sjbarracuda.com photo: The San Jose Barracuda advance on Saturday night with a 2-0 shutout over the San Diego Gulls at Valley View Arena in San Diego in game five of the AHL Calder Cup Playoffs

By: Eric He

The San Jose Barracuda will continue their chase for the Calder Cup after defeating the San Diego Gulls 2-0 in Game 5 to close out the series four games to one and advance to the Western Conference Finals.

San Jose will face Grand Rapids in the next round.

It is the first conference finals appearance in the history of the franchise, and a significant accomplishment for long-tenured head coach Roy Sommer.

The Barracuda were able to weather an aggressive start by the Gulls and jump out to a 1-0 lead after one period courtesy of Barclay Goodrow, who opened the scoring for the second straight game. Taking a feed from Jacob Middleton on the rush, Goodrow netted his fourth goal of the postseason and a big one for San Jose.

Despite strong chances for San Diego on the power play to open the second period, it was the Barracuda who struck on the man advantage to double their lead. Six minutes into the second, Adam Helewka found paydirt on a rebound in front to give San Jose a 2-0 lead.

It was a lead they would hold on to for the remainder of the game as the Barracuda blanked the Gulls, who were facing elimination. Troy Grosenick fended off all 34 shots he faced and stood tall in the third period as he and the penalty kill didn’t let anything in on a five-minute major penalty. In all, the Barracuda were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

Shots were 35-34 in favor of San Diego, but the Barracuda were outshot 10-6 in the third. But they defended well enough and scored just enough to record the win, and move on to the next round.

Game 1 of the conference finals against Grand Rapids will be next Saturday at SAP Center.