Condors Win 12th Straight Game as Gulls Lose 7-1
Feb 9, 2019It was a night to forget for the Gulls. In what began as a promising matchup between the league’s two hottest teams, Bakersfield scored seven goals, including five in the second period to down San Diego 7-1 at Rabobank Arena.
Just 76 seconds into the contest rookie Tyler Benson gave the Condors an early 1-0 lead. Cooper Marody drove down the left wing and his centering pass found Josh Currie on the doorstep of Glass’ crease, but the rebound kicked directly back to Currie who found a wide open Benson for a tap-in and the game’s first goal.
After 20 minutes of play Benson’s goal was the only of the combined 15 shots that found the back of the net as the Gulls entered the first intermission with an 8-7 shot advantage.
Bakersfield would double their lead to 2-0 when William Lagesson potted home his own rebound for his fourth goal of the season at 3:01 of the middle frame. The Condors were able to create a strong cycle down low that create room for Luke Esposito to find Lagesson crashing into the slot from the blue line. The Swedish defenseman’s initial shot was denied by Glass, but the rebound kicked out to the bottom of the left circle and Lagesson was able to swipe the puck past the Gulls netminder to extend the lead.
Currie extended the lead to 3-0 just 86 seconds later to jump out to a commanding lead. Benson, from behind his own net, created the play as he rimmed the puck around the boards and up the ice. It was Currie who created his own space as he tipped the puck to himself off the boards and, on his strong side come down the left wing, lifted the puck over the glove of Glass at 5:35 of the second period.
Just 12 seconds following Bakersfield’s third goal, Ben Thomson created a spark for San Diego. The veteran left wing dropped the gloves with Evan Polei and had a long, spirited bout where they exchanged a barrage of punches with the Gulls forward landing the majority of his attempts.
Kailer Yamamoto tapped in a back-door goal on a give-and-go with Ryan Spooner as the power-play goal at 12:43 of the period pushed the lead to four. The lead would be five moments later as Joe Gambardella netted a shorthanded goal, his 23rd goal of the season at 15:20. The goal pushed the AHL All-Star’s point streak to 10 games (11-5=16). Gambardella then set up Patrick Russel to make it 6-0 for another shorthanded goal with 2:30 remaining in the period. The five goals in the middle period marked the most goals given up by San Diego in a period in club history.
San Diego trailed 6-0 after two periods and that would be it for Jeff Glass after 39-plus minutes of action. The spelling of Glass paved way for the AHL debut of second-year professional Angus Redmond, recalled yesterday from South Carolina of the ECHL following the recall of Kevin Boyle who made his NHL debut for the Anaheim Ducks at Philadelphia earlier today.
With 68 seconds left in the contest, Corey Tropp put San Diego on the board with their lone goal. The goal marked his third over the weekend (3-1=4). Chase De Leo and Ben Street each added the assists. De Leo pushed his point streak to five games (4-3=7).
Tyler Vesel would round out the scoring with seven seconds left in regulation with a breakaway goal to seal the Condors’ 12th straight win.
Redmond stopped 12 of the 13 shots he faced in 20 minutes of relief. Glass made 19 saves.
The Gulls will continue their club record long six-game road trip when they visit the Colorado Eagles in a back-to-back matchup on Tuesday, Feb. 12 and Wednesday, Feb. 13 at Budweiser Events Center (both 6:05 p.m. PT).