech CU Arena. In the victory, San Jose went two-for-four on the power play and got 31 saves from Magnus Chrona. Seven different Barracuda skaters collected multiple points, including Danil Gushchin who scored a pair of goals and Nathan Todd who led the way with a team-high three points (1+2=3). Shakir Mukhamadullin (2+6=8) and Aku Raty (3+5=8) are leading the way in head-to-head points. In four games, the Barracuda are 40% (6/15) on the power play versus the Roadrunners.
Full Deck: Barracuda rookie forward Ethan Cardwell extended his goal streak to a career-best three games on Wednesday. Among league rookies, he is now T-sixth in goals (18), and T-10th in scoring (34) and shots (130). On the Barracuda, he is first in goals and game-winning goals (3), third in shots, T-third in power-play goals (3), and fifth in points.
Trade Winds: The Barracuda sent forward Jordy Bellerive to the Syracuse Crunch on last Friday for forward Joe Carroll. Carroll, 23, made his Barracuda debut on Sunday in Rockford. Before being dealt, the sophomore forward had 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) through 48 games with the Crunch, including four game-winning goals, three power-play goals, a shorthanded goal, and three shorthanded assists. Carroll was a teammate of new Barracuda defenseman Jack Thompson in Syracuse earlier this year. In addition, he was a teammate of current Barracuda forwards Scott Sabourin and Cole Cassels in Belleville a season ago and Barracuda defenseman Artem Guryev in Peterborough two years ago. Carroll scored his first goal with the Barracuda in his second game on Wednesday.
Adding Akim: The Barracuda signed forward/defenseman Akim Aliu to a PTO on Wednesday. Aliu, 34, last played in 2019-20 with HC Litvinov (Czechia). Over his 11-year-career, the Toronto, Ontario, native has appeared in 245 AHL games with Rockford, Chicago, Peoria, Abbotsford, Hamilton, Hartford, Rochester, Oklahoma City, and Cleveland, totaling 76 points (47+29=76) and 423 penalty minutes. In addition, he has skated in seven games with the Calgary Flames, notching three points (2+1=3), 26 penalty minutes and a plus-one rating.
Running Hot: The Roadrunners enter Saturday sitting in the third spot in the Pacific Division, one point behind the Colorado Eagles. Tucson is 6-2-1-1 over its last 10, but 0-2-0-0 in its last two on the road and 4-4-1-1 over its last 10 on visiting ice. The Roadrunners are coming off a 4-1 loss at Ontario on Wednesday despite outshooting the Reign 33-23. Among AHL freshman, Roadrunners forward Josh Doan is first in goals (25), T-first in power-play goals (9) and game-winning goals (8), third in points (45), and fourth in shots (145). Among league-leaders, he is first in game-winners, T-fourth in goals, and sixth in power-play goals.