Condors Pull Away in Third with 6-3 Win over Texas
Jan 27, 2017
Stransky Tallied Team-Leading 16th Goal of the Season
CEDAR PARK, Texas -- Ryan Hamilton’s two power-play goals were the difference in the Texas Stars 6-3 loss to the Bakersfield Condors on Friday night at H-E-B Center.
The Bakersfield (16-16-4-1) forward scored a pair of goals less than two minutes apart in the third period to squash any momentum the Stars (20-18-1-2) hoped to build against their Pacific Division foes.
Jumping out of the penalty box after a 4-on-4 segment, Hamilton buried his first of the game from the left circle at 2:57 of the period. Taylor Beck then set up Hamilton on the doorstep for a tip-in goal less than two minutes later to make it 5-2.
“At the end of the third period, I thought they kind of gained a little bit of that momentum they had in the first period and obviously a couple of calls that were light that they ended up scoring a couple of power-play goals on,” said Texas Stars Head Coach Derek Laxdal.
The early momentum that Bakersfield gained came from a first period that saw a combined total of five goals scored and a 3-2 entering the locker room.
The Stars opened scoring when Captain Travis Morin scored his 15th goal of the season, and fourth goal in three games, 1:12 into the first to give the home team a 1-0 lead. Forward Griffin Reinhart answered back with a goal for the Condors five minutes later to tie the game.
Forward Matej Stransky then notched his 16th of the year for Texas when he tapped in a loose puck in the goal crease with just over four minutes to play in the first, but once again, the Condors answered back to knot the score 2-2 with a goal from Patrick Russell. Then, with 24 seconds remaining, Joey LaLeggia capped off a counterattack rush by the Condors with a goal to make it a 3-2 score.
“The first period was a bit of a run and gun for both sides,” said Morin. “It was an up and down game with the five goals that were scored. In the end, we gave up a few too many odd-man rushes that they capitalized on, and that’s what killed us in the first.”
Neither team was able to bury any chances during the second period of play, but following Hamilton’s two power-play goals in early in the third, Reinhart added an empty-netter with 3:56 left in regulation to put the Condors up 6-2 before Caleb Herbert added one more for the home team with six seconds remaining in the game.
Maxime Lagace replaced rookie netminder Landon Bow in net for the Stars at the start of the second period. Bow, who made his seventh straight start in Friday’s contest, stopped 10 of the 13 shots he faced in the first period. Lagace stopped 14 of 16 through the remainder of the game.
Jonas Gustavsson stopped 33 of 36 shots in net for the Condors in just his third AHL game this season.
Three Stars:
1. Hamilton (BAK)
2. Morin (TEX)
3. LaLeggia (BAK) |
Goaltenders:
W - Gustavsson
L - Lagace
|
Photo Credit: Andy Nietupski/Texas Stars