Photo credit: @goicehogs

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE—The Rockford IceHogs (21-15-1-2) scored two goals in under five minutes in the second period and held on for a 4-2 victory over the San Jose Barracuda (16-15-0-2) at the SAP Center on Friday night. Rockford snapped San Jose’s four-game home winning streak.

Rockford skated out to a fast start as they tilted the ice in their favor in the first 10 minutes of the first period. Matheson Iacopelli led a 2-on-1 break and was able to snipe a shot past under the arm of Barracuda goalie Troy Grosenick (5-6-2) inside the left post at the 5:40 mark. The unassisted goal was his ninth goal of the season.

San Jose couldn’t generate much offense in the opening period as they were constantly going into the sin bin. With the help of  a busy Grosenick, they were able to kill off all three power play opportunities for the IceHogs. Rockford dominated the shot clock by out shooting the Barracuda 14-4.

In the second period, Julius Bergman tied the game on the power play with his fourth goal of the season. Danny O’ Regan back handed a cross-ice pass to the defenseman who skated down the right wing and rifled a shot top shelf past Collin Delia (4-4-0) at the 5:36 mark.

Tyler Sikura got the momentum back for the IceHogs when was able to slam home his own rebound past Grosenick as a result of a 2-on-1 with Andreas Martinsen. His initial shot hit Grosenick in the mask before following up for his 10th goal of the season at the 9:10 mark of the second period.

Tanner Kero scored his third goal of the season into a wide-open net on the rebound when the IceHogs Anthony Louis’ shot from the point hit off of Grosenick and found a wide open Kero to tap it home for a 3-1 lead at the 14:02 mark. Rockford out shot San Jose 18-8 in the period.

San Jose wouldn’t go away quietly as they cut the deficit to 3-2 when Rudolfs Balcers banged home his team leading eighth goal of the season at 11:28 of the third period. Jacob Middleton’s shot from the point hit off Adam Clendening’s skate right over to Balcers who buried home the pack past Delia.

Kero finished off the scoring with an empty net, power play goal and his second of the game with just 39 seconds left in the game.

Delia earned the victory making 23 saves on 25 shots. Grosenick finished the evening with 39 saves on 42 shots in the defeat.

GAMES NOTES: It was the 500th career minor league hockey game for Barracuda forward Brandon Mashinter, who played last year for Rockford.

“Definitely wanted to be back for this one”, said Mashinter before the game. “Told the optometrist I am playing in this one.”

Mashinter returned to the lineup after suffering an upper body injury to his eye last weekend in San Diego.

Bergman’s power play goal snapped an 0-27 streak by the Barracuda that spanned six consecutive games.

Overall, San Jose was 1/3 on the power play, while Rockford was 1/6.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda take on the Bakersfield Condors on Monday afternoon (1/15) at 1:15 pm PT at the SAP Center.