GAMEDAY: BARRACUDA VS. REIGN

Mar 24, 2018

LISTEN | WATCH | GAME NOTES

Tonight’s Matchup: On Saturday, the San Jose Barracuda and Ontario Reign collide for the eighth and final time this season. The Barracuda are 2-4-1-0 against the Los Angeles Kings affiliate this year and are 2-1 on home ice. San Jose lost 5-4 in overtime at Ontario in the most recent meeting on March 18.

Home Cooking: The Barracuda enter Saturday’s game riding a season-high five-game home winning streak and now rank seventh (.586%) in the Western Conference in home winning percentage. The Barracuda are 16-11-1-1 at SAP Center this season and 58-30-5-4 since 2015-16.

Century Mark: The Barracuda earned franchise victory 100 with a 4-0 win over the Cleveland Monsters on March 10. The Barracuda joined the Ontario Reign, San Diego Gulls and *Texas Stars (*play 76 game schedule) as Pacific Division teams to reach 100 wins since 2015-16.

Powering Up: On Wednesday, the ‘Cuda potted a pair of man-advantage tallies including the game-winner in overtime to beat Tucson, 4-3. In March, the Barracuda are eight-for-37 (22%) on the PP and four-for-14 (28%) in their last three games, including scoring twice on the power play against the Reign on March 18. Since March 1, San Jose has moved from 30th on the power play to 25th in the AHL.

In the Middle: Sophomore defenseman Jake Middleton netted Wednesday’s OT winner in Tucson and now has goals in two of his last three games. The 21-year-old blueliner ranks T-second on the Barracuda in games played (57), third in assists, and second in penalty minutes, while averaging 20-to-24 minutes a night of ice time, which ranks within the top three on the team.

All-Star Antoine: In his fourth professional season, and first within the Sharks organization, AHL All-Star Antoine Bibeau is 19-13-3 in 37 games played with a 2.41 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage. The native of Victoriaville, Quebec is T-fourth in the AHL in shutouts (4), 11th in goals-against average, T-10th in save percentage, and T-ninth in wins.

Sommer-Time: San Jose Barracuda Head Coach and Bay Area native Roy Sommer collected the 700th AHL win of his career on Dec. 3 at Bakersfield (2-1). Sommer is the first coach in the 82-year history of the American Hockey League to reach 700 coaching wins. In 2015-16, Sommer surpassed Fred “Bun” Cook as the AHL’s all-time leader in wins and collected his first A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as AHL Coach of the Year in 2016-17. Sommer, who’s in his AHL record 20th season behind the bench for the top affiliate of the San Jose Sharks, coached his 1,500th game in the AHL on Dec. 8 at SAP Center against Tucson.