CURRIE'S HAT-TRICK LIFTS BAKERSFIELD OVER SAN JOSE
Mar 16, 2018
BAKERSFIELD, CA - For the second time this season and the third time in his career, Josh Currie lit the lamp three times against the San Jose Barracuda (26-23-3-3) as the Bakersfield Condors (24-22-9-1) rolled to an 8-4 win on Friday night at Rabobank Arena.
Rudolfs Balcers (17) opened up the scoring just 33 seconds into the game as the rookie all-star punched home a rebound that had snuck behind Laurent Brossoit. Grayson Downing (4) evened the score at 14:10 when Dave Gustfound him wide open at the back door after spinning a pass across the ice from the right corner. Under a minute left in the frame, Adam Helewka (9) wired an impossible angle-shot from along the goal line to give San Jose a 2-1 lead at 19:08, but at 19:43 Currie (17) tied the game by snapping a wrist shot over Antoine Bibeau's left shoulder from the slot.
In the second, Currie captured his teams first lead by firing a puck off the far post and in from atop the right circle as he entered the zone 19 seconds into the frame. Patrick Russell (10) would extend the Condors' lead at 5:19 after he bounced the puck off the back of an unsuspecting Nick DeSimone. Then Currie (19) completed his fourth pro hat-trick by sneaking a between the legs shot under Bibeau's blocker from close range at 13:37.
In the third, San Jose made it a game by scoring less than 30 seconds apart to make it 5-4. First, Radim Simek (6) pinched from the left point and buried a rebound from a Brandon Mashinter shot at 1:33, and then Colby McAuley (2) roofed a backhand at 1:54. The Condors erased any comeback hopes and put the game out of reach at 5:29 on Russell's (11) innocent wrister that bounced off Bibeau's blocker and in. And then, Evan Polei (3) would make it 7-4 on a Kyle Platzer shot that ringed off the post and then off Polei's chest at 9:06. Polei (4) added an empty-netter at 18:59 to complete the 8-4 win.
Bibeau (18-11-2) suffered his first loss in his last five games after giving up seven goals on 30 shots, while Brossoit (9-6-4) earned the win after making 23 saves on 27 shots.