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Barracuda excellent in October

The month of October was good for the San Jose Barracuda. The team finished the month with a 6-2-0 record. Good enough for second place in the Pacific Division. It’s a huge difference compared to last season when the Barracuda finished the season in last place.

The good news for fans is that the Cuda aren’t just winning; they are winning decisively. The team has averaged more than four goals per game through the month of October and have only given up 13 goals. That plus-22 goal differential was the best in the AHL in October. It led to the Barracuda’s Collin Graf winning Rookie of the Month honors and goaltender Yaroslav Askarov winning Goaltender of the Month honors.

Askarov’s strong opening month in San Jose

The Barracuda have not had a goaltender like Askarov in quite some time. The 22-year-old introduced himself to Sharks’ fans with back-to-back shutouts to start the season. He led the Barracuda to a 5-0 win over the Ontario Reign on Oct. 12 and then returned to the net on Oct. 19 to help the team to a 5-0 win over the Iowa Wild. Askarov’s shutout streak ended 151 minutes and 53 seconds into the season.

While Askarov’s play has come back to earth since the hot start, he finished the month of October with a 5-0-0 record, a 1.20 goals against average and a .959 save percentage. He is among the top ten in the league in goals against average and save percentage.

Collin Graf making a case to return to the Sharks

The forward group for the Sharks is crowded, so it’s hard to see Graf getting called up anytime soon, but he’s certainly making it hard for the coaching staff to ignore him. The forward scored on opening night for the Barracuda and registered points in all seven of the Barracuda’s games in October.

Graf finished October with three goals and seven assists, including the game-winning goal on Oct. 30 in the 5-1 victory over Coachella Valley. Graf is currently fourth in the league in scoring and is averaging more than a point per game.

While Ethan Cardwell and Danil Gushchin were getting the first callups, looking at the stats, Graf may be the next in line.

Young guns

Graf isn’t the only rookie that’s making an impact on the team. The Barracuda are stacked with young players playing their first year of professional hockey. Filip Bystedt, Luca Cagnoni, Donavan Houle, Kasper Halttunen, Jake Furlong, Lucas Vanroboys, Braden Hache, Luke Grainger and Mitchell Russell are all rookies as well this season.

Both Bystedt and Cagnoni have had the strongest starts to the season behind Graf. Bystedt had seven points in seven games this October. Cagnoni, meanwhile, had eight points in seven games.

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