GAMEDAY: BARRACUDA VS. HEAT (4.23.17)
Apr 23, 2017San Jose Barracuda (1-0) vs. Stockton Heat (0-1)
GAME 2 (Best-of-5), Divisional Round Semifinal
April 23, 2017 -- SAP Center at San Jose, San Jose Calif. (3:00 PM)
Tonight’s Matchup: On Sunday, the Barracuda look to take a 2-0 series lead in the best-of-five Calder Cup Divisional Round semifinal with archrival the Stockton Heat. San Jose shutout Stockton, 4-0, in game one behind a 28-save shutout by Troy Grosenick and a pair of goals from Ryan Carpenter. During the 12-game season series against Stockton, San Jose went 7-5-0 and 4-2-0 at SAP Center. The Barracuda outscored Stockton 37-to-35 and accumulated 358 penalty minutes in the 12 games.
Best of the West: The San Jose Barracuda finished the regular season with a 43-16-4-5 (.699) record, resulting in both the Bud Poile Trophy (Western Conference Regular Season Champions) and John Chick Trophy (Pacific Division Regular Season Champions). San Jose went on a 14-game winning streak from Jan. 21 to March 1.
Not “Baz”: On Friday Troy Grosneick made 28-saves to earn his first pro playoff shutout, picking right where he left off during the regular season. Grosenick went 30-10-5, earning the with the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL’s outstanding goaltender for the 2016-17 season. In 49 appearances for San Jose this season, Grosenick ranked second in the league in wins (30), third in goals-against average (2.04) and second in save percentage (.926). He is also just the fifth goaltender in AHL history to reach double digits in shutouts in a single season (10), and he put together a scoreless stretch of more than 248 minutes from Nov. 19 to Dec. 18.
Playoff performer: On Friday, Ryan Carpenter netted a pair of goals in San Jose’s 4-0 win over Stockton. During his three year pro career, Carpenter has seven points (4+3=7), a plus-7 rating and four PIMs in nine Calder Cup playoffs games. Carpenter appeared in 11 games this season for the San Jose Sharks, totaling four points (2+2=4), plus-five rating and four PIMs.
Heed Check: Barracuda defenseman Tim Heed opened up the scoring for San Jose on Friday in what turned out to be a game winner a 4-0 win over Stockton. Heed was not selected to the AHL All-Star Game in Lehigh Valley in late January but was voted to the second AHL All-Star Team at the end of the AHL regular season. Among blueliners, Heed finished fourth in the AHL in points (56), third in assists (42), T-seventh in goals (14), T-sixth in power-play goals (8), T-fifth in game-winning goals (4) and is T-15th overall in the league in points.