Admirals sink Barracuda 6-2 with power play barrage

SAN JOSE — When you play with fire, eventually you're going to get burned.

The Milwaukee Admirals scored four goals on the man advantage in the second period to power past the San Jose Barracuda in a 6-2 victory on Friday evening at Tech CU Arena.

San Jose has lost three games in a row. Milwaukee has won two of its first three games to start the season.

The Barracuda had a revolving door to the penalty box early in the second period and the Admirals made them pay for the misconduct. In this case it was lazy penalty after another that turned the momentum of the game in Milwaukee's favor.

"It was bad stick penalties," said Cuda head coach John McCarthy. "We lost the game, I don't know, in a five-minute stretch."

For two teams that rarely play each other during the regular season, there were five fights and three roughing penalties during a chippy match where there was a lot of extracurricular activity after the whistle had blown. Cuda forward Smauel Laberge, who made his season debut, had his night end late in the second period when he had his third major penalty with his second fight of the game.

San Jose (1-3-0) had three power play opportunities in the first period but weren’t able to capitalize on them thanks to the Admirals penalty kill led by goalie Matthew Murray who stopped all 15 shots.

Milwaukee (2-1-0) drew first blood at the end of the opening frame despite only registering 4 shots on goal in the first 15 minutes of the game. Ryan Ufko’s shot from the point clanked off of the back of Cuda goalie Gabriel Carriere and then off of the post. Former San Jose Sharks prospect David Edstrom poked home the rebound for his first goal of the season at the 19:56 mark.

The Admirals doubled its lead with a 5-on-3 power play goal to open up the second period. Ufko’s shot from the point was initially saved by Carriere. Cole O’Hara partially fanned on the rebound that trickled into the middle and tapped home by Zach L’Heureux for his second goal of the season at the 2:02 mark.

Milwaukee scored its second power play goal of the game and third unanswered goal just over a minute later. Jake Lucchini received a puck from behind the net and centered the puck over to Daniel Carr open in the slot. Carr’s quick wrist shot falling down beat Carriere top shelf for his second goal of the season at the 3:24 mark.

Oasiz Wiesblatt, brother of former Sharks prospect Ozzy, scored Milwaukee’s third straight power play goal when he finished a tic-tac-toe play after getting behind Jake Furlong to beat Carriere with a point-blank shot for his first professional career goal at the 5:52 mark. Reid Schaefer and L’Heureux were credited with the assists.

San Jose had 1:50 worth of a 5-on-3 power play opportunity with nine minutes remaining in the middle frame but Filip Bystedt’s tripping penalty at the 12:44 mark wiped away the chance for the Cuda to get back into the game.

The Barracuda finally got off the schneid with an even strength goal exactly two minutes later at the 7:52 mark. Laberge found a trailing Mattias Havelid who sniped a wrist shot past Murray for his first goal of the season.

Milwaukee scored its fourth power play goal of the period when Ufko’s shot from the left point deflected off of Cole Clayton and past Carriere for Ufko’s first goal of the season at the 14:10 mark. O’Hara and Joey Willis picked up helpers on the play.

Kasper Halttunen scored a power play goal for the Barracuda at the 18:02 mark when he blasted a shot past Murray for his second goal of the season. Cam Lund and Filip Bystedt recorded assists.

Ryder Rolston concluded the game’s scoring with an empty netter, his second of the season, with 2:16 remaining in the contest.

Murray finished the game stopping 37 of the 39 shots he faced to earn his second win of the season. Carriere made 18 saves on 23 shots in the losing effort.

In the end the game down to special teams, despite San Jose outplaying Milwaukee at even strength for the majority of the game.

"(We played well) all three periods, there just wasn't a lot of 5-on-5 (play), there was so much special teams. But yeah 5-on-5 I thought we did carry the play and that's something to build on. But we can't be having these mental errors that are costing us games," McCarthy summed up.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 1-for-8 on the power play. Milwaukee was 4-for-5.

San Jose and Milwaukee conclude their two-game weekend series on Saturday October 25 at 6:00pm at Tech CU Arena.