The San Jose Barracuda have become a headache for their opponents this postseason.
They took out the Ontario Reign in a two-game sweep of the teams’ first-round series. Now it’s the division champion Colorado Eagles who are having to contend with a stubborn Barracuda team. San Jose has had this success without injured forward Andrew Poturalski, who led the AHL in regular-season scoring. Danil Gushchin, who missed the Ontario series, is back and delivered the winning tally in San Jose’s 2-1 overtime win in Game 2 on Sunday night.
And then there is Yaroslav Askarov, who held one of the AHL’s top offenses to one goal on 28 shots in Game 2.
“He was great,” Barracuda head coach John McCarthy told reporters. “He won us the game.”
As the parent Sharks continue to rebuild, players like Askarov and Gushchin rank as crucial pieces of the organization’s long-term plan. So does forward Quentin Musty, who made his playoff debut Sunday. Taken 26th overall in the 2023 NHL Draft, Musty had 30 goals and 59 points in only 33 games for Sudbury of the Ontario Hockey League this season.
McCarthy liked what he saw from the 19-year-old Musty, who skated in three regular-season games for the Barracuda after Sudbury’s season ended.
“I think he’s an important part of our organization and wanted to expose him to a playoff game, a playoff-style atmosphere,” McCarthy explained. “I thought he responded really well. He used his size. Has an ability to finish, which was the thinking behind putting him in, and I thought he handled it really well.”
With the Colorado Avalanche exiting the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Eagles added some goaltending depth Monday.
The Avalanche reassigned Kevin Mandolese to the Eagles after he had served as the NHL team’s third goaltender during their Stanley Cup Playoff series against Dallas. Mandolese, 24, played 19 games for the Eagles and was 11-6-0 with a 2.87 goals-against average and .903 save percentage this season. His last appearance with the Eagles came April 12 in a home start against Henderson.
Mandolese joins Trent Miner, who has started the first two games of this series, and Adam Scheel as Colorado’s goaltenders. The Eagles have also had former University of Michigan netminder Jake Barczewski up from ECHL Utah.
― with files from Patrick Williams
