CONDORS CLAW BARRACUDA 5-2
Mar 2, 2019Bakersfield, CA - The San Jose Barracuda (30-16-2-4) allowed a pair of early power-play goals on Saturday at the Rabobank Arena and couldn't recover as the Bakersfield Condors (34-16-2-1) scored five-unanswered to begin the game en-route to a 5-2 win. With the loss, San Jose is now five points behind Bakersfield for the top spot in the division.
After the Barracuda were called for a delay-of-game penalty at 1:13, Bakersfield struck quickly as Cooper Marody (13) jammed in a loose puck from the crease at 1:51. Minutes later San Jose would be called for a too-many-men penalty and Kailer Yamamoto (9) was able to tip a Tyler Benson point shot past Josef Korenar at 5:09 to give Bakersfield a 2-0 lead. Later in the period, the game would reach a boiling point as Keaton Middleton and Evan Polei dropped the mitts at center ice.
In the second, Cam Hebig (11) made it 3-0 Condors at 12:36 as he cleaned up a rebound along the right side of the net before Luke Esposito (3) extended the lead to 4-0 as an Ethan Bear point-shot grazed off Esposito's jersey and in at 12:36.
The Condors continued their offensive onslaught in the third when Bear threaded a back-door feed to Joe Gambardella (26) and Bakersfield's leading goal scorer swiped in a shot through Korenar's five-hole at 8:33. Jeremy Roy (6) would negate Shane Starrett's shutout bid with a point-shot goal at 18:25 and John McCarthy(9) would poke in a loose puck at 19:12 but the damage was already done as the Barracuda would fall by a final score of 5-2.
Korenar (19-6-1) suffered the loss after giving up five goals on 26 shots while Starrett (21-4-3) earned the win by making 32 saves on 34 shots.
The Barracuda return back to SAP Center on Wednesday, March 6 as Team Teal kicks off a five-game homestand against Bakersfield. Listen to all the broadcast action on the Sharks + SAP Center App, sjbarracuda.com/listen and watch at watchtheahl.com.
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