Sammy Walker's four points lead the Tucson Roadrunners past the San Jose Barracuda in Yaroslav Askarov's return to the AHL
The San Jose Barracuda lost to the Tucson Roadrunners 4-3 Friday night at Tech CU Arena in a chippy, undisciplined game that saw the Barracuda rack up 33 penalty minutes.
Despite a 2-0 lead thanks to Pavol Regenda's first goal in teal, the Barracuda took two penalties late in the second period, and the Roadrunners scored on both to tie the game at the second intermission.
The Roadrunners capitalized on the shift in momentum by scoring 16 seconds into the third period to gain a 3-2 lead.
Despite Brandon Coe tying the game for the Barracuda less than four minutes later, Roadrunners debutant Sammy Walker scored his second goal to give Tucson a 4-3 lead that would result in the final score.
1. Roadrunners got the better of Barracuda in a physical & undisciplined game
In a physical game that at times bordered on undiscipline, the Roadrunners outperformed the Barracuda in terms of discipline and special teams.
San Jose had a chance to lead 2-0 at the second intermission, but two penalties late in the period led to two power-play goals for Tucson.
With the momentum completely flipped coming into the third period, the Roadrunners scored to take the lead off the period's opening faceoff.
Though the game-winning goal was not scored for almost another nine minutes, the Roadrunners won with those three goals in four minutes.
"Our sticks weren't good enough. A lot of high sticks, a lot of hooks, a lot of holds," Barracuda head coach John McCarthy said postgame. "Not good enough. We got to get better at that."
Had the Barracuda not taken the two penalties late in the second period, it's likely the Roadrunners don't tie the game 2-2 going into the second intermission and wrestle momentum away from San Jose.
"We had probably a handful of stick penalties," defenseman Luca Cagnoni said. "[We] kind of just got over [their] hands. Definitely could do a better job with our sticks."
2. Yaroslav Askarov's game still needs polishing
Yaroslav Askarov made his first start for the Barracuda since Dec. 14, having played 11 games with the Sharks in the nearly two months in between.
Askarov was sent back down to the Barracuda last Sunday upon the return of Vitek Vanecek from injured reserve. He allowed four goals on 11 shots against the Seattle Kraken last Saturday in his last game before being sent down.
Tonight's performance serves as another reminder of Askarov's development stage. He is very capable of making a wide repertoire of saves, but the next step is playing a complete 60 minutes.
Askarov made a number of impressive saves in the first half of the game but failed to make the two saves necessary to keep the puck out of the net late in the second period when the Barracuda were on the penalty kill.
Askarov was then beaten underneath his leg pad after the puck deflected off Sammy Walker's skate in what would ultimately be the game-winning goal.
"The first half was pretty good. But [the second half] was pretty hard," Askarov said. "You have a lot of bounces; it's pretty tough."
While there's no goal in particular that Askarov has to keep out of the net, he is certainly capable of saving at least one of those three goals.
Nevertheless, Askarov is still making good progress on his development, and once he reaches the stage where he keeps those pucks out of the net and can play a full 60 minutes of the hockey he is capable of, he will be a formidable goaltender for the Sharks for many years to come.
3. Sammy Walker has a debut to remember
Sammy Walker was acquired from the Minnesota Wild organization on Feb. 3 and laced up for his first game as a member of the Tucson Roadrunners on Friday night.
Three periods of hockey later, he has two goals and two assists.
Walker assisted Robbie Russo for the Roadrunners' first goal before scoring Tucson's second. Walker then assisted Austin Poganski for the Roadrunners' third goal before scoring Tucson's fourth, the game-winner.
Just one game in, Walker has made a huge impact on this Tucson Roadrunners team. If he continues playing the way he did tonight, he will be in good shape.
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