BARRACUDA COOL HEAT WITH 6-3 WIN



San Jose, CA - Tim Heed and Danny O'Regan each had three points and extended their point streaks to five games as the San Jose Barracuda (12-6-1-3) topped the Stockton Heat (16-7-1-1), 6-3, on Tuesday afternoon at SAP Center.



The win was San Jose's first over Stockton in three tries and extended their point streak to a season-long five games. The Barracuda now have points in nine of their last 10 and currently sit in third in the Pacific Division.



Adam Helewka (7) continued his tear as the rookie forward netted his fourth goal in his last three games to get San Jose on the board in the first. Helewka was able to sneak behind the Heat defense before going top-shelf far side at 3:58 on the team's first shot. Nikolay Goldobin (4) made it 2-0 Barracuda on a five-on-three power play as he swiped a loose puck past Jon Gillies from the left side of the net at 13:38 after Heed's shot was blocked and deflected to Goldobin. Stockton cut into San Jose's advantage with less than a minute left in the first. Hunter Shinkaruk fired a shot from the right wing on the rush and Brandon Bollig guided the rebound into the open net at 19:08.



In the second, O'Regan backhanded a perfect pass to John McCarthy (5) on the penalty kill and McCarthy steered the puck past Gillies for his second shorthanded goal of the year at 4:53. Mike Angelidis (4) cut San Jose's lead back to one after banging a rebound past Mantas Armalis at 7:27. Barclay Goodrow (9) pushed the lead back up to a pair at 19:39 as the power-forward powered his way to the net from along the goal line and slid the puck through the five-hole of Gillies to make it 4-2 after two.



Matt Frattin gave Stockton hope with a tape-to-tape pass from the point to Mike Jankowski (6) who tipped the puck short side to make it 4-3 at 12:18. But San Jose negated any Heat comeback hopes when Heed sniped a two-on-one pass short-side top shelf (7) on the power play, and then Ryan Carpenter (4) muscled in an empty netter to seal San Jose's first win over the first-place Heat, 6-3.



Gillies (9-4-2) suffered the loss after allowing five goals on 44 shots and Mantas Armalis (6-2-2) earned the win in his first start since Dec. 8.

Three Stars:

1. Tim Heed (SJ: 1+2=3)

2. Danny O'Regan (SJ: 0+3=3)

3. Adam Helewka (SJ: 1+1=2)



BOX SCORE



The San Jose Barracuda are off for the holidays and will resume play on December 26 at SAP Center against the Stockton Heat. Tickets are still available and can be purchased at SJBarracuda.com/tickets or by calling 408.999.5757.



