Congratulations all around as the San Jose Barracuda get a win against one their toughest opponents this season the Bakersfield Condors on Tue Mar 30, 2021 at Bakersfield (@sjbarracuda image)
by Marko Ukalovic
SAN JOSE, Calif—The San Jose Barracuda scored three unanswered goals in the second period as they overcame a two-goal deficit en-route to a 4-3 victory over the Bakersfield Condors on Tuesday evening at Solar4America Ice.
San Jose snapped its three-game losing streak while sending Bakersfield to their third straight loss.
Bakersfield (11-9-0-1) drew first blood midway through the first period. Seth Griffith intercepted a clearing attempt along the left boards. Griffith centered a pass out to Ostap Safin who fired a shot top-shelf past ‘Cuda goalie Josef Korenar for his fourth goal of the season at the 9:22 mark.
Three of Safin’s four goals have come against the Barracuda in the past six days.
San Jose outshot Bakersfield 13-6 in the opening 20 minutes but weren’t able to get on the scoreboard against Condors goalie Stuart Skinner.
The Condors doubled its lead early in the second period. Ryan McLeod found Markus Niemelainen wide open in the high slot and the Condors defenseman rifled home a wrist shot just under the pad of Korenar for his second goal of the season at the 3:49 mark.
The Barracuda (7-6-4-1) struck back exactly three minutes later to cut Bakersfield’s lead in half. Christian Jaros found Jacob Middleton at the redline and the veteran defenseman skated in down the left wing side and snapped home a wrist shot to the far side beating Skinner for his second goal of the season at the 6:49 mark.
San Jose scored the equalizer past the midway point of the middle frame. Joachim Blichfeld skated around the Condors net and centered a pass out to Noah Gregor in the left slot. Gregor fired a wrist shot past Stuart for his third goal of the season at the 10:38 mark.
The ‘Cuda gained its first lead while on the power play. Blichfeld started the tic-tac-toe play with a pass to Stefan Noesen down low on the left wing. Noesen quickly found Alexander True camped out in front of the net and True one-timed the puck past Skinner for his sixth goal of the season.
The ‘Cuda had come into the game 1-for-13 with the man advantage against Bakersfield.
San Jose scored an insurance goal early in the third period. Joel Kellman threaded a pass between two Condors defenders over to Fredrik Handemark and he beat Stuart top-shelf with a wrist shot for his fourth goal of the season at the 6:20 mark.
Bakersfield answered back when Joe Gambardella intercepted a pass behind the net and centered a pass out in front where Jakob Stukel raced in from the blueline and snapped a wrist shot past Korenar for his third goal of the season at the 14:46 mark.
The Condors had a power play opportunity for the final 1:48 and made it a six-on-four as they pulled Skinner for an extra attacker. However Korenar stood his ground making three big saves in the final minute.
Korenar finished with 30 saves on 33 shots to earn the victory. Stuart made 27 saves on 31 shots in the losing effort.
GAME NOTES: San Jose went 1-for-2 on the power play. Bakersfield was 0-for-3.
San Jose is 5-0-1 in their last six home games, including 4-0 at Solar4America Ice.
The ‘Cuda are 2-2-2-1 versus the Condors this season.
Both Blichfeld and Noesen finished with two assists a piece.
The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Handemark 2) Blichfeld 3) Noesen
UP NEXT: The Barracuda travel down to Irvine to take on the San Diego Gulls on Saturday 4/2 at 7:00pm at FivePoint Arena.
