HENDERSON, Nev. — The San Jose Barracuda could have stolen Game One. But now, they’re on the brink of elimination.
The Barracuda lost the series opener on Wednesday, 5-4 in OT to the Henderson Silver Knights at Lee’s Family Forum. They failed to hold a 3-1 second period lead, off Kasper Halttunen, Jimmy Huntington, and Colin White goals, and couldn’t ride a late game-tying Igor Chernyshov power play strike to victory.
Frankly, the Silver Knights outplayed the Barracuda most of the night, outshooting them 39-22, so fair’s fair.
Laurent Brossoit kept the Cuda above water for most of the contest, stopping 34-of-39 shots, many high-quality scoring chances.
San Jose must win Game Two on Friday to force a decisive Game Three on Sunday.
Hockey cliché, a two-goal lead is the most dangerous lead in the sport.
It’s sounds counterintuitive, but that’s exactly what the Barracuda’s two-goal lead felt like.
12:50 into the middle frame, the Barracuda were up 3-1. They had scored on two of their first four shots in the period, a fortunate bounce for Huntington and a power play deflection for White.
But looking deeper, the Cuda were in the midst of a stretch where they being badly outplayed. Over the last 10 minutes, despite the two goals, they had been outshot 16-5.
White’s goal would’ve been a good time to shut it down, but San Jose couldn’t, allowing a Raphael Lavoie goal a minute later. Lavoie outmuscled Luca Cagnoni to the paint.
– Henderson Silver Knights (@HSKnights) April 23, 2026
The Silver Knights would claim 8 of the next 11 shots, scoring three goals along the way to take a 4-3 lead.
“We didn’t have as much composure as I would have liked with the puck on our stick,” head coach John McCarthy noted. “I thought breaking the puck out was a struggle.”
“They’re putting a lot of pressure on us,” Brossoit said, “and guys start to panic a little bit.”
“We maybe could have fought the panic a little bit more,” defenseman Luca Cagnoni admitted.
“We just gotta keep our composure,” Huntington said.
It was the same message from everyone post-game: The breakout has to be much better.
It’s not just on the blueliners, but all of them, from top San Jose Sharks prospect Cagnoni to the older Nolan Allan to fresh-from-NCAA Thomas Messineo, struggled to advance the puck tonight.
The Barracuda are done if they can’t play five-man connected next game.
From the Lukas Cormier goal that made it 1-1, 17:48 into the first period, to the second Lavoie strike, that made it 4-3, 6:34 into the third period, the Silver Knights outshot the Barracuda 24-7. That’s almost 30 minutes of game action, honestly unacceptable play at this time of year.