Barracuda rally for wild road win over Gulls

San Jose Barracuda forward Jeremy Langlois, who had three goals in his last four games, scored the lone shootout goal in the bottom of the third round to give the Barracuda a 4-3 come from behind victory over the San Diego Gulls (AHL affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks) Friday night at the Valley View Casino Center.

Langlois’ goal came after a controversial overtime session that saw Barracuda defenseman Joakim Ryan score what appeared to be his first professional and game-winning-goal just 65-seconds into the extra frame but referee Jamie Koharski waived the goal off.

The Barracuda, who beat the Gulls for the first time this season, got regulation goals from forwards Barclay Goodrow, Bryan Lerg and Scott Timmins, who scored the tying goal with just 24-seconds left in the third period. In addition, Barracuda goaltender Troy Grosenick picked up his first win of the season by making 27-saves, stopping a penalty shot in overtime and going 3-for-3 in the shootout.

Though the Barracuda skated away with a hard fought two points, they surrendered the game’s first goal for the fifth time in their last seven games as Gulls forward Nick Ritchie, who was left all alone on top of the crease, fired the puck past Grosenick from point blank range for his ninth goal of the season just 1:48 into the game.

On a power play opportunity at the midway point of the period, the Gulls extended their lead to 2-0 at 11:04 when after hemming the Barracuda penalty killers in their own zone, Gulls defenseman Brandon Montour fired a wrist shot from the right point that forward Chris Mueller redirected in front for his second goal of the season. Grosenick appeared to have made the save but the puck trickled in over the line.

Goodrow got the Barracuda on the scoreboard at 7:43 of the second period when he buried home a rebound past Gibson after Langlois’ shot from on top of the left circle was stopped. Barracuda defenseman Mark Cundari had the secondary assists on the goal, which was Goodrow’s second of the season.

Lerg tied the game at 11:15 with a power goal that saw him take a stretch pass from defenseman Dylan DeMelo, skate into the Gulls zone along the left side, cut across the left circle and fire a backhanded shot from in front of the hash marks in the slot past Gibson for his team leading fifth goal of the season.

After assessing the Gulls five consecutive minor penalties over a 13-and-a-half minute span in the second period, Koharski assessed the Barracuda three consecutive minor penalties in a six minute span of the third period which resulted in the Gulls scoring the go-ahead goal at 13:45 as forward Nic Kerdiles deflected in Montour’s snap shot from the center point near the blue line.

With Grosenick pulled for the extra attacker, Barracuda forward Ryan Carpenter’s backhanded shot in the slot was blocked by Gulls defenseman Stu Bickel but the puck bounced right to the stick of Timmins, who was positioned at the right side of the crease and fired the puck into an open net for his third goal of the season.

In overtime, the Barracuda thought they had won the game when Ryan beat Gibson with a missile of a shot from the top of the right slot but Koharski immediately waived the goal off as he ruled that Carpenter made contact with Gibson when screening him.

Just 18-seconds later, Montour was awarded a penalty shot after being taken down by Ryan but Grosenick made a sprawled out pad save to keep the puck from crossing the goal line.

In the shootout, the Gulls elected to go first and after Grosenick stopped all three Gulls shooters, Langlois won the game with a quick shot from the hash marks that beat Gibson for the winning goal.

NOTES… Shots on goal were 30-30… The Barracuda went 1-for-5 on the power play and 5-for-7 on the penalty kill… Grosenick is now 1-3-1 with a 3.12 goals-against-average and .902 save percentage… Langlois had a game high six shots on goal and had the secondary assist on Timmins’ goal… Lerg extended his point streak to five games (4-2-6)… Earlier in the week, the Barracuda signed forwards Alex Gallant and Greger Hansen to PTO’s while recalling forward Daniel Doremus from the Allen Americans of the ECHL in exchange for forward Vincent Arseneau… Gallant, Hansen and Doremus all made their season debut for the Barracuda… This was the first AHL game for Gallant… The Barracuda are 1-2-1 against the Gulls this season, 3-2-0 on the road and 4-6-1 with nine points overall… The Barracuda and Gulls will rematch each other Saturday night at 7:05 p.m/pt.

THREE STARS
1. Jeremy Langlois – Barracuda (0-2-2, Shootout GWG)
2. Brandon Montour – Gulls (0-2-2)
3. Scott Timmins – Barracuda (1-0-1)

LINES
Lerg (C) / Carpenter / Langlois
Goodrow / Timmins / Parkes
Jevpalovs / McCarthy (A) / Hanson
Gallant / Doremus / Emanuelsson

DEFENSE
Stollery / DeMelo (A)
Young / Ryan
Cundari / McNally

GOALIES
Grosenick
Dell

SCRATCHES
Bergman
Crane
McLaren (inj)