AHL Wrap Up: Condors Silence Gulls

BAKERSFIELD CONDORS GAME #10: SAN DIEGO GULLS

The Condors returned to the ice putting a three game win streak on the line against the San Diego Gulls. The Condors started this win streak at home with a 3-2 win over the Gulls. This time they traveled to San Diego for the rematch. The game held an eerie similarity to the first game with Gulls goalie Luikas Dotsal standing on his head. The Condors finally solved the Gulls keeper in the third with two goals in a minute and then put a wet blanket on the rest of this game with a stifling defensive effort for the 2-0 win.

In terms of the line-up, Coach Chaulk ran 12F-6D. Dino Kambeitz and Philip Engaras were added to replace Janmark and Kostin, who were called up by the Oilers. Philp Broberg and Yanis Kaldis came back in after missing time with injuries. Peters and Brubacher were the scratches..

The line combos and pairings were as follows:

Forwards

Savoie-McKegg-Griffith

Tullio-Malone-Bourgault

Lavoie-Hamblin-Philp

Engaras-Esposito-Kambeitz

Defense

Demers-Kesselring

Broberg-Desharnais

Kaldis-Kemo

PP1 was:

Demers

Tullio-Bourgault-Griffith

Malone

PP2 was Hamblin with Philp and Savoie along with Kesselring and Demers on the backend.

PK had a mix of kids including Bourgault, Philp, Kesslering and Kemp all playing bigger roles here.

Who Got Noticed?

Raphael Lavoie

Lavoie played a complete 200 foot game tonight on every single shift. Some of his best work as a Condor.He continues to use his size and strength to attack the opposition net. He had three strong net drives tonight like this one.

In addition, he was hard on the forecheck using his body and his stick to create several Condors’ opportunities.

Finally, he did what he was expected to do. He scored. On a pretty passing play, Lavoie finished it off. He ended the night with a goal on two shots and was 2-0 GF at 5v5.

James Hamblin

Hamblin just continues to produce strong game after strong game. Again, he needs to score to get to the next level. Tonight, he had a beautiful assist on a great play involving Phil Kemp and Raphael Lavoie to bring him up to 8 points in 10 games on the season.

He’s an incredibly underrated offensive player. Watch this skate to stick pass receipt and net drive to draw a penalty.

Of course, nothing would be complete without Hamblin, along with his compatriot, Lavoie, creating a turnover and a great transition chance with a strong backtrack. Defensemen stand up at the blueline much better when forwards are in position coming back in support. Hamblin is the best Condor forward at this tactic.

The line of Philp-Hamblin-Lavoie was strong all night and was absolutely suffocating in their own zone. It stood to reason, the line would get rewarded with a great goal.

Carter Savoie

Savoie was inserted onto a line with Greg McKegg and Seth Griffith. This coming off a two goal performance in his last game. He didn’t tally on the scoresheet, but he was very effective tonight at 5v5 and on the PP2. Look at his command of this PP2 tonight.

Savoie showed his deft passing skills on a number of occasions, two of which are here. How the first play doesn’t result in a goal is beyond me.

I will note one minor quibble with the last clip. Savoie continues to loop instead of stopping and starting on change of direction of the puck. Albeit, it is a tight turn, but a stop and then two quick strides might have really created havoc for the Gulls defender.

Xavier Bourgault

Also, held off the score sheet tonight, Bourgault continues to create offense. He finished the night with 3 shots on net and was his usual self in terms of his offensive skills.

The offense has dried up a bit with no points in his last three, but a breakout looks imminent.

Michael Kesselring

He leads all AHL defensemen in goal scoring. That’s a pretty impressive stat. He scored again from distance with a great one timer off some excellent footwork to create time and space.

Kesselring had three shots to add to his team leading 29 on the season. At his current pace, he would end the year with over 200 shots on net.

Phil Kemp

Had another tremendous game tonight paired with Yanis Kaldis who was returning from injury. Had the secondary assist on the Lavoie goal with a beautiful feed to Hamblin. Watch how quick he makes the decision and how accurate the pass is to Hamblin. He has really good passing vision for a noted defensive defenseman.

He has points in four straight games and is only one point behind Michael Kesselring for the team lead for defense scoring. If he continues to score, he’s going to make a case for himself with the Oilers.

Bakersfield heads home to meet a very tough Ontario Reign tomorrow night at 8pm.