Barracuda even series with 4-2 win over Griffins

SAN JOSE, CALIF. – The San Jose Barracuda (1-1) scored three times on the power play and rolled to a 4-2 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins (1-1) on Sunday night at SAP Center in front of 5,719 fans, evening the best-of-7 Western Conference Finals series at 1-1.

After Evgeny Svechnikov had taken a penalty just a minute and 54 seconds into the first, Julius Bergman (1) blasted a right-point shot past Jared Coreau to give the Barracuda an early 1-0 lead. At 10:44, Ryan Carpenter (8) made it two-for-two on the man advantage and netted his AHL-leading eighth goal of the postseason as the third-year pro steered a slot-pass from Tim Heed passed Coreau from between the hashes. Grand Rapids cut San Jose’s lead in half at 17:10 after Troy Grosenick stopped down an initial point shot, Tomas Nosek (5) jammed home the loose rebound.

In the second, Matt Ford (6) drew a roughing call and then blasted a one-timer past Grosenick from the left dot on the power play to tie the score at 14:38. But 50 seconds later, Joakim Ryan (5) ringed a slap shot from the high slot off the left post and in on the man advantage to give San Jose its lead back.

In the third, Grosenick stood tall, and Barclay Goodrow (5) sealed the victory with an empty-netter at 18:54.