BARRACUDA DOOMED BY GRIFFS FOUR-GOAL 2ND
May 26, 2017
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. - The San Jose Barracuda (1-3) allowed four-second period goals on Friday night at Van Andel Arena and couldn't recover, falling to the Grand Rapids Griffins (3-1) in game four of the Western Conference Finals, 6-2.
After killing off a pair of Griffins power plays in the first, Colin Blackwell (3) snuck behind the Grand Rapids defense before being tripped up on a breakaway and drawing a penalty shot. On the penalty shot, Blackwell sped up before dropping Jared Coreau to his stomach with a backhand-to-forehand move and lifted a backhand over Coreau's left pad.
In the second, Grand Rapids stormed back with four unanswered goals to take a 4-1 lead through 40 minutes. Tyler Bertuzzi (6) tied the score as he swiped a rebound past Troy Grosenick's right pad at 4:07. Eric Tangradi (2) gave Grand Rapids its first lead as he powered to the net from the below the goal line and snuck the puck past Grosenick on the far side despite three Barracuda defenders being in the area. Tomas Nosek (7) netted the Griffins first power play goal on its fifth advantage by going top shelf short side, and then Martin Frk (3) completed the four-goal frame by ripping a shot inside the right post on a breakaway.
In the third, Adam Helewka (3) fired a shot off the left post and in from the far dot on the power play to cut Grand Rapids lead in half, but Ben Street (4) pushed the Griffs advantage back up to three just a 50 seconds later by beating Grosenick top shelf on a breakaway. At 17:17, Evgeni Svechnikov (4) fired a shot from a fortuitist bounce off a stanchion from the low slot to make it 6-2.
Grosenick (8-6) suffered the loss after allowing six goals on 36 shots, while Coreau (10-2) collected the win after making 26 saves on 28 shots.
The San Jose Barracuda continue their quest for the Calder Cup on Saturday, May 26 (4 PM PST) as they take on the Grand Rapids Griffins in game five of their best-of-7 Western Conference Finals matchup at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan. All the action can be heard on AM 1220 KDOW, www.kdow.biz and watched on www.ahllive.com. If a game six is needed, tickets are available at the SAP Center Box Office, at 408-999-5757, or online at SJBarracuda.com/tickets.
Goal Scorers:
SJ: C. Blackwell (3)
GR: T. Bertuzzi (6), E. Tangradi (2), T. Nosek (7), M. Frk (3), B. Street (4), E. Svechnikov (5)
Goaltenders:
SJ: T. Grosenick - L (30/36)
GR: J. Coreau - W (28/30)
BARRACUDA Power Play: (1/6)
BARRACUDA Penalty Kill: (6/8)
Three Stars:
1. GR - E. Tangradi
2. GR - T. Nosek
3. GR - B. Street
BOX SCORE