With confirmation from Eric Stephens earlier in the week that Josh Mahura and Kevin Boyle would be out of the line-up due to injury. My previous assumption that Olle Eriksson-Ek would step in to play back-up became a reality.
Right from the outset you could sense the desperation emanating from Bakersfield as they contested every loose puck and puck battle with speed and ferocity all over the ice. Consequently they dictated the style of play for the first six minutes; leading to a helter-skelter back and forth speed game as well as the opening score courtesy of a cross ice feed to Joe Gambardella. Jeff Glass did not look good on the goal, getting across in time but failing to get square to the shot. 1-0 Condors.
San Diego responded to the goal by picking up the physicality and attempting to tighten up in the neutral zone. Generating some opportunities of their own in the process. At the midway point of the first Jones went to the Condors net after an offensive zone face-off that ended in a shot on the Bakersfield goal and Condors defenseman Keegan Lowe cross checked him in the face. The vicious infraction dropped the young forward to his knees where he stayed for several minutes. Jones required help to leave the ice, not putting any weight on his left leg and would not return to the game. Given the shot he took did not like it hit much higher than his chin I dont think it was concussion related, I think (as also speculated by Andy Zilch on the broadcast) that he fell awkwardly. Perhaps he tweaked the same leg he hurt in the Barracuda series.
The Gulls first power play unit failed to get set up on the resulting man-advantage but the second unit saw chances from Carrick and Street before Bakersfield got a high danger chances back on Glass to finish the unsuccessful two minute advantage. Bakersfield then turned up the hitting, creating space and forcing turnovers but San Diego were able to weather the storm of physicality, breaking through with a good cycle from the Lundestrom line as he and Comtois kept the puck alive down low, getting it to Larsson pinching by the hashmarks, his shot then rebounded to Cracknell out front for the game tying goal. 1-1.
The Condors came right back just over a minute later, Gambardella again found himself with time and space to circle out from around the net and throw in a perfect shot high over Glass. On the replay it was shown Trevor Murphy got checked into Glass and the net, eliminating him from the play and temporarily disorientating Glass. Officials did not bother to review the play because AHL. 2-1 Condors.
San Diego came back with some authoritative hitting but the Condors also spent the last few seconds generating chances in the Gulls zone to finish the period. Shots were 13-10 for the visitors after the first twenty minutes.
- Kid doing a Fortnite dance during a break
- AHLTV scoreboard covering the screen during play
- #BENOITSMASH
- #DREWSMASH
- Snipe City Drew
- Brendan Guhle takes a bad penalty
- Trevor Carrick takes a penalty at the worst time possible
- Maple Syrup Bros
- Captain Sam Scores!
- Limoges Lets it GOOOOO!
- #PUREPERREAULT
- Spot Jeff Bush and the hat
- Dubious call goes against the Gulls
- Jacob Perreault draws a penalty
- Tropp The Mic – Style Goal
- Zilch hot mic interlude – fastfood chat or beatboxing
The second period did not start much better for San Diego, with play still more wide open than they would have liked – the Condors gained the Gulls zone, spread the puck and found Ethan Bear at the point with multitudes of time and space to wire a shot by Glass to make it 3-1 just over a minute into the middle frame. 2-1 Condors.
The Gulls responded with a push and were awarded a power play as rookie Ethan Bouchard was called for interference as he took down Andy Welinski behind the play.
Justin Kloos had one of the best chances at the midway point of the man-advantage and with time running it out it seemed like it might be another opportunity lost until Sam Steel made a great poke-check to regain possession near the blue line after losing the puck earlier. Adam Cracknell then controlled the puck to draw his cover closer before flicking it cross-ice to Kalle Kossila who used the entire left side of the ice to skate toward the Condors net, measure the shot and fire it by Starett to bring the Gulls back within one. 3-2 Condors.
On the very next shift the Gull gained the Condors zone, won a puck battle and a pass out front to a fortuitously open Kiefer Sherwood had the game tied back up within a matter of seconds. 3-3.
The goals were scored 11 seconds apart and on the very next shift Bakersfield showed an inkling of ruffled feathers when Jacob Larsson had his stick slashed of his hands to send the Gulls back to the power play.
The officials happily turned a blind eye to a flagrant cross-check on Comtois during the man advantage and I continued to not be surprised by how consistent and great it is in the AHL. Thankfully San Diego were able to gain the Condors zone with their second unit, feed it back to Andy Welinski who wired a shot by Starrett to take the lead for the Gulls. 4-3 San Diego.
The goal was the third that Starret had allowed on almost as many shots in the middle frame and he was unceremoniously replaced by rookie Stuart Skinner, the 2017 3rd round pick had played in 6 AHL games this season.
Bakersfield responded with a quiet momentum shift, controlling play in the San Diego zone for much of the next six minutes until eventually drawing an extremely weak tripping call (considering all of the other obvious calls that had been left go) on Carrick. San Diego looked relatively strong on the penalty kill until an unfortunate bounce as Dotchin blocked a pass with his foot but the bounce came back to the Condors who were then able to feed it cross-ice to the backdoor where it was slammed by Glass to tie things up. 4-4.
- Kid doing a Fortnite dance during a break
- AHLTV scoreboard covering the screen during play
- #BENOITSMASH
- #DREWSMASH
- Snipe City Drew
- Brendan Guhle takes a bad penalty
- Trevor Carrick takes a penalty at the worst time possible
- Maple Syrup Bros
- Captain Sam Scores!
- Limoges Lets it GOOOOO!
- #PUREPERREAULT
- Spot Jeff Bush and the hat
- Dubious call goes against the Gulls
- Jacob Perreault draws a penalty
- Tropp The Mic – Style Goal
- Zilch hot mic interlude – fastfood chat or beatboxing
With just under four minutes left in the period the Gulls were called for having one too many personnel on the ice, perhaps the best example of the slightly more chaotic organization of play they were displaying as compared to their last clinical road game win. San Diego killed the penalty and generated a chance at the very end of it as Tropp busted out of the box but could not free the puck from the ending net-front scramble to get a clear shot on Skinner. The period ended with scores tied and shots 24-20 for the Condors.
Just as BJ was stating that San Diego needed to get to the young goaltender Skinner fast they did just that as they gained the Bakersfield zone, turned a shot-pass from Megna downlow to Street who then got it out front to a very-open Tropp and the Gulls were back in front just 24 seconds into the third period. 5-4 Gulls.
Play settled back into a neutral rhythm for the next six or so minutes as the Gulls allowed Bakersfield zone time but prevented any real high danger chances on Glass, executing the set game-plan they should have carried over from their victory in Game Two.
At the 12:49 minute mark, some good play from San Diego in the Condors zone culminated into a 6-4 lead when Sam Steel finished off a beautiful pass from Sherwood at the left side post. 6-4 Gulls.
Play was middling with little to no flow for the next few minutes until Bakersfield got one back on a deflected shot from the point to make it 6-5 with 9 minutes left in the third.
Although San Diego did appear to have a semblance of trying to dictate play for the remainder of time remaining in the period, clogging the neutral zone and never sending more than one player below the oppositions goal line they still suffered heart break to finish.
Despite a power play in the final three minutes and Bakersfield pulling Skinner in the final minute they gave up the game tying goal.
Jeff Glass managed to snag one clear cut opportunity at the 30 seconds left mark but the Condors still got one by him with 10 seconds left after a broken play ended up with an outnumbered attack down low and Glass was unable to track a bouncing puck. 6-6.
San Diego won the face-off to start OT but Bakersfield regained possession in the Gulls zone and Gulls players seemed nervous or unwilling to engage. This gave 2014 4th rounder William Lagesson time and space to measure and fire a shot over the left shoulder of Glass just 39 seconds into the sudden death extra session. It was a shot that the veteran potentially should have stopped but by the same token; Bakersfield likely deserved the win off the back of a more consistent effort all night as San Diego lacked the enduring killer instinct they carried in their previous wins in the series. 7-6 Condors.
Game Four is Friday followed by Game Five directly after on Saturday in Bakersfield.
Post Game Notes
- Larsson Locked In: Deserving of being praised two games in a row. Jacob Larsson is playing a rock steady reliable game, worthy of a first pairing defencemen. The 2015 first rounder has elevated his game this post season and its becoming impossible not to notice.
- Sherwood Postseason Sure Thing: As noted by BJ, Kiefer Sherwood is the kind of player that is built for the playoffs. The rookie has 6 points in 7 games this postseason. He had 18 points in 29 games in the regular season. Vastly differing point per game rates.
- Positives: It’s not all doom and gloom. I view this as a minor speed bump. San Diego did not play their best game, nor their particular desired style and still managed to almost win despite being behind twice. I can see them coming back with a more clinical all round consistent effort on Friday.
- Max Jones: As I noted in the recap above, I do not believe the Jones injury is head related. I feel he feel awkwardly and tweaked something in one of his legs. Similar to the injury sustained in the Barracuda series. That’s not to say he might be back for the next game, but I cannot see it being a long term injury.
- Replacements: With Jones likely out it will be either Kevin Roy or Jack Kopacka drawing back in. Roy has seen the most recent action but Kopacka is the more “like for like” player in terms of size and speed.
- Line Changes? With the loss Eakins might also look to shake up his line up and throw another forward back in. Only the Lundestrom and Steel lines have been the more consistently dangerous and I don’t see him sacrificing experience from the Carrick/Tropp line. Kloos, De Leo and Kossila have been quiet over the first two games – if they do not produce at 5 on 5 in the next game I can see one of them being sat to perhaps try rejuvenate things.
2023-2024 Game 72: San Diego Gulls at Coachella Valley Firebirds
In the final game of the season after surrendering a three goal lead to go down 5-4 in ove…