San Diego Gulls @ Bakersfield Condors: Game 5

A somewhat surprising change in the line-up saw Luke Gazdic draw in and Isaac Lundestrom come out, while the less surprising move of replacing Jake Dotchin with Patrick Sieloff. The best news of all came in the form of Kevin Boyle coming back in to back-up Jeff Glass.

Update: It has been speculated Lundestrom was injured in the last game.

Bakersfield had the better run of play to start the period as San Diego looked a tad out of sorts across all positions. Only Patrick Sieloff looked ready to play as he dove to deflect a Bakersfield pass that had been picked off when Trevor Murphy made a poor play behind the net.

Andy Welinski was given a high sticking penalty at the twelve minute mark and the Condors wasted no time getting on the board first when Evan Bouchards wrist shot from the point was tipped on its way through and past Glass. 1-0 Condors.

Kevin Roy drew a hooking call as he came into the Condors zone on a two on one and the Gulls were given their first power play of the game with six minutes left in the first. San Diego could not convert on the power play but the shift in offensive time did aid in getting some more possession for the Gulls and they spent the remainder of the final two minutes of the period holding the Condors zone and getting some good chances on Skinner. The period ended with Bakersfield still holding the 1-0 lead and the edge in shots 10-8.

San Diego started the second with more semblance of an aggressive need to get the game tying goal but the young netminder Skinner stood tall in net, stopping everything the Gulls threw at him.

That is until Corey Tropp, Sam Steel and Kevin Roy were sprung on an odd man rush but a blocked shot at the Gulls blue line. The three forwards executed a perfect passing play across all sides of the ice, Kevin Roy finishing it off at the far post to tie things up at 1.

San Diego were given another power play with just under seven minutes left in the middle frame and despite holding the Condors zone for almost the entire man-advantage, they could not convert. The emphasis seemed to be backdoor plays but their passes were far too easily placed and the Condors box easily picked them off.

Chase De Leo was given two minutes for tripping in the final three minutes but the Gulls clinically took apart the Bakersfield man advantage seemingly with no regard or respect for their opponent. Kalle Kossila at one point read the drop pass at the Condors blue line and would have had a clear cut breakaway but he lost an edge. San Diego carried momentum from the kill to put yet more opportunities on Skinner and the period ended 1-1 with shots were 19-19.

• Kid doing a Fortnite dance during a break
• AHLTV scoreboard covering the screen during play
• #BENOITSMASH
• #DREWSMASH
• Snipe City Drew
• Brendan Guhle takes a bad penalty
• Trevor Carrick takes a penalty at the worst time possible
• Maple Syrup Bros
• Captain Sam Scores!
• Limoges Lets it GOOOOO!
• #PUREPERREAULT
• Spot Jeff Bush and the hat
• Dubious call goes against the Gulls
• Jacob Perreault draws a penalty
• Tropp The Mic – Style Goal
• Zilch hot mic interlude – fastfood chat or beatboxing

San Diego carried momentum through the third period as Kiefer Sherwood and Kevin Roy generated some good opportunities in the first few minutes. The former demonstrating some very underrated playing-making ability as he set up Roy not just once but twice in the slot.

The game appeared to open up somewhat but the Gulls did a good job of preventing the Condors from getting any consistent possession by breaking up passes and sending play the other way. The Kossila line coming close with nine minutes left, followed up by the vet line but Sam Carrick was then given a tripping penalty to send San Diego back to the penalty kill.

Patrick Sieloff intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and started a rush by himself, hitting the post as he fired a shot from the left side boards but San Diego could not finish the play as the Condors collapsed in front to prevent any further shots getting on net.

Bakersfield came back with a push in the final two minutes of play but San Diego weathered the storm through some key blocks, deflections and diving clears to send the game to overtime, the third of its kind in the series.

Both teams started out cautiously to start the overtime but play soon opened up as an offensive chance at one end would quickly lead to a counterattack at the other. Kevin Roy had the best chance for San Diego when he hit the post on a near side opportunity. Sam Steel had the next best chance of the first overtime session as he received a pass in the high slot and sent a high wrist shot on Skinner but the 20 year old made the save then froze to ensure the puck did not squeak out behind him. The first overtime finished with shots even at 12 a piece to conclude the extra twenty.

The second overtime was not as wide open as teams dropped into a defense-first mode once again. Bakersfield by far had the better opportunities in the first ten minutes. Jeff Glass was called upon to make a huge stop on an odd man rush as he did the splits and made the stop to keep the overtime going.

San Diego attempted to get more chances on net but did not seem to have the same killer instinct or desperation of their opponent and with just under seven minutes left in the second overtime a wrist shot from the slot by Josh Currie sent what remained of the Bakersfield crowd into hysterics.

Game six is Monday in San Diego where the Gulls will have a second chance to close out the series.

Post Game Notes:

Glass Great Again Jeff Glass did all you could have asked of him. Posting a 95.5% save percentage but he could not get the offensive support needed to close out the series on this opportunity. Look for him to start again on Monday – despite Boyle now being healthy.

Where Has All The Offense Gone? This was by far the strangest game of the series thus far. When two teams who had some of the highest goals for totals in the league meet up you would expect at least a four goal game and we have seen some very high scoring ones in the series so far. But today’s game was played with so much cautiousness that it took all the flow and fun right out of it.

Speed Line Concerns The De Leo line played much better on offense tonight but still struggled mightily to clear their zone whenever the Condors had them pinned. They were the line on the ice for the Condors game winning goal – which was scored on a play in which the Gulls lost a face-off in their zone and failed to regain possession.

Lineup Changes The question now heading back to San Diego is how should Eakins tweak the line-up to get that series winning effort. Given he benched Gazdic straight after he took a stupid penalty and did not play him again after that, it is safe to say we won’t be seeing him in the next game. So who should he put in next? Will Jones be healthy by Monday? Or Lundestrom? If neither can go I think Kopacka should be getting the call. His speed could be an additional X-Factor.