GAMEDAY: BARRACUDA vs. STARS
Nov 10, 2016Game #7 – San Jose (3-2-0-1) at Texas (6-4-1-0)
5:30 PM PST, H-E-B Center, Cedar Park, Texas
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Tonight's Matchup: The San Jose Barracuda and Texas Stars (Dallas Stars) battle for first of four meetings on Friday night and the first of two games at H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, Texas. Texas sits just above the Barracuda in the Pacific Division standings with a .591 winning percentage (11 GP 6-4-1-0) and are coming off a 5-3 loss to the Bakersfield Condors last Friday night in Bakersfield. San Jose wrapped up its four-game home stand with a 3-1 win over San Antonio and now sit in fourth in the Pacific with a .583 winning percentage (6 GP 3-2-0-1).
In 2015-16, San Jose went 3-3-0-0 against the Stars and 2-1-0 at Texas. Nikolay Goldobin led all ‘Cuda scorers with seven points (6-1-7) in six games and a plus-two rating. Goldobin is currently on a five-game point streak (2-8-10) from Oct. 22 to Nov. 6. Ryan Carpenter was also impressive against the Stars last year, posting six points (3-3-6) in six games with a plus-four rating.
Players To Watch: With the recall of Kevin Labanc to the San Jose Sharks, the Barracuda have been forced to shuffle their lines. Head coach Roy Sommer decided to shake up the lethal combo of Rourke Chartier and Nikolay Goldobin and instead pair the clubs leading goal scorer Danny O’Regan (4) with the San Jose Sharks 2015 and 2016 first round draft selections, Timo Meier and Nikolay Goldobin.
Between the pipes: Troy Grosenick and Mantas Armalis have split the reps thus far through the first six games with each goaltender playing in three contests a piece. Armalis is coming off arguably his best AHL performance as he stopped 25 San Antonio Rampage shots en route to a 3-1 win last Sunday. Armalis has yet to lose in regulation this season; he is 2-0-0-1 with a 2.52 GAA and .904 SV%. Troy Grosenick shutout Bakersfield on Oct. 29 but allowed six goals on 32 shots in a 6-5 loss to San Antonio on Nov. 5. The fourth-year pro, Grosenick, is 1-2-0-0 on the year with a 3.10 GAA and .900 SV%.
Maxime Legace has carried the load for Texas in the early going, playing in eight of the teams first 11 games. The second-year pro is 4-3-1-0 with a 3.79 GAA and a .892 SV%. Legace went 1-2-0-0 against San Jose in four games last year with a 3.00 GAA and a .895 SV%. Texas’s other netminder Philippe Desrosiers is 2-1-0-0 in three games played with a 2.73 GAA and .903 SV%. Desrosiers was a second-round pick by the Dallas Stars in 2013, he made his AHL debut against San Jose on January 3, 2016, and suffered a 5-1 loss.
San Jose’s Last Time Out: The San Jose Barracuda used a Kevin Labanc power play goal and solid goaltending from Mantas Armalis to top the San Antonio Rampage at home 3-1 last Sunday. Rourke Chartier scored in the second to give San Jose at the time a 2-0 lead, but Mike Sislo tallied on a 5-on-3 power play in the third to get the Rampage back within one. But Danny O’Regan shut the door on San Antonio with an empty netter late.
Texas’s Last Time Out: The Texas Stars put 32 shots on net last Friday night in Bakersfield but they failed to score on three power play tries and Bakersfield netted five goals on just 20 shots in a 5-3 win. Maxime Lagace began the game but was pulled after allowing four goals on 15 shots in 29:01 of work. Philippe Desrosiers appeared in the final 27:51 and allowed one goal on five shots. Austin Fyten, Cole Ully and Nick Ebert scored in the loss for Texas
HOT STREAKS
- Nikolay Goldobin has points in five straight games (2-8-10)
- Rourke Chartier has points in four straight games (3-2-5)