The San Jose Barracuda sent the 5502 in attendance at SAP Center home happy Saturday night as forward Jeremy Morin scored the game-winning power play goal at 3:28 of overtime to give the Barracuda a 3-2 win over the Iowa Wild (AHL affiliate of the Minnesota Wild).
Also scoring for the Barracuda were forwards Trevor Parkes and Ryan Carpenter, both of whom registered their 14th goals of the season, while goaltender Aaron Dell made 29 saves for his 13th win. Dell, who made 14 of his 29 saves in the second period, is now eighth amongst AHL goalies in goals-against-average (2.37) and fifth in save percentage (.923).
In a first period that saw the Barracuda out-shoot Iowa 11-9, Parkes buried home a rebound past Iowa goaltender Leland Irving at 2:15 to give the Barracuda an early 1-0 lead. Barracuda defenseman Gus Young and forward John McCarthy had the assists on the goal.
Carpenter extended the lead to 2-0 at 14:14 with a snap shot from inside the left face-off circle that got through traffic and beat Irving for a power play goal that was assisted by Barracuda defensemen Mirco Mueller and Karl Stollery.
The second period saw a role reversal from the first period as Iowa out-shot the Barracuda 16-7 and tied the game with breakaway goals by forwards Brett Bulmer and Christoph Bertschy at 8:00 and 10:34 respectively.
After a scoreless third period, Morin won the game for the Barracuda with a snap shot from just inside the right face-off circle that beat Irving top shelf on the glove side.
NOTES… Shots on goal were 33-31 in favor of the Barracuda… The Barracuda went 2-for-6 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill… Dell’s overall record improved to 13-12-5… Stollery and Barracuda captain Bryan Lerg had the assists on Morin’s goal… Barracuda forward Petter Emanuelsson had a game high five shots on goal… Barracuda forward Alex Gallant fought Iowa defenseman Joe Finley at 2:48 of the third period and both players received an additional two minutes for removing their helmets prior to the fight… Gallant now has 12 fighting majors in just 20 games for the Barracuda this season (SJBarracuda.com)… Prior to the game, Barracuda defenseman Dylan DeMelo was recalled to the San Jose Sharks while goaltender Joel Rumpel was reassigned to the Allen Americans of the ECHL… The Barracuda improved to 15-12-3 at SAP Center and 27-21-10 with 64 points overall… The Barracuda are back in action March 26 when they host the San Diego Gulls with puck drop scheduled for 7:30 p.m/pt.
THREE STARS
1. Jeremy Morin – Barracuda (1-0-1, GWG)
2. Christoph Bertschy – Iowa (1-0-1)
3. Aaron Dell – Barracuda (29 saves, WIN)
LINES
Lerg (C) / McCarthy (A) / Parkes
Morin / Langlois / Goldobin
Haley (A) / Carpenter / Emanuelsson
Gallant / Timmins / Jevpalovs
DEFENSE
Young / Ryan
Stollery / Bergman
Mueller / Pinkston
GOALIES
Dell
Grosenick
SCRATCHES
Doremus
McLaren
McNally
Goodrow (INJ)
Torres (IR)
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