Looking to extend their winning streak to three games by sweeping a two game weekend set, the San Jose Barracuda out-shot the Texas Stars (AHL affiliate of the Dallas Stars) 35-28 but were defeated 3-2 in front of 3.056 fans Sunday evening at the SAP Center.
Forward Trevor Parkes and defenseman Gus Young scored for the Barracuda, who fell below .500 with the loss (7-8-3) and to 2-5-1 on home ice, while goaltender Troy Grosenick made 25 saves in net in his third consecutive start.
The Barracuda found themselves down a goal just 45-seconds into the game when Texas forward Curtis McKenzie had his no look backhanded centering feed from behind the net deflect in off the left skate of Barracuda defenseman Dylan DeMelo for his first goal of the season. McKenzie’s goal marked the 11th time this season the Barracuda surrendered the game’s first goal.
10-minutes later at 10:52, McKenzie was awarded a penalty shot after being taken down from behind by Barracuda defenseman Julius Bergman but Grosenick made a blocker save. Four minutes later at 14:53, Barracuda forward Jeremy Langlois had a chance to pull the Barracuda even with his penalty shot but Texas goaltender John Muse made the save.
Parkes got the equalizing goal for the Barracuda at 10:00 of the second period with his third goal of the season off the second tip on top of the crease of defenseman Joakim Ryan’s drifting snap shot from the left point. Parkes’ linemate Scott Timmins got the primary assist with the first deflection in front.
The game didn’t stay tied for long as Texas scored two goals in a 15-second span to take a 3-1 lead, starting with forward Radek Faksa’s fourth goal of of the season off a breakaway at 13:16 set up by a turnover at the Texas blue line by Ryan. At 13:31, forward Brendan Ranford fired the puck into an open net from on top of the crease as Grosenick had sprawled out in the crease to make the initial save on forward Devin Shore’s strong move to the net from the right side. The goal, which was Ranford’s sixth of the season, held up as the game winner.
Young pulled the Barracuda back to within a goal with his first goal of the season off a backhanded shot from just inside the top of the right face-off circle that beat Muse glove side. Langlois and Barracuda captain Bryan Lerg had the assists on the goal, which extended Young’s point streak to two games.
In the third period, the Barracuda out-shot Texas 14-9 and had two power play opportunities inside the opening six minutes of the period but couldn’t get the tying goal past Muse.
NOTES… The Barracuda went 0-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill… Grosenick is now 4-4-2 with a 2.95 goals-against-average and .909 save percentage… Lerg and Barracuda defenseman Karl Stollery tied for a game high four shots on goal… Prior to the game, forward Micheal Haley and DeMelo were reassigned to the Barracuda from the San Jose Sharks… Haley played in his first game with the Barracuda since Nov. 1… Grosenick has stopped both penalty shots he’s faced this season… The Barracuda are back in action Dec. 4 when they host the Stockton Heat at 7:30 pm/pt.
THREE STARS
1. Brendan Ranford – Texas (1-0-1, GWG)
2. Gus Young – Barracuda (1-0-1)
3. John Muse – Texas (33 saves, Win)
LINES
Lerg (C) / Carpenter / Langlois
Goldobin / McCarthy (A) /Jevpalovs
Hanson / Timmins / Parkes
Goodrow / Haley / Emanuelsson
DEFENSE
Stollery / DeMelo
Young / Ryan
Cundari / Bergman
GOALIES
Grosenick
Dell
SCRATCHES
Aviani
Doremus
McLaren
McNally
Gallant (inj)
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