Condors Beat Dallas Eakins’ Gulls

8 years ago

_{Oilers fans in Bakersfield}

The Bakersfield Condors finally didn’t need a heroic effort from Laurent Brossoit to pick up a win.

They fired up the offence for 40 minutes and then navigated through some rough patches to wind up with a 6-4 win over the San Diego Gulls on Friday night, evening the season-series with their arch-rivals at two victories apiece.

“We did a great job of setting the tone early tonight. We had one of our better first periods of the year. We earned those goals. At the end, we have to a bit better of a job weathering the storm in the third. They’re a good team and we knew they’d throw everything at us but in the end we’ll take the win.” – Dillon Simpson

LINEUP

Goal

Brossoit

Scrivens

Defence

Nikitin – Reinhart

Simpson – Hunt

Oesterle – Musil

Forwards

Hamilton – Yakimov – Slepyshev

Roy – Miller – Ford

Kessy – Currie – Christoffer

LaLeggia – Platzer – Chase

FIRST PERIOD

One shift into his first game with the Condors and Griffin Reinhart puts San Diego’s Mike Sgarbossa hard into the boards.

1-0 Condors – On a delayed penalty, Dillon Simpson guns a wrist shot towards the net and it sails all the way through and just inside the post past Gulls goalie Ryan Faragher. One shot, one goal. GOAL: Simpson (1) ASSISTS: Yakimov, Miller 1:19

Kale Kessy lays out in front of a hard point shot from Gulls d-man Andrew O’Brien. Nice show of bravery.
Bogdan Yakimov, in his return to the lineup from a knee injury, powers along the end boards before putting the puck out front, but Andrew Miller is unable to tap it in.
Faragher poorly tracks a dump-in and the puck goes between his legs behind the San Diego net. Kessy puts it through the paint but there’s no one there for Bakersfield.
A nifty bank pass off the boards springs Ryan Hamilton and he’s grabbed from behind by Shea Theodore drawing a Condors power play.

2-0 Condors – Matthew Ford gets the puck in the corner, fakes taking it all the way behind the net, and drops it for Anton Slepyshev who goes top shelf on Faragher. GOAL: Slepyshev (3) ASSISTS: Ford, Nikitin 7:35 (pp)

Kyle Platzer puts his shoulder into the back of the Gulls’ Joseph Cramarossa who goes hard into the boards. No call and Sgarbossa spends the rest of the shift taking runs Platzer.
Second big shot block by Kale Kessy, showing some additional value other than just toughness.
Antoine Leganiere gets free on the wing behind Brad Hunt and he beats Brossoit but not the crossbar. Right back the other way and Slepyshev puts a neat back pass onto Yakimov’s stick and he rattles the post.

3-0 Condors – The Gulls are totally lost in their own end as the Condors keep the puck moving. Greg Chase is all alone in the high slot and his shot beats Faragher. It’s the first AHL goal for the Oilers’ seventh-round steal. GOAL: Chase (1) ASSIST: Nikitin 17:04

3-1 – Kyle Bonis gets away from the Condors and Hunt takes a penalty. Brossoit gets a chunk of a point shot but Reinhart can’t clear the front of the net and the rebound is put away by Nic Kerdiles. GOAL: Kerdiles (6) ASSIST: Theodore, Montour 18:48 (pp)

SECOND PERIOD

Lots more chemistry shown by Yakimov and Slepyshev. The latter then crashed the net but can’t stuff it in and winds up in a bit of a scuffle.

4-1 Condors – Another ugly moment for Faragher who loses the puck behind his own net. ECHL Norfolk call-ups combine as Chase puts it to Josh Currie who has nothing but an open net in front of him. The former ECHL Condor gets his first AHL goal. GOAL: Currie (1) ASSISTS: Chase, LaLeggia

Why Faragher doesn’t get the hook is beyond absolutely everyone inside Rabobank Arena yet Dallas Eakins leaves him in.
Former Flames and Senators tough guy Brian McGrattan bumps with Kessy as the Condors hit the Gulls zone. There’s a long look but nothing more comes of it between those two. The shift continues and leads to chaos in the San Diego zone.

5-1 Condors – The Gulls just can’t sort out any manner of getting the puck out of their end. Currie’s shot from the half-wall is stopped but Kessy bangs in the rebound. It’s a neatly wrapped gift for the birthday boy. GOAL: Kessy (4) ASSISTS: Currie, Oesterle 8:29

Cramarossa tries to get the Gulls stirred up as he takes runs at both Simpson and Hunt on the same shift.
Ford is stopped on breakaway by Faragher. So what does Eakins do? Now he pulls the struggling goalie. In comes PTO backup Jeff Lerg, who is maybe 5-foot-7 and started the year in ECHL Toledo.
Stu Bickel picks his spot as instead of tangling with say Kessy, Marco Roy or Greg Chase, he decides to fight the drastically outgunned Currie. It’s not much a fight and Bickel gets an undeserved win.
Lerg makes a good impression right away as he stops LaLeggia and then Miller. Brossoit shows his stuff by getting in the right place at the right time to foil Bonis in tight.

THIRD PERIOD

5-2 – With Braden Christoffer off on a tripping call, Laganiere takes a pass at the side of net and neatly slides it into the slot for oncoming Theodore to rip home. GOAL: Theodore (3) ASSISTS: Laganiere, Sgarbossa 6:11 (pp)

The Gulls start to bring it and moments after the goal, the Condors have one horrible shift when they have at least two chances to clear the zone and fail. Momentum is shifting.

5-3 – The Condors can’t get the puck out again. Hunt misses Christoffer with a pass along the boards and a floater from the point is tipped on the way by Laganiere and it gets past Brossoit. GOAL: Laganiere (6) ASSIST: Megna 11:59

More heat from the Gulls and the Condors are starting to collapse.
Less than two minutes left, the Gulls get a sixth attacker on the ice. Brossoit gets his body on a high shot from Montour and Kessy clears.

6-3 Condors – Reinhart makes a nice play in front of the Bakersfield net getting his stick on a centering pass. Andrew Miller lugs the puck out, hits centre, and strokes it into the empty net. GOAL: Miller (5) 18:52

6-4 – Brossoit can’t hold the post enough to prevent a late tally from in close. GOAL: Cramarossa (5) 19:34

“It’s been high-intensity games every time we play them. We owed them one after last time (5-1 loss in San Diego on Nov. 11). Every team in this division, you have to play your best if you want wins. We’re starting to get bodies back, get healthy, and it’s nice to get that win.” – Simpson

“San Diego put on a push, they got some momentum, and we forced things which is a sign of a young team maturing. We have to learn how to play under pressure. They got on our D and we turned the puck over a little bit. We have to learn how to play with a lead, play smart, play consistent and execute simple plays well.” – Gerry Fleming

Three Stars

Josh Currie
Greg Chase
Anton Slepyshev

“It’s good to get the two points. The fans have been great here and hopefully we can keep things rolling.” – Josh Currie

In the nest

The Condors had two healthy scratches, sitting out D Martin Gernat and C Alexis Loiseau. Still in sick bay are Tyler Pitlick, Phil McRae, Kellen Jones, Mitch Moroz, and Josh Winquist … The Condors packed up and hit the road right after the game as they play a matinee in San Jose on Saturday. They are back home next Friday for a rematch with the Gulls.