Utah gives Condors white-glove treatment
| Friday, Oct 30 2009 11:46 PM
Last Updated Friday, Oct 30 2009 11:46 PM
Images
Michael Fagans / The Californian Condors forward Dan Sexton gets held up by Utah defender Matt Clarke as he gets a shot off on Grizzlie goalie Parker Van Buskirk during the first period of their game at Rabobank Arena on Friday night in Bakersfield.
Michael Fagans / The Californian Condors captain Shawn Weller is surrounded by three Utah defenders including Matt Clarke andRyan Kinasewich during the first period of their game at Rabobank Arena on Friday night in Bakersfield.
It started out as a "Thriller" but ended up "Bad" for the Condors on Friday night at Rabobank Arena.
Wearing special jerseys, and one white glove each on King of Pop Tribute Night, the Condors took a 1-0 lead midway through the first period but never led again as the Utah Grizzlies rolled to a 6-3 victory before 5,074.
But the loss on the scoreboard was far from the biggest blow.
Left wing Mathieu Aubin left the game midway through the second period and did not return, and center Maxime Macenauer went hard into the boards with 6:23 left and had to be helped off the ice as he did not put any weight on his left leg.
Condors coach Marty Raymond said both had lower-body injuries and he wanted to talk to team doctors before saying how long they might be out.
As for the game, Raymond said the Condors simply weren't good enough.
"I thought we didn't deserve to win tonight," Raymond said. "We weren't very good from top to bottom. We we not playing physical hockey, made way too many mistakes.
"Things started well then we had some turnovers, guys started running around and staying out way too long and there was lots of individual play."
The Condors won't have long to dwell on the loss as they play in Ontario tonight.
The Grizzlies managed just 23 shots in a sloppy game for both team while the Condors generated 28 shots.
Timo Pielmeier stopped 17of 22 shots with Utah's last goal sailing into an empty net.
Dan Sexton scored his fourth goal of the season 9:20 into the game off a feed from MacGregor Sharp, who stole the puck deep in Utah's zone as the Condors struck first.
Utah tied the game just 87 seconds later when Ryan Kinasewich scored from the edge of the crease off a pass from the point. The Grizzlies made it 2-1 with 3:22 left in the period when Pielmeier failed to control a rebound which allowed a wide open James Sixsmith to scoop up the loose puck for an easy goal.
Bakersfield got the crowd back into the game 9:06 into the second period when defenseman Sasha Pokulok scored his team-high fifth of the season off a slap shot to make it 2-2.
Other than an 5-on-3 power-play goal by Eric Regan when trailing 5-2, that was it for Bakersfield highlights.
Vlady Nikiforov got his first of the season at 1:09 after Pokulok's goal and Utah took a 4-2 lead on Kinasewich's second of the night.
Matt Caria made it 5-2 at 5:19 of the third. Regan cut the lead to 5-3 at 10:13 and Sixsmith got the empty-netter with 1:20 left.
