Texas Drops High-Scoring Affair at Bakersfield

Mar 8, 2023

BAKERSFIELD, California – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, lost a back-and-forth battle to the Bakersfield Condors 6-5 Wednesday night at Mechanics Bank Arena.

 

Riley Damiani put the Stars in the score column first when he buried a one-timer off a pass from the slot by Fredrik Karlstrom at 1:18 of the first period. The Stars then took 2-0 lead just 3:43 into the contest when Matej Blumel fired his 17th goal of the season into the top-right corner past Calvin Pickard after receiving a pass from Damiani. Despite the fast start by Texas, Bakersfield tied the game 2-2 before the conclusion of the first period with goals from Xavier Bourgault and Tyler Benson at 10:00 and 13:34, respectively.

 

In the middle period, the Condors claimed their first lead with a goal by Seth Griffith at 12:39. After Rhett Gardner tied the game 3-3 at 15:17, Raphael Lavoie put the Condors back on top with another go-ahead goal for Bakersfield just a minute and 30 seconds later.

 

The third period saw Noah Philp make it a 5-3 game when he tipped a point shot by Darien Kielb past Dylan Wells with 6:09 elapsed. Marian Studenic then cut the deficit back to one when beat Pickard at 10:18 on the power play. In his first game as a Texas Star following a trade last weekend from San Jose, Scott Reedy tied the game 5-5 by scoring a rebound goal with 3:36 left to play. Exactly a minute later, Justin Bailey tipped another shot in the slot past Wells for the Condors to make it 6-5.

 

Picking up the win in goal for Bakersfield, Pickard turned away 22 of the 27 shots he saw. For the Stars, Wells came down with the loss while making 33 of 39 saves in his first game played with the Stars.

 

The Stars head to Palm Desert, California, for their next action against the Coachella Valley Firebirds. The series at Acrisure Arena begins Saturday with the opening face-off scheduled for 8:00 p.m. CT.

 

Photo Credit: Bakersfield Condors

 

Game Info	Shots	Goaltenders	3 Stars (Ubeo Business Services)
Boxscore	TEX: 27	W: Pickard (BAK)	1: Bailey (BAK)
Photo	BAK: 39	L: Wells (TEX)	2: Philp (BAK)
Video			3: Lavoie (BAK)