The San Jose Barracuda took a significant step forward this season. The team reached the Calder Cup playoffs for the first time in six years and saw several young players gain valuable professional experience in the AHL and NHL.
That was of little consolation on Wednesday night, though, as the Barracuda’s season came to a bitter and sudden end with a 3-1 loss to the Colorado Eagles in Game 4 of their best-of-five AHL Pacific Division semifinal in Loveland, Colorado.
Forward Igor Chernyshov, in his first Calder Cup playoff game, gave the Barracuda a 1-0 goal lead at the 4:09 mark of the third period. But Colorado, the Pacific Division’s top team, stormed back as Tye Felhaber’s power-play goal with 6:28 left in regulation time proved to be the game-winner as the Eagles captured the series three games to one.
“I don’t think anyone’s at all satisfied with where we ended up,” Barracuda captain Jimmy Schuldt said. “We can step back, and we can take some positives from it. We battled every game we played.”
Chase Bradley scored 1:17 after Chernyshov’s goal to tie the game. Felhaber’s goal came just 23 seconds after Patrick Giles took a needless interference penalty with a late hit on an Eagles player well away from the puck.
“I’m proud of the group, we gave ourselves a chance and we were in the game,” Barracuda coach John McCarthy said. “Unfortunately, the difference was a late penalty and a penalty kill goal against. But overall, I liked the way we played. I actually thought this game might have been our best of the series.”
The Barracuda, the Sharks’ top minor league affiliate, were without leading scorer and AHL MVP Andrew Poturalski for the playoffs as he sustained a lower-body injury in late March. Also out for San Jose on Wednesday was veteran Colin White, who suffered an injury on Tuesday. Thomas Bordeleau had an upper-body injury late in the Sharks’ season and never returned for a game.
For the Barracuda, Poturalski’s absence was especially felt on San Jose’s power play, which went 2-for-16 in the series.
If San Jose had won Wednesday, those players might have been available for Game 5 on Sunday.
Getting Poturalski, who had a league-leading 73 points in 59 games, “would have been huge,” Schuldt said. “That was kind of the driving force behind the night. It sounded like we were going to get him back Sunday if we made it to Game 5. Sounds like we could have gotten Colin White back if we made it there.”
Goalie Yaroslav Askarov, in what was likely his final AHL game, finished with 29 saves. Askarov had to leave Tuesday’s Game 3 in overtime with cramping, and Colorado scored the game-winner for a 3-2 victory shortly after he exited.
In six playoff games, Askarov was 3-2 with a .935 save percentage, a 1.68 goals against average, and a shutout. Along with playing 13 games for the Sharks this season, Askarov, in 22 games with the Barracuda, was 11-9-2 with a .923 save percentage.
Asked if Askarov, who begins a two-year, $4 million contract with the Sharks next season, is ready for the NHL, McCarthy said, “That’s not really my call, but he’s a fantastic goalie with a ton of talent.”
The Barracuda finished the regular season with a 36-27-5-4 record and 81 points, a 19-point improvement over last year, when they finished 10th and last in the Pacific Division. San Jose was sixth this year and beat third-place Ontario in the first round.
Related Articles
After lottery, should Mike Grier try to acquire the Islanders’ No. 1 pick for Sharks? Sharks’ Eklund has surgery; could he soon be in line for a major payday? Sharks have some luck in NHL Draft Lottery, but not as much as they wanted San Jose Sharks’ Celebrini among finalists for Calder Trophy San Jose Barracuda get crucial playoff win before series shifts to ColoradoPlayers like Luca Cagnoni, Filip Bystedt, Collin Graf, and Jake Furlong, all 22 or younger, gained valuable experience in their first full seasons in North American pro hockey. Others like Danil Gushchin, Jack Thompson, and Ethan Cardwell continued their development, with Cardwell making his NHL debut in November.
All of that did little to soothe the Barracuda’s pain on Wednesday, as they left Loveland feeling like their season ended way too soon.
“The goal isn’t to get to the second round, it’s to go all the way,” Giles said. “But to be where this team hasn’t been in a few years speaks a lot to this group and the future of this organization.”
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( San Jose Barracuda experiences bitter ending to otherwise positive season )
Also on site :
- Smoke Signal? Motorcyclist Records Mysterious Black Ring Hovering In Sky Over Kansas (WATCH)
- Defiant Serbian leader sends message to EU from Red Square (VIDEO)
- FAQs About Orthopedics Specialty