GAMEDAY: BARRACUDA AT ROADRUNNERS (2-24-17)
Feb 24, 2017Game #46 – San Jose Barracuda (31-11-1-3) at Tucson Roadrunners (22-19-5-0)
Friday, February 24, 2017
6:05 PM PST, Tucson Convention Center, Tucson, Arizona
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Tonight’s Matchup: If the regular season were to end today, the San Jose Barracuda and Tucson Roadrunners would be the Pacific Divisions one-against-four matchup. On Friday, San Jose plays its first game in Tucson against the Roadrunners and enters the game 2-and-0 in two previous contests (both played at SAP Center). The Roadrunners return home after a 20-day, six-game road trip in which the team went 1-5-0 during the stretch. Tucson is just 2-8-0 in their last ten games but still holds the fourth and final Pacific-Division playoff spot. In two games against the ‘Runners, the Barracuda are 44.5% (4/9) on the power play and 90.9% (10/11) on the penalty kill.
Top Of The Class: For the first time in team history, the San Jose Barracuda sit atop the AHL with a .717 winning percentage. San Jose is riding a franchise-long 12-game winning streak and an eight-game road-winning streak. Before the stretch, the longest winning streak (2004-present) by a Sharks affiliate came in the 2014-15 season when the Worcester Sharks won eight in a row from January 4-21, 2014.
Dynamic Danny: Among rookies, Barracuda All-Star forward Danny O’Regan is first in points (16+28=45), first in assists, T-7th in goals, and T-6th overall in the AHL in points. O'Regan is T-first on the Barracuda goals, first in points and second in assists.
Oh Boy Troy: Barracuda All-Star netminder Troy Grosenick is riding a career-long ten-game winning streak and is first in the AHL in shutouts (7), first in goals-against average (1.97), first in save percentage (.934) and fifth in wins (19).
Sorensen Soaring: Over his first 20 games in the AHL, Barracuda forward Marcus Sorensen recorded just nine points (5+4=9) and had a 10-game stretch from mid-November to mid-December where he didn’t record a single point, but in his last 21 games, Sorensen has exploded for 22 points (9+13=22) and a plus-nine rating. A former Ottawa Senators’ draft pick, Sorensen is riding an eight-game point streak (3+9=12) and a seven-game assist streak (9).
Pure As Gold: Barracuda forward Nikolay Goldobin earned his first recall of the season to the San Jose Sharks last week and appeared in two games for San Jose (NHL) registering zero points and a minus-one rating, but the second-year pro is riding a three-game goal streak for the Barracuda and has sixteen points (8+8+16) over his last 18 games after the turn of the new year. Goldobin is third on the Barracuda in points (14+24=38), third in assists, T-third in goals, third in power-play goals (5), and T-first in game-winning goals (4).
San Jose’s Last Time Out: The San Jose Barracuda extended their winning streak to 12-straight games after upending the Texas Stars, 5-3, at SAP Center on Monday night. In its first matchup against the Texas Stars since early November, San Jose began the game two-for-two on the power play and jumped out to a 2-0 lead off the stick of Nikolay Goldobin (14) and John McCarthy (13). The Stars cashed in on their first power play and then tied the game at 2-2 in the first, but McCarthy (14) gave the Barracuda back their lead with just 12 seconds left in the period. In the second, Danny O’Regan (15) pushed San Jose’s edge back up to two just a minute and 57 seconds into the frame. But the Stars buried their second power play goal to make it 4-3 before O’Regan (16) scored again in the third. Troy Grosenick earned his 10th consecutive win, and the Barracuda won their 12th in a row behind Grosenick’s 28 saves.
Roadrunners Last Time Out: The Tucson Roadrunners suffered a 3-0 shutout loss in their final game of its six-game road trip on Wednesday night in Ontario. T.J. Hensick (12), Sean Backman (10) and Mike Amadio (11) all scored for the Reign while Jack Campbell made 29 saves to earn the shutout victory. Adin Hill suffered the loss after allowing three goals on 27 shots.