Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

Seth Griffith scored the game-winning goal in the shootout to give the Bakersfield Condors a 4-3 win over the San Jose Barracuda on Wednesday evening at Mechanics Bank Arena.

The Condors extended their point streak at home to 10 games and have dominated the series with the Barracuda winning five of the six games. San Jose is now 0-5 in games in overtime games as this was its first shootout of the season.

San Jose (6-6-4-1) drew first blood in the first half of the first period. Joel Kellman found Nick DeSimone all alone just to the left of the net. Condors goalie Stuart Skinner made a diving paddle save on DeSimone’s shot, but the puck leaked out to the slot, where Stefan Noesen cleaned up the rebound for his first goal of the season at the 7:26 mark.

It was the first time the ‘Cuda scored a first period goal against its Pacific Division rival this season.

Bakersfield (11-6-0-1) scored the equalizer early in the second period as they capitalized on San Jose’s failue to clear the puck out of its own zone. Adam Cracknell sent a cross-ice, no-look pass over to Ostap Safin, who buried a one-timer past ‘Cuda goalie Sam Harvey for his first of two goals on the evening at the 2:41 mark.

For Safin, it was his first AHL goal in the past three years.

Noah Gregor regained the lead for the ‘Cuda when he slipped past Cooper Marody along the right boards after Nicholas Meloche cleared the puck out of the defensive zone. Gregor raced in on a breakaway and snapped home a wrist shot past Stuart for his second goal of the season at the 12:22 mark.

The Condors deadlocked the game at 2-2 just over two minutes later. Once again Bakersfield made San Jose pay for not being able to clear the puck out of their own zone. Marody skated around the net and centered a pass to a wide-open Tyler Benson, who finished off the play with a tap-in for his sixth goal of the season at the 14:44 mark.

Bakersfield outshot San Jose 17-14 in the middle frame.

The Condors gained its first lead of the game early in the third period. Cracknell won a faceoff inside the ‘Cuda zone and acted a screen for Safin, who went behind Cracknell and fired a wrist shot to the short side of Harvey for his second goal of the game and the season at the 2:54 mark.

Cracknell had an assist on every Condors goal and finished with a three-point night.

San Jose finally gave Bakersfield a taste of their own medicine scoring the equalizer late in the third period. Joachim Blichfeld led an odd-man rush after a turnover by Bakersfield in the neutral zone. Blichfeld executed a give-and-go with Gregor before Blichfeld’s attempted pass was blocked back to him and he fired a wrist shot past a screened Skinner for his team-leading 10th goal of the season at the 17:27 mark.

The ‘Cuda had a chance to end it in overtime with a power play at the 1:08 mark with a tripping penalty on Marody, but weren’t able to take advantage of the 4-on-3 opportunity.

Skinner finished with 38 saves on 41 shots to earn the victory. Harvey, who made his first start since early February, made 31 saves on 34 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 0-for-2 on the power play. Bakersfield went 0-for-1.

Marody currently has a 14-game point streak.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Safin 2) Cracknell 3) Griffith

UP NEXT: The Barracuda return home on Tuesday 3/30 as they host the Bakersfield Condors at 6:00 pm PST at Solar4America Ice at San Jose.