Condors’ season ends with Game 3 home loss to Stockton 6-4
The absolute quiet of the Condors locker room late Friday night at Mechanics Bank Arena spoke volumes.
Their season was done. Trailing two games to none and in a must-win situation, the Condors came up short.
Desperately trying to tie the game and possibly extend their season, Bakersfield’s last shot (No. 41) of the night bounced off Dustin Wolf’s pads, and with two seconds left the Stockton Heat hit an empty Bakersfield net for a 6-4 victory and a three-game sweep of the American Hockey League Pacific Division Semifinals.
Then came the traditional handshake line and a final salute to the remaining fans from a crowd of 5,234 from the 20 players, many of them who will likely not be back next season.
“We would have liked to go further,” said interim coach Colin Chaulk, who took over for Jay Woodcroft on Feb. 10 after Woodcroft replaced the fired Dave Tippett in Edmonton. “It’s a learning experience. You remember how empty this feels right now, train hard and be ready to get better next year.”
Just like the first two games in Stockton, the Condors battled the top seed in the Pacific Division. But like the first two games, they were often battling while tied or from behind.
Tied 3-3 entering the third, the Heat opened a 4-3 lead on a power play at 6:04 when the puck squirted out of a battle in the left corner and into the slot where Nick DeSimone fired it past Stuart Skinner.
The backbreaker came midway through the period when the Heat a killed a Bakersfield power play. A stretch pass found Walker Duehr coming out of the penalty box behind the Bakersfield defense and he broke in and buried his chance for a 5-3 lead.
Dylan Holloway scored on a power play for the Condors at 11:57 to make it a one-goal game,
The Condors pulled Skinner for an extra attacker with 1:45 left but never got much offensive zone time and got just two shots on Wolf.
“I think we gave a good effort,” Chaulk said. “We were able to get
to the top goalie in the league and get a bunch of goals on him. It obviously wasn’t enough. We gave up a bit but from a fans’ perspective I think it was an exciting game but we fell a little short.
“I think we gave up a few we’d like to have back but at the same time we created a lot more than we had in the first two games.”
The Condors scored 51 seconds into the second period, which turned into a wideopen affair, when Holloway scored his first of the postseason off his own rebound to put the Condors up 2-1.
It was their first lead of the series, but that lasted just 35 seconds.
On the very next shift Stockton’s Byron Froese came out from behind Bakersfield’s net and beat Skinner to his short side from below the left circle.
The Heat then went up 3-2 at 7:02 when Skinner bobbled a point shot from Jakob Pelletier. Glenn Gawdin snared the loose puck and moved to his right, putting it into a wide-open net.
The Condors drew even at 13:58 when defenseman Alex Peters skated in from the left point, got around a defender and sent a wrister from the middle of the circle past Wolf’s blocker.
The Heat opened a 1-0 lead on a power play 7:59 into the first period when Jakob Pelletier redirected a shot from the point.
The Condors quickly responded and Holloway drew an interference penalty at 8:32 to put Bakersfield on its first power play. Brendan Perlini tied the game when he ripped a one-timer from the right circle past Wolf at 9:16.
“They did a fantastic job,” Chaulk said of how the players responded to the coaching change. “I think the relationship I built with as an assistant allowed them to trust me as a head coach. I know that they gave me all their respect and trust. I’m thankful for the way they responded to me. We all had our moments. We all made mistakes, me included. I feel like we grew and got better.
“Our last month of the season (12-4 in April) was exceptional and we were a hard team in the playoffs.
“Unfortunately we go down losing three but they were all tight games. They could (have gone) either way but the truth is they didn’t and we need to learn from that.”