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The San Jose Sharks’ AHL affiliate will begin its postseason in Los Angeles on Thursday.
The Barracuda begin the Calder Cup playoffs with a best-of-three series against the Ontario Reign, with all games in Southern California. Games 1 and 2 will be at Arena, home of the Los Angeles Kings, on Thursday and Saturday, respectively, and Game 3, if necessary, will be at Toyota Arena in Ontario on Monday. The Reign is the Kings’ AHL affiliate.
To host a playoff game at Tech CU Arena in San Jose, the Barracuda would need to advance to the second round.
San Jose won just four of its last 10 games but still finished with 19 points more than last season’s team, which was last in the 10-team Pacific Division.
Center Andrew Poturalski led the Barracuda and captured the AHL’s scoring title with 73 points, but is dealing with a lower-body injury, and his availability for the first round is in question. Poturalski’s last game was on March 28, and he was considered week to week as of the start of this month.
As the AHL’s leading point-getter, Poturalski won the John B. Sollenberger Trophy. Poturalski becomes just the third player in AHL history to lead the league in scoring three times.
Other leading scorers for the Barracuda include defenseman Luca Cagnoni (52 points), winger Danil Gushchin (51 points), and forward Ethan Cardwell (48 points).
Goalie Yaroslav Askarov, who will likely be on the Sharks’ roster next season, has played three games this month since he returned from a lower-body injury that cost him six weeks. In those three games, Askarov was 1-2-0 with a .930 save percentage.
The Barracuda went 3-4-0-1 against the Reign this season. The two teams split their two most recent meetings on April 11 and 12 in San Jose, with the Barracuda winning the first game 4-1 and losing the second game 4-0.
Calder Cup playoffs, first-round schedule
Ontario Reign vs. San Jose Barracuda (all games streaming on and the Sharks Audio Network).
Game 1: Thursday, San Jose vs. Ontario, 7 p.m, in Los Angeles
^Game 2: Saturday, San Jose vs. Ontario, 6 p.m., in Los Angeles
*Game 3: April 28, San Jose at Ontario, 7 p.m.
*if necessary
^San Jose designated as “home” team for last change
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