San Jose Barracuda forward Trevor Parkes registered a three point game with a goal and two assists while goaltender Troy Grosenick made 33 saves for his 10th win of the season as the Barracuda avenged their season opening loss by defeating the Rockford IceHogs (AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks) 5-2 at the BMO Harris Bank Center Friday night.
The Barracuda, who won for the seventh time in their last eight games and have earned 15-points out of a possible 16 over that span, got multi-point games from forwards Bryan Lerg (goal/assist), Micheal Haley (goal/assist), Jeremy Langlois (goal/assist) and Ryan Carpenter (two assists). In addition, the Barracuda handed the IceHogs their first Friday night loss in regulation this season.
In a first period that saw a combined 27 shots on goal, 12 of which were credited to the Barracuda, the IceHogs struck first at 7:30 when forward Mark McNeill found a loose puck on top of the slot and beat Grosenick with a quick shot for his sixth goal of the season.
The IceHogs’ lead didn’t last long as the Barracuda tied the game 34-seconds later on forward Petter Emanuelsson’s fifth goal of the season off a one-timer from the right slot after taking a behind the net centering feed from Carpenter. Three-and-a-half minutes later at 11:33, Lerg put the Barracuda ahead 2-1 with a rebound score for his ninth goal of the season that was assisted by Langlois and Parkes.
Just 61-seconds into the second period, McNeill was fed a cross-zone pass from linemate Garret Ross and ripped a one-timer from inside the left face-off circle past Grosenick for his second goal of the game, seventh of the season.
Parkes scored what held up as the winning goal at 5:39 when he beat IceHogs goaltender Mark Visentin with a one-timer from the right slot after taking a centering feed from forward Scott Timmins, who positioned behind the IceHogs goal line near the right corner of the zone. Haley, who caused a turnover along the right half wall in the IceHogs zone, was credited with the secondary assist.
Haley gave the Barracuda an insurance goal at 1:19 of the third period when he finished off a two-on-one rush with Carpenter by beating Visentin through the wickets with a quick snap shot from the right slot for a power play goal, his fifth power play goal of the season and 12th goal overall. Nearly five minutes later at 6:04, Langlois scored his eighth goal of the season on a carbon copy of Haley’s goal by beating Visentin through the wickets with a quick snap shot from the right slot to finish off a two-on-one rush with Lerg after Parkes sprung them on the attack.
NOTES… Shots on goal were 35-32 in favor of the IceHogs… The Barracuda went 1-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill… Grosenick improved to 10-4-3 with a 2.91 goals-against-average and .905 save percentage… Grosenick is 6-0-1 in his last six starts and 10-1-2 in his last 13 stars overall… Raffi Torres made his season debut for the Barracuda after being sent on a conditioning assignment from the San Jose Sharks earlier in the week and it was his first AHL game since playing for the Edmonton Roadrunners during the 2004-05 season… Lerg had a game and season high nine shots on goal… The Barracuda improved to 10-1-3 in their last 14 games, 8-3-4 on the road and 18-10-6 with 42 points overall… The Barracuda wrap up their three game road trip Saturday night as they travel to play the Iowa Wild with puck drop scheduled at 5 p.m/pt… Barracuda head coach Roy Sommer is one win away from tying Fred “Bun” Cook for the most wins in AHL History (636).
THREE STARS
1) Trevor Parkes – Barracuda (1-2-3)
2) Bryan Lerg – Barracuda (1-1-2)
3) Mark McNeill – IceHogs (2-0-2)
LINES
*In order of appearance*
Goodrow / Carpenter / Emanuelsson
Lerg (C) / Langlois / Parkes
Torres / McCarthy (A) / Haley (A)
Goldobin / Timmins / Jevpalovs
DEFENSE
*In order of appearance*
Young / Ryan
Stollery / Bergman
McNally / Mueller
GOALIES
Grosenick
Dell
SCRATCHES
Cundari
Doremus
Gallant
Hanson
McLaren (inj)
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