sjbarracuda.com photo: The San Jose Barracuda’s defenseman Tim Heed (right) defends the San Antonio Rampage’s left winger A.J. Greer (24) who waits in front of Cuda goaltender Troy Grosenick (1)

By Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Barracuda scored three power-play goals en route to a 4-2 victory over the San Antonio Rampage at SAP Center on Wednesday night.

The Barracuda (16-7-1-3) got off to a sluggish start in the first few minutes of the game against a subpar Rampage (15-16-2-0) team, but found a rhythm around the 13 minute mark.

Troy Bourke went to the box for delay of game, giving the Barracuda a power play at 13:53. Danny O’Regan completed the tic-tac-toe sequence between Joakim Ryan and Adam Helewka for a power-play goal and his 10th of the season. San Jose took a 1-0 lead with just one second left on the Rampage man advantage.

Marcus Sorensen took the rebound off a Nikolay Goldobin shot from the end boards and banked it in off Spencer Martin’s leg for his 8th of the season, giving the Barracuda a 2-0 lead at 6:18.

Alex Gallant served a two-minute penalty for slashing with 2:09 left in the first period.

The Barracuda watched the Rampage snap their streak of 20 consecutive penalty kills when A.J. Greer cut the lead in half with a power-play goal and his 10th of the season. Greer collected a pass from Rocco Grimaldi and put the puck past Troy Grosenick for a power-play goal with 35 seconds left.

The Barracuda were outshot 15-11, but held a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.

Shortly after Jacob Middleton went to the box for crosschecking, the Rampage scored what appeared to be the game-tying goal. The controversial call of goaltender interference on Grosenick led to a brawl between both teams and it was eventually overturned. Jim O’Brien scored his sixth of the season, tying the game 2-2 with 6:54 left in the second period.

The action intensified late in the second as Anton Lindholm was called for interference. The Barracuda received a power play. Then, San Jose went on a 5-on-3 after Mat Clark was called for hooking with just five seconds left in the period.

The Barracuda were outshot 31-23 and in a 2-2 tie after 40 minutes.

Both penalties were carried into the opening minutes of the third period.

The Barracuda grabbed a 3-2 lead with 22 seconds left on Clark’s penalty as Tim Heed scored his eighth of the season with a shot from the point at 18:25 of the third.

Lindholm took a holding penalty late in the third. This allowed Heed to restore San Jose’s two-goal cushion. Heed beat Grosenick with a one-timer from above the left circle for his second goal of the game and ninth of the season, extending the Barracuda lead to 4-2 with 6:37 left in regulation.

The Barracuda beat the Rampage 4-2 at home. Grosenick finished with 36 saves in a San Jose victory.

Martin made 37 saves in a losing effort for San Antonio.

Ryan complimented Grosenick’s performance, saying, “Grosenick’s been on fire. He’s been hot for a while now. He’s making the big saves when we need him to. The first five minutes of the first period, we were struggling, we weren’t playing so well and he kept us in. It could’ve easily been 2-0 off the bat, so he’s making huge saves when he needs to and we’re getting goals for him too.”

Barracuda head coach Roy Sommer gave credit where it was due.

“That (Rampage) is a much improved team since the last time we played them down there,” Sommer said. “I can see why they’re winning games right now.”

Sommer added: “We got a lot of talent. We have three good lines and the fourth line kind of does their thing. We just weren’t in our end a lot…but you lose a (Mirco) Mueller and that’s an automatic breakout for us, but that’s how it goes.”

The Barracuda return to action Friday night when they host the Milwaukee Admirals (19-8-2-2) at 7:00 pm PST on AHL Live and AM 1220 KDOW.

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