Colorado Ends Slide with 4-3 Win over Condors
Nov 20, 2018
BAKERSFIELD, CA. – A.J. Greer netted a pair of goals, while Dominic Toninato scored the game-winner, as the Colorado Eagles ended a six-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over the Bakersfield Condors on Tuesday. Pavel Francouz collected his seventh victory of the season in net, stopping 27 of the 30 shots he faced in the contest.
Colorado would hop on the board late in the first period when defenseman Ryan Graves fired a slapshot from the point that would beat Condors goalie Shane Starrett and give the Eagles a 1-0 edge at the 15:29 mark of the opening frame.
Just minutes later, Colorado would earn its first power play of the evening and Greer would capitalize with a diving effort through the low-slot that would see Greer flick a shot into the back of the net to stretch the Eagles lead to 2-0 with only 28 seconds left in the first period.
The advantage would grow to three goals when Greer skated through the right-wing circle and buried a wrist shot to make it 3-0, just 50 seconds into the second period. The goal would also signal the end of the night for Starrett, who would give way to Al Montoya in net for the duration.
Bakersfield would finally strike back off an Eagles turnover that would send forward Joe Gambardella on a breakaway, which he would finish off by slipping the puck past Francouz to trim the Colorado lead to 3-1 at the 2:00 mark of the period.
The Condors would find themselves back on the power play just minutes later and again it would be Gambardella who would light the lamp when he collected a rebound in the crease and fed it home, cutting the Eagles lead to 3-2 with only 5:56 gone in the middle frame.
As time began to tick down in the period, Bakersfield forward Cameron Hebig would unfurl a wrister through traffic from the left circle that would beat Francouz and tie the game at 3-3 with 5:13 left in the period.
Needing to stem the tide, a Condors turnover in their own zone would allow Toninato to drive through the low-slot before snapping a shot past Montoya and putting the Eagles back on top, 4-3 with only 26 seconds remaining in the second stanza.
Bakersfield would throw 10 shots on net in the third period, while holding Colorado to just two shots in the final frame, but the Eagles would stand tall to hold on for the 4-3 victory.
Colorado and Bakersfield each finished the night with 30 shots on goal, while both clubs went 1-for-3 on the power play.
The Eagles return to action when they play host to the San Jose Barracuda on Friday, November 23rd at 7:05pm at the Budweiser Events Center.
Single-game tickets for the 2018-19 season are on-sale now and start at just $18 per seat. Purchase your seats today by visiting the Budweiser Events Center box office, online at ColoradoEagles.com or by calling the Eagles ticketing department at 970-686-SHOT (7468).
