San Jose Barracuda 2 at GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 3 SO

March 30, 2018

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Matt Puempel’s goal in the fourth round of the shootout on Friday gave Grand Rapids a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Barracuda and extended the Griffins’ point streak to six games (5-0-0-1) as they prepare to hit the road for the next five contests.

Tom McCollum secured first star honors by making 33 saves and stopping three of four in the shootout, while Luke Esposito also scored in the skills competition in a near duplicate of his shootout tally on Wednesday against Texas.

The Griffins, who’ve played past regulation in four straight games overall and three of their last four at Van Andel Arena, reduced their magic numbers for clinching their sixth consecutive playoff berth to just eight points over the Milwaukee Admirals and six over the Iowa Wild, who tonight lost their seventh game in a row (0-6-0-1) since earning two wins in Grand Rapids on March 23-24. The Griffins now sit a season-high nine points up on a playoff spot and are just two points behind the Manitoba Moose and one in back of the Chicago Wolves in the Central Division race.

With its regular season finale on April 14 the lone home game remaining on the schedule, Grand Rapids (38-24-1-7) will begin its five-game road swing on Saturday with a crucial four-point matchup at Milwaukee at 7 p.m. EDT.

An energized Griffins team had a great scoring chance against Antoine Bibeau on its first shift and racked up nine shots before the Barracuda managed their first try on McCollum. That margin eventually ballooned to 17-3 before San Jose awoke, but a period in which Grand Rapids dominated all aspects and saw 13 players register at least one shot concluded with a 0-0 score despite the home squad’s 19-6 shot advantage.

It took only 16 seconds of the middle frame for the Griffins to finally break through Bibeau. On a rush into the San Jose zone, Dominic Turgeon fired a wrist shot from above the left circle that Bibeau kicked aside, but Dylan McIlrath was at the right hashmarks to bang home the rebound.

San Jose (28-25-4-4) began to turn the shots tide and knotted the score on its 14th attempt of the period during a 4-on-4 at the 12:15 mark, with Jacob Middleton blasting a one-timer past McCollum from 45 feet.

Ben Street potted a backdoor pass from Colin Campbell into a yawning net 7:10 into the third period to mark his team-leading 57th point of the season and give the Griffins a 2-1 lead, but again the Barracuda would answer. With San Jose on the power play, Alexander True planted himself just outside the crease to redirect Nick DeSimone’s shot from the point with exactly seven minutes remaining in regulation.

Ninety seconds into overtime, Bibeau made a sprawling save to deny Turgeon on the backdoor and keep the Barracuda alive, which turned out to be the best opportunity for either team in the extra session.

In the shootout, San Jose only mustered a goal by Rudolfs Balcers in round two, while Esposito answered in that frame before Puempel drilled a shot past Bibeau two rounds later to send the crowd of 9,860 into a frenzy.

The Barracuda outshot the Griffins 26-15 over the final two periods to close Grand Rapids’ advantage in that department to just 38-35 by night’s end. Bibeau finished with 35 saves but stopped only two of four in the shootout.

Note: Should Saturday’s game at Milwaukee go to overtime, it would equal a franchise record as the fifth consecutive game tied at the end of regulation (Jan. 19-30, 2009).

Three Stars: 1. GR McCollum (SOW, 33 saves); 2. SJ Bibeau (SOL, 35 saves); 3. GR Street (goal)