Barracuda shutout Reign in 2-0 in playoff opener

ONTARIO — Pavol Regenda scored the eventual game winning goal early in the third period as the sixth seeded San Jose Barracuda shutout the third seeded Ontario Reign 2-0 in Game 1 of the best of three Pacific Division first round series on Thursday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

San Jose leads the series 1-0 and has two chances to advance to the second round of the playoffs.

An uneventful opening 20 minutes featured a scoreless first period. A total of three power plays, two by San Jose and one by Ontario, proved to be an exhibition of infertility as neither team could take advantage. It was tough for both teams to establish any type of flow offensively as the Barracuda outshot the Reign 9-8.

The Cuda's Yaroslav Askarov and the Reign's Phoenix Copley both made a big save in the final 30 seconds of the first period. First, Askarov made a pad save on a Jack Studnicka shot at the 19:30 mark and Copley challenged Donovon Houle's wrister with a shoulder save with two seconds remaining in the opening frame.

The second period was even less entertaining than the first one. Each team had an abbreviated power play but once again zeros remained in the goal column of the scoreboard. Ontario outshot San Jose 8-7. The best chance came with 31 seconds remaining in the middle frame.

A bad line change by the Barracuda led to a breakaway attempt for Studnicka but he chipped the puck wide of the net as Askarov came out from the crease and challenged the shot that affected Studnicka being able to put it on net. San Jose broke the deadlock early in the third period.

Luca Cagnoni found Ethan Frisch along the right point. Frisch skated in and sent a wrist shot that was redirected by Regenda who was parked in front of the crease for his first goal of the series at the 7:12 mark.

The Barracuda doubled their lead on the power play just over a minute later. Cagnoni led a counterattack from inside his own zone when he found Colin White up in the neutral zone. White led a 3-on-1 odd man rush and sent a cross-ice pass over to Filip Bystedt who buried a wrist shot past Copley for his first goal of the series at the 8:38 mark.

Ontario was held without a shot on goal in the final frame despite starting the period with a four-minute power play when Zach Ostapchuk went into the sin bin for high sticking 21 seconds in. However, Samuel Fagemo canceled out the majority of the power play when he took a slashing penalty at the 1:35 mark. It was the first time in franchise history San Jose held an opponent without a shot in a third period.

Askarov finished the game stopping all 16 shots he faced for his first career Calder Cup Playoffs shutout. Copley made 23 saves on 25 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 1-for-7 on the power play. Ontario was 0-for-5. The Three Stars of the Game: 1) Askarov (16 SV, 16 SA) 2) Regenda (1G, 0A) 3) Bystedt (1G,0A).

Barracuda left winger Danil Gushchin was a last-minute scratch by Cuda head coach John McCarthy as he suffered an illness to keep him out of the lineup. UP NEXT: Game 2 of the first round series continues on Saturday April 26th at 6:00pm at Crypto.com Arena.