Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — Nick DeSimone scored the game-winning goal with five seconds left in overtime to give the San Jose Barracuda (17-15-0-2) a 3-2 victory over the Bakersfield Condors (16-15-6-0) in a Monday matinee on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the SAP Center.

DeSimone was able to punch home his own rebound when his one-timer was initially stopped by Condors goalie Laurent Brossoit (2-2-0), but couldn’t freeze the puck as it trickled to the right of the crease and DeSimone didn’t waste his second chance.

“I kinda saw that he (Brossoit) didn’t know where the puck was,” said DeSimone on recounting his game winning goal. “I figured to just check behind him, and it was just sitting there. (I was) lucky enough to put it home.”

San Jose jumped out to a quick start drawing first blood as defenseman Jacob Middleton fired a cross-ice pass to a wide-open Emerson Clark at the right slot and he buried the puck past Condors backup goalie Laurent Brossoit (2-1-0) for his third goal of the season at the 2:01 mark of the first period. Adam Helewka would also pick up an assist on the play.

The Condors came back to tie up the game at the 6:12 mark of the first period when Patrick Russell was able to race past two Barracuda defensemen to the front of the net and tip in a shot past Antoine Bibeau (10-7-0) from Caleb Jones along the left boards. It was Russell’s seventh goal of the season.

The Barracuda had a chance to take the lead late in the first period when the No. 1 line of Danny O-Regan, Marcus Sorensen and Rudolfs Balcers put on a flurry of shots against Brossoit, only to come up empty-handed.

There was no scoring, but plenty of action in the second period. Thanks to some brilliant goaltending by both goalies, the score remained tied at 1 heading into the second intermission. Bibeau made a couple of point blank saves on separate shots by Ty Rattie and Iiro Pakarinen. Bibeau also came up with a huge save late in the second frame when Ryan Mantha created a turnover in the San Jose zone but Bibeau was able to glove his wrist shot. Brossoit was able to stone a Balcers point blank attempt right in front of the crease.

Jon Martin and Ryan Stanton got involved with some extracurricular activity in front of the Condors net after Brossoit froze the puck after a good scoring chance by the Barracuda. Martin received a double minor for roughing, but Bakersfield wasn’t able to take advantage on the power play.

Brad Malone broke the deadlock early in the third period with his 10th goal of the season. After taking a pass from Ryan Hamilton, he was able to dipsy-do his way to the front of the net and back handed a shot through the five-hole of Bibeau at the 4:40 mark.

Calvan Fitzgerald tied it back up after just coming onto the ice during a line change. O’Reagan found him with a wide-open pass as he skated down the middle of the ice where he was able to rifle in his third goal of the season past Brossoit a little over half way through the third period.

“It’s something we’ve been harpin on them to get up in the play,” said head coach Roy Sommer about his defensemen scoring goals as of late. “They gotta be apart of offense because we’re not scoring a lot up front.”

Bibeau earned the victory stopping 26 of 28 shots from the Condors. Brossoit took the defeat on 28 of 31 on the afternoon.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was able to keep Barracuda killer Josh Currie off the score sheet. Currie has scored 10 goals against the Cuda in his career. Both teams were both 0/1 on their only power play opportunity. The attendance of 5,218 was one of the biggest crowds of the season for the Barracuda.

UP NEXT: San Jose finishes up their four-game home stand when they take on the Stockton Heat on Wednesday evening at 7 pm PT at the SAP Center.