SAN JOSE – Thanks to Danil Gushchin, Pavol Regenda, and Yaroslav Askarov, the San Jose Barracuda have new life in their AHL Pacific Division semifinal series against the Colorado Eagles.
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With San Jose desperate for a win after losing Game 1, Gushchin scored a power-play goal just 27 seconds into overtime to lift the sixth-seeded Barracuda past the top-seeded Eagles 2-1 in Game 2 of their best-of-five series before a near-capacity crowd at Tech CU Arena on Sunday night.
In the 4-on-3 situation, Gushchin took a pass from Colin White, streaked in alone, and beat Colorado goalie Trent Miner with a backhand shot for his first career AHL postseason goal. Gushchin, a third-round pick by the Sharks in 2020, was second on the Barracuda this season with 28 goals and is the team’s all-time leading point-getter.
On Sunday, the Barracuda, the Sharks’ top minor league affiliate, went 1-for-6 on the power play, and the Eagles went 1-for-5.
“Loved that we stuck with it,” Barracuda coach John McCarthy said. “Power-play stepped up big there at the end.”
White also assisted on Regenda’s shorthanded goal that tied the game 1-1 at the 18:12 mark of the second period. Regenda created a turnover in the neutral zone to set up the scoring chance. Calle Rosen scored the Eagles’ long goal.
Regenda also had two big hits in the first period, leveling the Eagles’ Jason Polin just inside the Barracuda blueline, and then flattening Polin again as he regained control of the puck. The Barracuda outshot Colorado 14-6 in the period.
“(Regenda) had one shift where he had those two big hits,” McCarthy said. “Puck protection, going in first for loose pucks, the type of physicality that he’s shown. He’s willing to go to the net-front and get inside; he’s the power-play net front guy. Has done a lot of good things from a physical standpoint.”
Askarov made 27 saves for San Jose, which lost the series’ first game to the Eagles 6-3 on Friday. In four playoff games this year, Askarov is 3-1 with a .938 save percentage and a 1.51 goals against average.
The series now shifts to Colorado for games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. If necessary, Game 5 would be on Sunday, also in Colorado.
“That game was kind of the series,” Barracuda forward Collin Graf said. “We didn’t want to go to Colorado down 0-2.”
