LABANC SCORES AGAIN BUT SJ FALLS IN A SHOOTOUT

San Jose, CA – The San Jose Barracuda (2-1-0-1) allowed three first period goals, but still managed to earn a point by forcing overtime and an eventual shootout Saturday afternoon against the Bakersfield Condors (2-3-0-0) who used a 41 save performance by Nick Ellis to earn the 4-3 shootout win at SAP Center at San Jose.

Despite the loss, Kevin Labanc scored and added an assist to extend his point streak to three (3-4-7) and Mantas Armalis (1-0-0-1) recovered after a sluggish start to stop 20 straight Condors shots.

On the other end, Nick Ellis (2-1-0-0) was sharp denying 41 shots to earn his second win of the year.

After getting shutout Friday night, Dillon Simpson (1) broke the deadlock with a slap shot from the right point at 6:37 of the first for Bakersfield. Jujhar Khaira (4) continued his strong start to the season by scoring his fourth goal in just his third game after poking a loose puck past Armalis at 8:33 to make it 2-0 Bakersfield. San Jose got one back after Alex Schoenborn (1) tipped a point shot by Tim Heed to beat Ellis at 9:15 for his first pro goal. But the Condors capped off a three-goal first when Jordan Oesterle (1) missiled a snapshot from the left wing, just inside the right post, at 17:15.

In the second, San Jose failed to capitalize on a Braden Christopher double minor for cross checking and rouging. But Labanc (3) still was able to get San Jose within one at 17:49 on a great individual effort in which the Staten Island native was able to sneak a rolling puck past Ellis down the left wing.

Rourke Chartier (2) completed San Jose’s comeback at 1:27 of the final frame in what proved to be just enough to force extra time. In OT, Marcus Sorensen hit the cross bar, and Ryan Hamilton was denied on a breakaway for Bakersfield, but neither team was able to win it in extra time.

In the shootout, Scott Allen went top shelf on Armalis and San Jose failed to score on all three tries, falling 4-3.

The Barracuda welcome in the San Antonio Rampage for a pair of games next Saturday and Sunday for pink in the rink weekend. Tickets are still available for Saturday and can be purchased at SJBarracuda.com/tickets or by calling 408.999.5757.