Five-and-a-half minute stretch of first period sink Barracuda in loss to Checkers

Coming into Tuesday night’s game against the Charlotte Checkers (AHL affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes), the San Jose Barracuda had a minus-10 goal differential in the first period. Over the course of a five-and-a-half minute stretch of the opening frame against the Checkers, the Barracuda saw that differential drop to minus-13 as the Checkers scored three times en route to a 3-1 victory at Bojangles’ Coliseum.

The Barracuda, who had their four game point streak snapped with the loss, spoiled Checkers goaltender Rasmus Tirronen’s shutout bid with 14-seconds left in the third period when forward Jeremy Langlois scored a power play goal, his fifth goal of the season, on the Barracuda’s 29th shot attempt.

The Checkers scoring started at 14:26 when forward Brock McGinn, the younger brother of former San Jose Sharks forwards Jamie and Tye McGinn, beat Barracuda goaltender Aaron Dell blocker side with a one-timer from the top of the left slot for a power play goal, his third goal of the season.

Checkers forward Zach Boychuk made it 2-0 at 18:19 with a quick shot from deep in the left face-off circle for a 5-on-3 power play goal, his first goal of the season. McGinn made it 3-0 just 36-seconds later with his second goal of the game off a deflection in the slot of defenseman Jake Chelios’ one-timer from the the right point.

Though the Barracuda out-shot the Checkers 22-10 over the next 40-minutes, they couldn’t get the puck past Tirronen, who came into the game with a .862 save percentage, until late in the third period when Langlois scored a power play goal off a one-timer in the left slot at 19:46.

NOTES… Shots on goal were 29-19 in favor of the Barracuda… The Barracuda went 1-for-8 on the power play and 3-for-5 on the penalty kill… Dell made 16 saves and fell to 3-4-1 with a 2.39 goals-against-average and .914 save percentage… Langlois and Barracuda forward John McCarthy each had a team high four shots on goal… Forward Nikolay Goldobin was in the Barracuda lineup after being reassigned from the Sharks… The Barracuda fell to 4-3-2 on the road and 5-7-3 with 13 points overall… The Barracuda rematch the Checkers Wednesday (Nov. 25) at 4pm/pt.

THREE STARS
1. Brock McGinn – Checkers (2-0-2)
2. Rasmus Tirronen – Checkers (28 saves, Win)
3. Zach Boychuk – Checkers (1-0-1)

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

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

GOALIES
Dell
Grosenick

SCRATCHES
Aviani
Bergman
Crane
McLaren
Gallant (inj)