Wrapping up a home-and-home weekend set against the Pacific Division leading Ontario Reign (AHL affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings), the San Jose Barracuda saw their losing streak reach a season high four games with a 2-1 loss to the Reign at the SAP Center on Saturday night.
The Barracuda, who remain in second place of the division despite the losing streak, had their lone goal scored by forward Trevor Parkes while goaltender Troy Grosenick made 23-saves in net.
In a high scoring first period, the Reign took a 1-0 lead at 12:31 when defenseman Kurtis MacDermid, fresh off his 12-game suspension, beat Grosenick with a drifting seeing-eye shot from the left point that got through traffic in front and went in off the post for his third goal of the season.
Off a give-and-go in the left circle with linemate Bryan Lerg, Parkes pulled the Barracuda even at 16:52 with his ninth goal of the season that saw Parkes beat Reign goaltender Peter Budaj through the wickets with a quick shot from point blank range after displaying some nice stick-handling through the Reign defense.
With just 49-seconds left in the period, Reign forward Sean Backman finished off a Reign odd man rush with a redirect of a cross zone pass from the left side by linemate Michael Mersch for his 10th goal of the season, which held up as the winning goal.
After putting 11-shots on goal in the first period, the Barracuda only managed eight more shots on goal over the next 40-minutes and were out-shot 10-2 in the third period.
NOTES… Shots on goal were 25-19 in favor of the Reign… The Barracuda went 0-for-3 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill… Grosenick is now 10-5-3 with a 3.00 goals-against-average and .902 save percentage… The Barracuda wore a special camouflage jersey for Military Appreciation Night… Prior to the game, the Barracuda introduced their new mascot named Frenzy… Parkes (4-3-7) and Lerg (2-5-7) each have five game point streaks while forward Jeremy Langlois (0-2-2), who had the secondary assist on Parkes’ goal, has a two game point streak… The Barracuda fell to 10-9-2 at SAP Center and 18-12-8 with 44 points overall… The Barracuda are back in action Jan. 27 when they travel to play the Texas Stars with puck drop scheduled for 5:30 p.m/pt.
THREE STARS
1. Sean Backman – Reign (1-0-1, GWG)
2. Nic Dowd – Reign (0-2-2)
3. Trevor Parkes – Barracuda (1-0-1)
LINES
*In order of appearance*
Goodrow / Carpenter / Emanuelsson
Lerg (C) / Langlois / Parkes
Smith / Timmins / Goldobin
McCarthy (A) / Jevpalovs / Haley (A)
DEFENSE
*In order of appearance*
Young / Ryan
Stollery / Bergman
Cundari / Mueller
GOALIES
Grosenick
Dell
SCRATCHES
Doremus
Gallant
McNally
Torres
McLaren (inj)
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