SAN JOSE — Roy Sommer went into desperation mode Saturday, pulling out his good luck bolo tie as the Barracuda faced a must-win situation.
The lucky charm appeared to give the Barracuda’s sputtering power play the good vibes it needed to regain the dominance it displayed throughout the regular season.
After going 1-for-22 in the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs, the power play finally broke through with two goals in Game 2 at the SAP Center Saturday, propelling the Barracuda to a 5-1 win over the San Diego Gulls and a 1-1 series tie in the Pacific Division Finals.
Sommer said he sported green, purple and gold bolo tie because the Barracuda couldn’t afford to fall down 2-0 in the series heading to San Diego, where his team failed to pick up a win in five games this season.
“I wear it when we need a win,” Sommer said before refusing to credit the colorful tie for his team’s resurgence on the power play. “That’s personnel. We changed a couple things up, kind of got some fresh faces out there.”
The biggest move Sommer made to his power play was splitting up the dynamic defensive pairing of Tim Heed and Joakim Ryan. Instead of manning the blue line with Ryan, Heed went to work with Julius Bergman, a combination that produced two goals with the man advantage.
Both blue liners picked up assists on Ryan Carpenter’s league-leading sixth goal of the playoffs at 7:13 of the first, which gave the Barracuda a 2-0 lead. They also earned apples on Adam Helewka’s power play goal at 16:15 of the second, the Barracuda’s fourth goal of the contest.
With a 2-for-3 night, the Barracuda’s power play is now 3-for-7 in the series, looking very much like the group that dominated the AHL during the regular season, ranking second.
“Our power play was good all year and it never went through a drought like that,” Sommer said, referring to its 1-for-22 performance over five games against the Heat. “The personnel’s too good for it to not get good looks.”
The penalty kill also put together a strong outing Saturday going 3-for-3 in the contest.
“Special teams are even more important in the playoffs,” Bergman said. “You win games with special teams.”
The Barracuda opened the scoring at 4:31 of the first with a goal from rookie defenseman Nick DeSimone who continues to turn heads in his first six weeks of professional hockey.
DeSimone, who signed a contract with the Sharks on March 30 after completing his NCAA career at Union College, scored his first-career playoff goal when he one timed a blocked Timo Meier shot inside the far post from above the right circle.
With five points in seven playoff games, DeSimone is now tied for fourth in scoring among AHL defensemen and fifth among league rookies.
“It wasn’t given to him. They didn’t say, hey Roy, you’ve got to play this guy,” Sommer said. “He’s just deserved what he’s gotten.”
DeSimone credited the strength of the Barracuda’s team structure for easing his transition from college to pro hockey.
“Everybody’s in the right spot. Obviously, it’s a great team,” he said. “It’s definitely nice playing with these guys, they make it easy sometimes.”
Carpenter continued to play the role of Mr. Spring in Game 2, notching a goal and an assist. In addition to his first period tally, Carpenter set up Barclay Goodrow’s second goal of the playoffs on a 2-on-1 play just 40 seconds into the third, cementing the team’s 5-1 win.
“He’s the real deal in the playoffs,” Sommer said. “He’s a horse, man. He’ll play in the National Hockey League.”
The 26-year-old center now leads the playoffs in points (10), goals (6), shots on goal (26) and plus / minus (plus-8).
Carpenter acknowledged that he’s reveling in the intensity of playoff hockey.
“That is the kind of player I want to be,” Carpenter said. “Playoffs are harder, and so, sometimes the goals aren’t always pretty. You’ve just got to go to the hard areas.”
Sam Carrick scored the Gulls lone goal at 3:53 of the second. Buddy Robinson also got on the board for the Barracuda, scoring the team’s third goal at 1:10 of the middle stanza with help from Meier, who recorded two points in the game, and Rourke Chartier.
With San Diego hosting the next three games, the Barracuda will need to get the monkeys off their backs and beat the Gulls in their barn at least once to bring the series back to San Jose for Game 6.
“Wherever we play, we’ve just got to stick to our game plan,” Carpenter said.