Barons Up and Down Road Trip Ends

The Barons finished up a 5-game road trip on Saturday. After splitting a pair of games in Lake Erie, a 3-2 OT win and a 5-3 loss, they headed to Austin for where the Stars handed them a good beatdown, chasing JDD after 1 period and winning 5-2. The Barons then took a trip up north of the border for a weekend set with the Manitoba Moose, splitting that pair as well with a recently returned Martin Gerber turning in a 3-2 shootout loss and a 4-0 win. The most telling stat of the road trip has to be the power play and the scoring in general. I went and looked at the last 5 games of the homestand and compiled those stats, and the stats of the road trip. First, here's the player stats from the homestand.

Reddox, Omark, and McDonald were coming up big for the Barons. Petry contributing his own SH goal in addition to Reddox's. Giroux's goal scoring drought continued. Petiot was injured, Belle was called up, and Plante was out for a game with an injury towards the end of a practice, so Joey Ryan and Jordan Bendfeld were brought in to fill in the holes on the blue line. Both came up big for the team when they needed them. JF Jacques provided the toughness that the team had been lacking a bit of and contributed a goal as well.

Gerber was called up after the game against the Chicago Wolves, which left JDD as the #1 goaltender ahead of Bryan Pitton who was called up from the Stockton Thunder. JDD had a shaky game against San Antonio, but slowly game into his own as time progressed. The Barons PP was 8/25 (32%) while the PK was 22/25 (88%). The Barons outscored their opponents 19-12 while going 3-1-1 in the 5-game span. Now, the road trip.

After the homestand, the Barons headed on to their road trip. Reddox and McDonald continued on their hot streaks. Omark not so much, his 3 points didn't come until the last game against Manitoba. Petry and Giroux would contribute the Barons only two PP goals on the road trip, Giroux's goal ending his 15 game goal drought. Bendfeld would end up getting a couple games in while Taylor battled an illness in the games against Manitoba. O'Marra returned in Manitoba after his shoulder injury that he suffered in the first game against Milwaukee back on the homestand.

JDD would start the first three games of the road trip. After giving up 3 goals in 1 period in Austin against the Stars, Todd Nelson pulled him in favor of Bryan Pitton. Pitton played well but was caught out of position a couple times as the Stars rolled on to win that game. Gerber returned after his stint in Edmonton and turned in 2 wins. The Barons were shaky on their PK as the road trip began, going 3/7 in the games against Lake Erie. Overall, the Barons went 2/26 (7.6%) on the PP and 21/25 on the PK (84%). They were outscored 15-14 while going 2-2-1.

The Barons return to Cox Center tomorrow for a game against the Houston Aeros and Friday for a game against Manitoba. The Barons will then travel to Rockford, Illinois to take on the IceHogs for the first time this season.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-