Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Barracuda (1-1) went back to well that they have relied on throughout the season. Rookie winger sensation Rudolfs Balcers scored two goals on his way to a four-point night in helping power his team to a 6-3 victory over the Pacific Division Champion Tuscon Roadrunners (1-1) on Saturday evening at SAP Center. With the win, San Jose evened up their best of five playoff series at one game apiece.

The Barracuda received the fast start they wanted. Ivan Chekhovich picked up the puck behind the net and fed a pass over to Balcers at the left slot. Balcers spun around and snapped home a shot, using the defenseman as a screen, past Roadrunners goalie Adin Hill (1-1) at the 1:25 mark of the first period for a 1-0 lead.

“Had one line really going tonight,” said head coach Roy Sommer about the Chartier-Balcers-Chekhovich line. “Those guys were really good. It was fun to watch.”

The Roadrunners would tie the score under three minutes later. Conor Garland pick pocketed Nick DeSimone inside the Cuda zone, fed the puck back to Dylan Strome who skated in from the right slot in between the faceoff circles and fired home a shot past Cuda goalie Antoine Bibeau (1-1). The unassisted goal came at the 4:18 mark of the first period.

Strome would give Tuscon the lead at the 6:16 mark after a successful faceoff win in the Cuda zone. Mario Kempe fed Strome a pass just beyond the right face off circle and Strome would send in a knuckleball of a shot toward the net that Bibeau never saw thanks to the screen by Garland for a 2-1 lead. It was Strome’s third goal of the playoffs.

In a period that went back and forth between the two teams, Adam Helewka tied it up on the power play. Alexander True’s pass went through the middle of the crease that found Jacob Middleton. Middleton, from the right side of the net, sent a pass back through the crease out in the middle that Balcers was able to touch pass over to Helewka and he buried a backhander into an empty net with Hill down on the ice at the 11:45 mark.

Rourke Chartier gave the Cuda the lead, scoring off the rebound of a Tim Heed shot. Balcers’ initial rebound attempt was stopped by Hill, but he couldn’t get to Chartier, as he was able to lift the puck past Hill for his first goal of the playoffs at the 15:08 mark.

The Roadrunners tied it up while the teams were skating 4-on-4 when Carter Camper carried the puck into the Cuda zone. As two San Jose defensemen gravitated toward him, he fed a behind the back pass over to a wide open Kempe who buried the point-blank shot top self in the left corner past Bibeau for his first goal of the playoffs at the 6:36 mark of the second period. Trevor Murphy received the secondary assist.

Each team had a breakaway opportunity to give their respective team the lead only to see each netminder come up with a huge save. Michael Bunting skated in all alone but was stoned by Bibeau with seven minutes left in the period. Sasha Chmelevski skated down the left boards 1-on-1 with Hill but his bank hand attempt was stymied by Hill less than a minute later in end-to-end action.

In the third period Balcers would give back the Cuda the lead they would not relinquish with his second goal of the evening. On a pretty give and go play Chartier passed the puck over to Balcers at the blue line, Balcers return the favor to find Chartier in the right shot, where his shot hit off the pads of Hill, and trickled out to the middle, where Balcers crashed the net and slammed home the puck past Hill into the left corner at the 3:45 mark.

“It’s always nice when you get that goal early, it got us going,” said Balcers about scoring his two goals. “I think the whole line was hot tonight. We had our chances and we scored them.”

San Jose would get an insurance goal as Chmelevski came in on a 3-on-2 rush, waited for everybody to skate past him, spun around and then fired a shot from the left point. Manny Weiderer drove to the net and was able to tip in the shot top self in the left corner of the goal for his first playoff goal at the 16:00 mark. Captain John McCarthy received the secondary assist.

Chartier completed the scoring with an empty-net goal when he was able to take a cross-ice feed from Chekhovich at the 18:28 mark. Chartier finished with a three points on the night (1G, 2A).

“I think I got to create out here,” said Chartier after the game. “That’s part of my job this year. Some nights it goes in, some nights it doesn’t. Tonight was one of those nights that it did.”

Bibeau, who was once again fabulous in the net for the Cuda, stopped 22 pucks on 25 attempts for the victory. Hill made 26 saves on 31 shots in a losing effort.

“I’ll tell you what, (in) the second period he (Bibeau) basically won us the game,” said Sommer. “They came in the power play, he made the first save and then he came out and made the next save. He did what he needed to do for us tonight.”

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 1/4 on the power play while Tuscon went 0/2.

CHIPPY AFTERMATH! Tempers flared at the end of the first period when a skirmish broke out right in front of the net. No actual fights occurred and there were no penalties enforced. Then with under a minute left in the 3rd period the teams exchanged pleasantries once again with a big scrum that led to fighting majors for San Jose’s Wiederer and Emerson Clark Tuscon’s Trevor Murphy.

“That happens, it’s the playoffs,” said Chartier regarding the extracurriculars during the game. “We don’t like them, they don’t like us and it’s only going to get more physical as it (the series) goes on.”

The announced attendance was 5,197. The Barracuda drew over a combined 9,000 fans for Games 1 and 2 of the series.

UP NEXT: The series shifts back to the desert for Game 3. The Barracuda take on the Roadrunners on Wedneday, April 25 at 7:05 pm PT.