Persistent Condors top Thunder 3-2
| Tuesday, Nov 10 2009 11:13 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Nov 10 2009 11:13 PM
Images
Casey Christie / The Californian The puck flies over the heads of Bakersfield Condor, Kyle Calder, and Stockton Thunder player, Craig Vallette, right, during game action, Tuesday evening at the Rabobank Arena.
Casey Christie / The Californian Bakersfield Condor Stu Bickel, right, thought he scored, puck left in net, while teammate, Shawn Weller rejoices, but apparently the referee said it was no good, during game action, Tuesday night at the Rabobank Arena while playing against the Stockton Thunder including Jordan Bendfeld, and Garet Hunt.
Not much seems to rattle the Bakersfield Condors these days.
Giving up an early power play goal just resulted in an adjustment. And it took just 24 seconds to respond after giving up a momentum-robbing game-tying, power play goal in the third period Tuesday at Rabobank Arena.
Sasha Pokulok's power-play goal on a wrist shot from the left point with just under 7 minutes left turned out to be the game winner as the Condors beat the Stockton Thunder 3-2 before a crowd of 4,948.
"We're learning to win those close games," Condors coach Marty Raymond said. "Even though we have adversity happening to us we're rebounding.
"I felt when they scored that second goal on our power play it's not the end of the world. We were dominating, doing a good job and we came back and scored a goal 30 seconds later. These are the things that didn't happen early in the year. We're getting confident."
That confidence was evident from the second period on. The Condors trailed 1-0 after the first period with both teams generating 10 shots. After that, the Condors out shot the Thunder 29-10.
Shawn Weller tied the game at 2:33 when he picked up the puck behind the Stockton net and sent it toward the slot. The puck hit Jordan Bendfeld's skate and deflected past Byron Pitton.
Justin Pogge, making his first start in goal since Oct. 24 after spending two weeks in a backup role with the Anaheim Ducks, made two quick saves to open the third period, then the Condors got back on a roll.
Pogge pushed the puck ahead after a save to start an up-ice rush which ended with NHL veteran Kyle Calder driving past a D-man on the right boards, then stopping for an instant behind the Stockton net.
That brief pause allowed Bakersfield defenseman John de Gray to sneak down to the low edge of the left face-off circle. Calder hit de Gray with a short pass and de Gray had his fourth goal of the season at 5:52 to put the Condors up 2-1.
The Condors went on a power play with 7:29 left to play which resulted a 2-on-1 short-handed break for the Thunder, and Oren Eizenman tying the game at 13:43.
Raymond left all five of his players on the ice and the result was Pokulok's game-winner at 14:07.
"Sash was out there for the 2-on-1goal then scores 20 or 30 seconds later," Pogge said. "That shows the character of our team and we're going to need every bit of that to keep going."
Pogge stopped 18 shots.
"I felt a little sloppy but it's great to get back in game mode and I started figuring it out by the end of the hockey game," he said. "We played a helluva a game. My D-men in front were blocking shots and clearing rebounds and the forwards were backchecking hard taking some of those odd-man rushes away."
Next up for the Condors is a trip to Anchorage where they will face the Alaska Aces on Friday and Saturday nights.
