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San Jose Barracuda

Game 1 Takeaways: Veteran Eagles Exploit Immature Barracuda

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Credit: San Jose Barracuda

It was the first pro hockey playoff game in San Jose in six years…but the Barracuda couldn’t step up to the moment.

The San Jose Barracuda dropped Game One of their five-game series against the Colorado Eagles 6-3 on Friday night.

The San Jose Sharks’ AHL affiliate dug themselves a 4-1 hole through two periods because of sloppy turnovers and penalties, giving up two power play goals.

Filip Bystedt did get the Cuda on the board with an electrifying short-handed strike.

But Bystedt couldn’t deliver after the Barracuda got close — Collin Graf and Colin White scored late goals — shanking a Grade-A opportunity in front of the net, off a brilliant White feed, with 1:48 to go.

“Trying to hit the net, fanned on it a little bit,” the San Jose Sharks’ 2022 first-round pick admitted. “Would want that back.”

Jayson Megna and Tye Felhaber responded, stamping out the San Jose comeback with back-to-back empty netters.

Trent Miner stopped 25-of-28 shots, outdueling top San Jose Sharks prospect, Yaroslav Askarov, who turned away 18-of-22.

The Barracuda look to even up the series at Tech CU Arena on Sunday at 6 PM PT.

The rest of the series will be in Colorado: The Pacific Division’s No. 1 seed will host the last three games of the series, if necessary, at Blue Arena.

Turning Point

The Barracuda did a lot of things right, outshooting the Eagles, but they also shot themselves in the foot.

“Managing the bluelines, getting pucks out and getting pucks in is huge,” Patrick Giles said. “Or a team like this will capitalize on them.”

That’s how the Eagles built the lead.

Calle Rosen opened the scoring in the first period off an Ethan Cardwell area pass into the middle of the ice that Wyatt Aamodt stepped in front of.

Then, in a one-goal second period game, penalty killers Cardwell and White jumped out on what appeared to be a 2-on-2 attack. But on entry, the San Jose Sharks prospect made an ill-advised cross-ice pass to White that a backchecking Jack Ahcan intercepted with ease.

That’s a tough pass 5-on-5, even more risky 4-on-5.

On the Eagles’ counterattack, a now-disorganized PK couldn’t pick up Jacob MacDonald’s shot from the high slot, which Chris Wagner tipped home to make it 2-0.

Not to pick on Cardwell, these weren’t the only examples of the Barracuda not valuing the puck tonight, especially in the middle of the ice.

“We can put pucks behind them more often. There were too many three-quarter ice pucks that they were able to transition fast [on the counterattack]. That’s the strength of their team,” head coach John McCarthy said. “Have a little more composure with the puck. Take better care of it through the neutral zone.”

This was a veteran Eagles side taking advantage of the more immature Barracuda.

“It’s May, it’s playoffs, they’ve had a full year [of experience],” McCarthy said. “It’s no excuse.”

Quote of the Night

A playoff game in San Jose was a long time coming, and Askarov hoped that the fans would sell out Tech CU Arena, which they did.

“That was electric,” Askarov remarked.

Roy Sommer took part in the festivities. The AHL’s winningest coach, 828 wins on his belt, almost all with the San Jose Sharks organization, dropped the puck with son Mo.

“It was awesome. He was a big part of hockey here for a long time. So good to see both of them,” McCarthy, captain of the Sommer squad that made the playoffs in 2019, said.

Key Stats

It was 13 days between games for Colorado, who earned a first-round bye by virtue of winning the Pacific Division.

It was a perfect moment for sixth-seeded Barracuda, who completed the sweep of their first-round series against the Ontario Reign last Saturday, to ambush the Eagles.

But instead, it was Colorado that jumped San Jose.

Overtime

Some long, unusual shots eluded Askarov tonight.

Some of it was traffic, like the John Ludvig shot that made it 4-1. Askarov acknowledged that he didn’t see a couple of the goals tonight.

Askarov was also bumped on the Jayson Megna goal that made it 3-0.

The star goalie admitted, “I thought it was a Colorado guy, but it was our guy. So not goalie interference.”

McCarthy was calm post-game, noting that the game was mostly evenly-played, a good sign for the No. 6 seed.

He singled out Giles for praise.

A difference-maker was an anemic Cuda power play, 0-for-3 compared to the 2-for-3 Eagles. San Jose led the AHL with a 24.0 Power Play % in the regular season, but it’s gone cold at the wrong time. They went 1-for-9 in the first round.

While they’re still missing AHL MVP Andrew Poturalski, the returns of Danil Gushchin and Lucas Carlsson should’ve provided more of a spark.

Instead, with 1:21 of power play time to start the third period, McCarthy opted to go with his second power play unit, and not his top group that features Cagnoni, Gushchin, Graf, Bystedt, and Pavol Regenda.

That’s a statement.

“We got to connect on more plays,” the Barracuda bench boss said. “We have a plan, we have a structure, I didn’t think the execution was as sharp as it could be.”

Barracuda Locker Room

 

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Fallooooooon

Really disappointing performance. Colorado initiated hostilities early and the team responded to that ok, and it helped the atmosphere. But the team didn’t bring anything extra when it came to actually playing hockey. They’ve gotta take the day off and learn from it quick and look different Sunday. Now they gotta win 3 of 4 off them with three in Colorado. AHL referees are so bad. Stands out every game I go to. Holy crap. Add to that, them trying to “manage” a playoff game. Brutal. The person suited up as Frenzy last night may not have ever ice skated… Read more »

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James R

Right on all counts. Especially Frenzy. That poor fish could barely skate!

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maxi

TechCU ice is cold, feels completely different from other Sharks ice rinks, and if you’ve never skated there, it feels way too slippery.

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James R

What I saw was not unfamiliarity with that particular ice surface, but rather unfamiliarity with the act of skating.

Excellence has to start with the mascot. This must become an offseason priority for Grier!

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Fallooooooon

Yeah. Complete joke of an attempted explanation above. Give me a break.

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Joseph

I’d guess there’s some lineup changes coming. Houle and Ostapchuk had especially rough nights.

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Zeke

Liked Giles game. He did the hard work that led to Bystedt’s goal. Like Graf’s game, though his goal was more on the goalie. Smart play throwing it to the net from a bad angle, but shouldn’t have gone in. He also led a short-handed break Watching him shift into high gear was fun to see. Didn’t score and it was at the far end of the ice, so I couldn’t quite see what happened. But being able to play with puck control at top speed will serve him well in the NHL. Pretty sure Askarov wants 2 of those… Read more »

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jamnjon

Not good at all…looks like Eklund was cut by a skate blade playing for Sweden at the Czech Hockey Games.

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The Gushch is Loose

Do you know where he was cut?

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Erick

On the wrist. Doesn’t look good from the video and his response. Maybe he was just really scared and it’s not that bad :/
https://sharkshockeydigest.com/san-jose-sharks-william-eklund-injury-sweden/amp/

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Pescadito

Holy smokes. This looks really bad.

-1
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