By Taylor Lupetti (@tayclupetti):
After being honored with his 700th career win on Sunday, it was not the game San Jose Barracuda head coach Roy Sommer was looking for in the 6-0 shutout by the Stockton Heat.
“We had some breakdowns defensively,” Sommer said. “It didn’t feel like a game with a lot of emotion, they (Stockton) were the ones that carried the emotion, not us.”
Tonight’s match-up was the third of 12 games that the Cuda and Heat will be playing against each other this season. Following the loss, San Jose is 2-1 against Stockton this season.
With the recall of three Barracuda players in recent weeks (Marcus Sorensen (SJ Sharks), Danny O’ Regan (SJ Sharks) and Spencer Asuchak (Allen Americans)) it’s been a question of what the team will look like now.
“My role hasn’t changed,” said left-wing forward Brandon Mashinter. “It’s been the same the whole time, it’s just a matter of stepping up.”
It was a hot start for Stockton. Scoring the only two goals of the first period, the Heat were the first on the board when left-wing forward Hunter Shinkaruk scored five minutes in. About 10 minutes later, defensemen Tyler Wotherspoon pushed Stockton further ahead with another puck in the net.
While the Heat were leading in points, the Cuda led in shots on goal 6-4 at the end of the period.
Stockton right-wing forward Spencer Foo scored the only goal of the second period, pushing the Heat up to 3-0. Foo came back in the third period and scored the first of the three goals the Heat earned in the final 20 minutes. Ending the game with a hat trick, the forward scored the final goal of the night.
Assisting Foo with goals in the third was center Marik Hrivik, who scored with an assist from teammate Rasmus Andersson.
Barracuda goaltender Antoine Bibeau was relieved by teammate Parker Gahagen after letting three goals go in on eight shots. Gahagan let three more goals go in on 13 shots for the duration of the game.
“They (Stockton) had some pretty good looks and they capitalized on them,” Sommer said. “I think at one point it was two to one, we were outshooting them but that wasn’t really the game.”
Stockton goalie Jon Gillies earned his fifth career shutout protecting his goal from 25 shots.
“Sometimes it just doesn’t go in,” said left-wing forward Marc-Olivier Roy. “We just have to keep it simple, work hard and we’re going to get rewarded. Today was a bad game but we just have to focus on Friday.”
The Barracuda will return to SAP Center on Friday night at 7 p.m. to take on the Tucson Roadrunners.