Condors force OT with late goal, beat Aces in shootout
| Wednesday, Jan 27 2010 11:20 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Jan 27 2010 11:30 PM
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The Condor's Gino Guyer tries to deflect a shot on goal past Alaska Aces Derick Martin and goalie Frank Doyle while captain Andrew Ianiero moves in behind the net during the first period of their game at Rabobank Arena on Wednesday night in Bakersfield.
The Condor's Gino Guyer tries to deflect a shot on goal past Alaska Aces Derick Martin and goalie Frank Doyle while captain Andrew Ianiero moves in behind the net during the first period of their game at Rabobank Arena on Wednesday night in Bakersfield.
The Condor's Maxime Macenauer gets the puck in on Alaska Ace goalie Frank Doyle during the first period of their game at Rabobank Arena on Wednesday night in Bakersfield.
Eric Regan just shook his head and laughed Wednesday night at Rabobank Arena.
In a game where the Condors seemingly could not get a puck past Alaska goaltender Frank Doyle, two fortuitous bounces set up a 4-3 come-from-behind shootout victory over the Aces.
Regan's shot from the point, with Condor goaltender Timo Pielmeier pulled for an extra attacker, deflected off Alaska defenseman Derick Martin and skipped past Doyle to tie the game with 31.8 seconds remaining.
A scoreless five-minute overtime period led to a shootout, in which Ryan Menei and Stephane Goulet scored for the Condors, and Pielmeier stopped all four Alaska shooters.
"That was a pretty exciting finish, but we have to stop falling behind like this," said Regan. "Good teams find way to get points and we've exceeded that by getting wins."
The comeback victory was much like a 4-3 overtime win over Victoria on Friday night when the Condors scored to tie the game in the waning seconds of regulation.
But in that game, it was actual Condors doing the scoring.
This time, it was pucks going off Alaska players to put the Condors, who outshot the Aces 46-15, in position to win.
"I probably took 10 shots; it's bound to go in sooner or later," Regan said.
Even when one is not shooting at the net.
"I didn't see any hole (to shoot on net) so I tried to shoot it off the boards and maybe get a bounce," Regan said of his tying shot from the right point. "I think it went off the D-man's shin. I got a good bounce."
The Aces took a 3-1 lead two minutes into the third period on just their 14th shot of the game on a goal by T.J. Fast.
The Condors made it a one-goal game at 7:20 when Adam Naglich was credited with a goal when his centering feed from the end boards deflected off an Alaskan stick and past Doyle.
"We'll take it," Condors coach Marty Raymond said of the win. "We played a strong game. Doyle made a huge difference. We wanted to keep shooting and get more traffic to the front of the net and we did that it the third period. It created opportunities and we got a couple of goals."
Alaska took a 1-0 lead just after the 15-minute mark when Alexandre Imbeault scored his 18th goal on a breakaway.
That came on just the fourth shot of the game for the Aces, who were outshot 15-5 in the period.
It took just one shot in the second period for the Aces to take a 2-0 lead. That came just 39 seconds into the period when Brock McBride scored from the slot off a centering feed from the corner.
The Condors responded 35 seconds later on a very similar play when Menei scored from the slot off a centering feed from behind the goal line.
The Condors also dominated the second period, outshooting the Aces 15-7.
Notes
Bakersfield's victory sets up a showdown at Rabobank Arena on Friday and Saturday nights when the National Conference Idaho Steelheads (27-11-2, 56 points) and Condors (26-11-3, 55 points) meet for the first time this season.
Condors forward Andrew Ianiero played in his 500th ECHL game, becoming the 28th player with 500 or more games in the league. Ianiero has played 365 of those games with the Condors.
Former Bakersfield Condors and current Anaheim Ducks rookie right wing Dan Sexton was named ECHL Alumnus of the Month for December. Sexton, who had 26 points in 18 games with Bakersfield, was called up to the NHL on Dec. 4. He had 11 points (6g-5a) and a plus-minus rating of plus-1 to help the Ducks go 6-4-3.
