There will be playoff hockey for the San Jose Sharks organization in 2025! The San Jose Barracuda have punched their ticket to the Calder Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2019.
The ‘Cuda clinched the playoff berth after a decisive three-goal third period to defeat the Ontario Reign 4-1 on Friday night. The period was capped off after Danil Gushchin gave the Barracuda a 3-1 lead with a spectacular individual goal.
“I saw they were changing, and I got [a] one-on-one and tried to beat him and score,” Gushchin said postgame.
The last time the Barracuda were in the postseason, they fell to the San Diego Gulls in four games.
Their longest playoff run came in 2017 when they advanced to the conference final but lost in five games to Grand Rapids. In the first round of that playoff run, Ryan Carpenter scored a shorthanded overtime goal in a decisive game five in the first round against the Stockton Heat.
“It’s great. I said to the guys today, it’s an exciting time of year. Practices get shorter, meetings get shorter, and it’s the time of year you just come and play, and it’s competitive every day,” Barracuda head coach John McCarthy said. “It’s fun to be in that atmosphere again.”
San Jose recently added two top draft prospects in Quentin Musty and Igor Chernyshov. Both could make their pro hockey debuts on Saturday in the final home game of the regular season.
Shars gave Barracuda leadership that led the way back to the postseason
San Jose Sharks GM Mike Grier made multiple moves last summer to provide the Barracuda with an edge. The most significant move was signing Andrew Poturalski. Poturalski has been to three of the previous four Calder Cup Finals.
The veteran forward leads the AHL in scoring with 73 points (30 goals, 43 assists). The centerman is dealing with a lower-body injury and hasn’t played since March 28. SJHN reported that Poturalski is week-to-week and hopes to return before the end of the regular season.
Poturalski has led the Barracuda to the top power-play in the AHL and was named player of the month in the AHL for March.
Grier also brought in veteran defensemen Lucas Carlsson, Jimmy Schuldt, and Joey Keane to support the young Sharks’ prospects, such as Luca Cagnoni. The move of the off-season was trading for Yaroslav Askarov, solidifying not only the Sharks goalie of the future but also a bonafide No. 1 goalie for the AHL.
“From a development standpoint, you’re going to develop your players better with AHL playoff games, [because they] are closer to an NHL game,” McCarthy said. “It’s not an NHL game, but it’s closer than an AHL regular season game. It gives these guys that experience, these young players, that are playing for us.”
The Barracuda have three games remaining in the season, with the final game on April 20. The Cuda won’t host a playoff game unless they advance to the second round, but they still have a chance to improve their seeding.
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