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by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — The home woes continued for the San Jose Barracuda (11-11-0-1) as they suffered their third straight home defeat in 4-2 loss to the Bakersfield Condors (10-11) Friday night at the SAP Center.

Coming back home riding a two game winning streak against the Tuscon Roadrunners, the Cuda weren’t able to ride that momentum against Bakersfield. The Condors received the game winning goal from Branden Chistoffer with just 1:21 remaining in the third period after taking a pass from Patrick Russel and burying the puck past Antoine Bibeau (7-6).

The Condors struck first when Russell scored his 6th goal of the season just three minutes into the first period off an assist from Grayson Downing. The teams earned two power play opportunities apiece during the period, but neither could find the back of the net in the remaining 17 minutes and the scored remained 1-0 in favor of the Condors going into second frame.

In the second period, the Barracuda tied the game at 1-1 when Nick DeSimone scored his first goal of the season when he wristed a shot from just outside the top of the circle beating Condors goalie Nick Ellis (6-5-1) at 15:49. It didn’t take the Condors long to quickly answer back with a power play goal scored by Ty Rattie, his ninth of the season at the 17:40. Bakersfield would take 2-1 lead into the second intermission.

San Jose stormed out of the gates in the third period when Brandon Bolig evened the scored only 1:15 into the period, when Brandon Bollig scored his 5th goal of the season after slamming home a sweet behind-the-back feed from Alexander True. However that would be the last goal they would score as Bakersfield limited the Cuda’s chances the rest of the period. Keegan Lowe would tack on an empty-net goal, his second of the season with just two seconds left to seal the much needed victory for Bakersfield.

Ellis earned the victory making 19 saves on 21 shots, while Bibeau suffered the loss, making 25 saves on 28 shots.

NOTES: San Jose went 0/4 on the power play while Bakersfield was 1/6. The attendance was 5,101.

UP NEXT: San Jose takes on Bakersfield on Sunday at 3 pm at the SAP Center. Fans are encouraged to arrive early due to the Santa Run taking place in downtown San Jose that will have many streets closed around SAP Center.