Eagles Rally Three Times to Defeat Condors in Shootout
Feb 15, 2020
BAKERSFIELD, CA. – Eagles forward Sheldon Dries scored the game-tying goal with 26 seconds remaining in regulation, as Colorado rallied to defeat the Bakersfield Condors 5-4 in a shootout on Saturday. Erik Condra and Jacob MacDonald each posted a goal and an assist, while Connor Timmins and Jayson Megna both collected a pair of assists in the victory. The contest saw the Eagles come back from three different deficits, including a 2-0 disparity after the opening 20 minutes of play.
An early power play for the Eagles would take a drastic turn when a turnover inside the Bakersfield blue line sent Condors forward Brad Malone streaking down the ice on a breakaway. After drawing Colorado goaltender Hunter Miska down to the ice, Malone would slip the puck past him with a backhander to put Bakersfield on top, 1-0 at the 8:21 mark of the first period.
Another Eagles turnover just minutes later would set up forward Josh Currie to snap a shot from the slot into the back of the net to stretch the Condors lead to 2-0 with 8:51 remaining in the opening stanza. Colorado would go on to outshoot Bakersfield 10-7 in the period but would head to the first intermission still trailing 2-0.
The Eagles would strike early in the second period when MacDonald fielded a rebound in the low slot and fed the puck past Condors goalie Stuart Skinner to slice Bakersfield’s lead to 2-1 just 55 seconds into the middle frame.
A power play late in the period would set up Condra to grab the puck at the side of the net and bank a shot off of Skinner and into the back of the cage. The tally was Condra’s 15th goal of the season and tied the game at 2-2 at the 15:03 mark.
The Condors would hop back into the driver’s seat on a power play of their own, as Currie stepped into a one-timer from the left-wing circle that would light the lamp and give Bakersfield a 3-2 edge with only 2:07 remaining in the second period.
Still trailing 3-2 to begin the final 20 minutes of regulation, Eagles forward Logan O’Connor would again tie things up when he snagged a rebound on top of the crease and snapped it home to square the score at 3-3 at the 7:18 mark of the third period.
A rush in transition would see Condors forward Joe Gambardella hammer a one-timer from just inside the blue line past Miska to give Bakersfield a 4-3 edge with only 5:08 left to play in the contest.
Colorado would earn a power play in the final 36 seconds of the contest and the opportunity would prove productive, as Megna fired a shot from the right-wing circle that Dries would deflect past Skinner to tie the game at 4-4 with only 26 seconds remaining in regulation.
The contest would then shift to a sudden-death overtime that would see both Miska and Skinner come up with timely saves, ultimately forcing a shootout with the game still deadlocked at 4-4. Eagles forwards Michael Joly and A.J. Greer both found the back of the net in the shootout, while Miska denied Luke Esposito and Evan Bouchard to give Colorado the 5-4 victory.
The Eagles were outshot in the game, 33-29. Colorado finished the evening going 2-for-6 on the power play, while the Condors went 1-for-4 on the man-advantage. The victory was the Eagles fourth consecutive win over Bakersfield in the season series.
The Eagles return to action when they travel to take on the Ontario Reign on Sunday, February 16th at 4:00pm MT at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.
Tickets for all regular season contests are on sale now and can be purchased at ColoradoEagles.com or by calling (970) 686-SHOT.
