It was an extremely busy week for the Bakersfield Condors as they played five games in seven days.

Unfortunately, the Condors just couldn’t find a way to string together a couple of wins, coming out of the week with two wins, two losses in regulation, and a shootout loss. After the hectic week, the Condors currently sit in third place in the AHL’s Pacific Division with 67 points in 55 games played. The San Jose Barracuda are hot on their tails with 66 points in only 51 games played.

The goals against are starting to creep back up, and Bakersfield is now ranked third-worst in the Pacific Division with 175 goals against (3.18 goals-against average). The main concern to me continues to be the team’s slow starts. In every game but a matinee versus the Colorado Eagles, the Condors were outshot in the first period.

Now shots aren’t everything, but it is a decent metric to give us an idea of who is pushing play. Far too many times have I written down a note saying “four shots 17 minutes into the game.” Now, much like their parent club, the Condors are known for a good comeback every once in a while, and they do end up picking their play up in the second and third. But maybe they could avoid the comebacks and play with a lead.

One more little note before we head into the top performers this week: Bakersfield ranks first in the Pacific Division with 792 penalty minutes. That is far too many, and although they have a great “power kill” with nine shorthanded goals on the year, you will struggle to win in the playoffs taking as many penalties as they do. They have to clean up the sloppy penalties.

Well, the “Ice Man” was a little cold, but not in a good way. Isaac Howard was on a four-game pointless streak, but got off the snide on the 28th and added a beautiful power play marker on the 3rd. The points-per-game rate has come down a bit for Howard, but that was expected for the first-year pro. Mind you, he is still over a point-per-game with 15 goals and 33 points in 31 games played.

What keeps me forever intrigued and excited about the former Hobey Baker winner is the goal-scoring instincts mixed with his elite shot. In the first clip below it’s the power-play goal I referred to at the start of this portion.

First of all, the placement and power behind the one-timer was elite, but the part that stood out to me is the way Howard took a quick burst to the side giving him the space and time needed for him to pull off the amazing goal. It is crucial to constantly move your feet and even better when you do it with all eyes off of you.

The Oilers top winger prospect continues to develop his off-puck goal scoring instincts the video above showcases one technique and that’s route timing, the next video below will display another technique of goal scoring instincts and that’s “getting lost.”

“Getting lost” to me means nobody has eyes on you and in the matter of about seven seconds Howard goes from all eyes on him to nobody tying his stick up back door for another nice goal. The dynamic prospect stays beside the net after his initial drag shot and I liked his body positioning in front when the puck does come to him as well.

Howard gets net-front position first and he has the inside position no matter who comes to challenge him. Excellent heads-up play after a scramble created by the Ice Man himself. When you can score like Howard does at the AHL level, you develop a fair amount of respect among your peers and in the next clip you can see the first-rounder use his shot to open up a passing lane to Roby Järventie.

I’ve seen some great progress being made in Howard’s playmaking game. Earlier in the year I noted that he was struggling to notice passing lanes until they were closed and that this area of his game needs addressing. In the final clip below you see the former Spartan recognize Järventie instantly and finds him for a high-danger chance.

Howard goes from his backhand to his forehand then right to Järventie with zip behind it. No extra dusting off the puck, no hesitation, just see the open lane and place it on a tee. I thought Howard had a great week and it didn’t result in great box-score numbers, but he continues to show progress in the areas he needed to work on.

I have been banging the Roby Järventie drum for some time now and it won’t stop here. The Finnish winger put up a goal and two assists in the five games played, but like Howard the box-score doesn’t tell the full story.

What stands out about Järventie to me is the ability to connect plays together, he rarely misses a pass, rarely turns a puck over, and can glue a play together. Below in our first clip it showcases an excellent example of what I mean.

On the power-play entry, Järventie navigates through the traffic, stops up, and lays a perfect small area pass on the tape of Josh Samanski which allows him to find a wide open Max Jones for a chance. Without the entry and small area skill on display by the second-rounder none of that play happens.

Järventie loves to yo-yo the defenders, he pushes the defenders back and then stops up. He’ll draw all eyes on him and make one tiny pass that creates a great chance. The next clip below shows this off to full effect.

It’s textbook. Draw in the defender and pass it to your open teammate attacking downhill with pace. Järventie just plays the game, he makes the right play, and even if it’s a tight window he has the skill to make that play too. Below is our final example of this talking point on Järventie, but it displays the high level skill he possesses to make these tough plays.

The former Senator draft pick finds Isaac Howard on the far blue line with a backhand pass that results in a Damien Carfagna partial break chance. Being able to connect plays together goes a long way and being able to do it in any situation (clean puck pickup, zone entry, etc.) is a great skill to have and it leads to more offence.

The final clip out of Järventie will be the magnificent assist he had on Josh Samanski’s one timer goal.

The power forward recognizes the oppositions feet turned towards the boards and with the space between them Järventie has the time to make a move to the inside. After that he lays it perfectly in the wheelhouse of Josh Samanski. It seems like Järventie just makes the right decision, right pass, right move, at the perfect time. Isaac Howard and Roby Järventie are on the same line now and I find that they complement each other well. Howard wants to continuously push the pace with the puck and Järventie is more than okay with playing in behind the space Howard creates. I think they should keep this pair together moving forward.

James Hamblin has been on a tear over the past month. The Medicine Hat Tiger alum has scored 11 goals in his last 14 games played dating back to Jan. 30 against Abbotsford. With the run he has been on Hamblin has reached his career high in goals at the with 22 on the season in 48 games.

The undrafted pro’s former career high came in 2021-2022 that saw Hamblin score 21 goals in 64 games played. I referred to it in a past article and I’m gonna say it here, but whatever is asked of James Hamblin he does. I’m happy it’s starting to turn into more results now.

The first clip below is what I think is the nicest during the five game span due to the beautiful cross body finish.

That’s a goal scorer’s goal and Hamblin made it look easy, that’s the kind of roll the Bakersfield assistant captain has been on. Now with all the goals going in for Hamblin I think his second best play of the week came on the game-tying goal from Roby Järventie. In the next clip you’ll see Hamblin send a perfect pass over to Järventie resulting in the game-tying goal.

Just over a minute to go, you’re on a hot streak, and you pass it? I love it. It was a great heads-up play by the Bakersfield pivot and it results in Järventie looking at a wide open net. The Condors went on to win that game in overtime and I wonder who scored the winner? That’s right it was once again James Hamblin as you will see in our final clip below.

It’s excellent execution on a three-on-two rush, but Hamblin couldn’t have placed that puck better. This capped off a three-point game for the 26-year-old in what was his best performance of the week. Hamblin is up to four short-handed goals now on the season and that puts him in a tie for first in the AHL. What an excellent month of February James had and just in time for playoffs.

The Condors play this Friday in the start of a back-to-back matchup at home against the Tucson Roadrunners. Bakersfield will look to string together a pair of wins for the first time since they won two straight games on Feb. 14 versus the San Diego Gulls and Feb 18 against Coachella Valley.