Tag: Bakersfield Condors

Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

The San Jose Barracuda were frequent visitors to the sin-bin and the Bakersfield Condors took full advantage, scoring three power play goals in route to a 6-3 victory on Saturday evening at Mechanics Bank Arena.

San Jose have now lost three games in a row after back-to-back to shutouts to close out the month of October. The win snapped a five game losing streak at home for Bakersfield.

San Jose (4-5-0-1) drew first blood on the power play early in the first period. Jayden Halbgewachs tried to center a pass from behind the net that Thomas Gregoire picked up and he sent a pass over Trevor Carrick. The defenseman, playing in his 350th AHL game,  fired a shot past Condors goalie Stuart Skinner for his first career goal at the 2:50 mark.

Bakersfield (6-6-1-0) scored the equalizer with a power play goal of their own. A shot from ‘Cuda killer Josh Currie was initially saved by San Jose goaltender Josef Korenar but Tyler Benson cleaned up the rebound for his third goal of the season at the 9:24 mark. Brad Malone was credited with the secondary assist.

John McCarthy received an early Christmas present from Skinner to pick up his first goal of the season. Skinner tried clearing the puck in front of a crashing McCarthy. However he turned it over right on to McCarthy’s stick, where it ricochet off the post and into the back of the net at the 14:49 mark. The unassisted goal was the 300th point of the ‘Cuda captain’s career.

Despite outshooting San Jose 9-5 in the period, Bakersfield found themselves down 2-1 at the first intermission.

The Condors evened the scored when Currie scored his sixth goal of the season at the 7:04 mark of the second period. On the play ‘Cuda defenseman Nick DeSimone was injured when he fell awkwardly into the boards in a battle with Malone. DeSimone was able to stay in the game. Benson received the primary assist on the goal.

Bakersfield gained their first lead of the game on a four-on-three power play. Tomas Jurco found Malone on a back door pass all alone and he tapped the puck into an empty net for his fourth goal of the season at the 11:40 mark. Malone ended the evening with a four-point game.

Benson scored his second of the night on another power play goal for Bakersfield. Caleb Jones sent a pass over to Benson and his shot rang off the post and into the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season at the 15:06 mark.

The Condors out shot the ‘Cuda 10-7 in the middle frame as they scored three unanswered goals.

Bakersfield iced the game early in the period when a ‘Cuda turnover led to Kailer Yamamoto feeding Colby Cave, who wristed a shot past Korenar for his second goal of the season at the 3:18 mark.

Maxim Letunov stuffed home a rebound from a shot by Antti Suomela shot between the five-hole of Skinner for his team-leading fourth goal of the season at the 9:37 mark.

Benson completed the hat trick with an empty net goal with 37 seconds left in the game.

Skinner finished the game with 18 saves on 21 shots to earn his fifth victory of the season. Korenar made 20 saves on 26 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 1/6 on the power play. Bakersfield was 3/7. It was the second straight game San Jose has given up three power play goals.

Artem Ivanyuzhenkov made his debut for San Jose.

Johnny Brodzinki suffered an upper body injury early mid-way through the second period and did not return to the game.

Fisticuffs! Keaton Middleton and Anthony Peluso had a extended spirited fight late in the first period. DeSimone and Miles Koules also dropped the gloves in the third period.

The San Jose Sharks reassigned forward Lean Bergmann back to the Barracuda. He is expected to play tomorrow against San Diego.

UP NEXT: San Jose hosts the San Diego Gulls on Sunday, November 10 at 5:00 pm in SAP Center.

photo from: sjbarracuda.com

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — It doesn’t matter what time of the day the San Jose Barracuda take the ice to play a game. For the second straight game, they dominated and shutout their opponent in a 5-0 victory over the defending Pacific Division champion Bakersfield Condors on Wednesday morning at SAP Center.

The early start time of 11:00 am was due to the annual Cuda Classroom Day where students from the area’s elementary and middle schools were among the 3,648 spectators inside the arena.

The game featured the first game back for Radim Simek, the San Jose Sharks defenseman who suffered an ACL injury to his knee back on March 12. The Sharks sent him down to the Cuda for an rehab assignment to get him into game shape before he joins the parent club.

“I felt great on the ice,” said the Czech native Simek. “The first period was harder for me. It was eight months without (playing) hockey for me. The second and third period was better and we got a big win.”

San Jose (4-3-0-0) jumped out to a 1-0 lead late in the first period with the man advantage. Jayden Halbgewachs sent a pass along the left boards over to Joel Kellman. Kellman found a wide open Joachim Blichfeld in between the circles and he sent a quick wrist shot past Condors goalie Dylan Wells into the lower right corner of the net for his first goal of the season at the 18:49 mark.

“Great play by Blichy (Blichfeld) to start it off on the power play,” said Cuda head coach Roy Sommer. “Which is starting to click a little bit. It’s starting to finally find some traction.”

Alex True found himself in the right place at the right time as he doubled the ‘Cuda lead just halfway past the second period. Kellman cleared the puck out of the zone just as the penalty to True had expired. It found its way right to True’s stick as he skated in on a breakaway using a backhand shot to beat Wells for his third goal of the season at the 11:56 mark.

Less than three minutes later, Blichfeld scored his second goal of the game when received a pass from Lean Bergmann and wristed in his second goal of the season at the 14:17 mark. Keaton Middleton received the secondary assist on the goal.

Despite out shooting San Jose 19-14 through 40 minutes, Bakersfield (3-5-1-0) found it self trailing 3-0 and not being able to find any answers on their five power play opportunities, including a five-on-three they failed to cash in on.

“I though the goalie (Korenar) kept us in the game early,” said Sommer. “It was similar to the Colorado game where we kind of got opportune goals.”

San Jose put the game away with 6:17 remaining in the third period. Halbgewachs led a two-on-one odd man break with Evan Weinger. Halbgewachs made a spin-o-rama move around Dmitri Samorukov before centering the puck out in front of the crease over to Weinger who one-timed it into the back of the net for his second goal of the season.

The ‘Cuda put the icing on the cake less than three minutes later on the power play. Thomas Gregoire fed a cross-ice pass over to Simek who fired a shot toward the middle of the ice where Bergmann camped out and used his stick to tip the puck past Wells for his third goal of the season at the 16:43 mark. With the goal and assist, Bergmann has scored in all four games he’s played with San Jose totalling six points (3G, 3A).

“The penalty kill has been good for us the last few games,” said Sommer. “Last two teams have been 0 for 12 or 0 for 13. That makes a big difference and we’re scoring (goals) five-on-five.”

Korenar (3-2-0) finished the game stopping all 28 shots he faced for his second shutout in a row. Wells finished with 22 saves on 27 shots in the losing cause.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 2/6 on the power play. Bakersfield was 0/6.

Kellman recorded two assists to extend his point streak (1G 7A=8) to six games.

The Barracuda had five players earn multiple points in the victory.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda travel up north to Stockton to take on the Heat on Friday, November 1 at 7:00 pm at Stockton Arena.