AHL Wrap Up: Condors Double Up Against Silver Knights

BAKERSFIELD CONDORS GAME #9: HENDERSON SILVER KNIGHTS

Nothing like celebrating your second home win in a row by getting on a bus post game and traveling 5 hours through the night for the privilege of playing the same team this time in their arena. And you thought these guys just did it for the money. Clearly both teams got off the bus grumpy because it was a penalty filled affair with a total of 112 PIMs. The Condors did manage to overcome the bus legs and the flying fists to grab a 6-3 win in Henderson.

In terms of the line-up, Coach Chaulk ran 12F-6D. There were no changes to the lineup from last evening’s game

The line combos and pairings were as follows:

Forwards

Janmark-Hamblin-Philp

Kostin-Malone-Bourgault

Savoie-McKegg-Griffith

Tullio-Esposito-Lavoie

Defense

Demers-Kesselring

Peters-Kemp

Brubacher-Desharnais

PP1 was:

Demers

Tullio-Bourgault-Griffith

Malone

PP2 was a mess of players. None very effective. As an editorial note, it is wild to me that the coaching staff has not re-established James Hamblin on PP1. He was a key cog in its early success.

The PK forwards were mostly Malone and Bourgault followed by Hamblin and Philp. The D who played were Kemp, Desharnais, Peters and Demers.

Who Got Noticed?

Carter Savoie

Savoie had a coming out party tonight scoring his first two professional goals. Both of those goals at even strength. Before we get to the video, I think it needs to be noted that Savoie was coming back from some form of knee/ankle injury suffered in September. This was just his 4th game back and all of this success came in the 3rd game in 4 nights and the second game of a horrendous home and home with Henderson in the last 27 hours.

Savoie had jump in both games. Last game he was very physical and very active on the forecheck. Tonight, he was the same, but also his natural skills were on display. For someone who had a lower body injury, this clip was very instructive to me. Here is a good explosive stride to turn the defender and then beat him to the corner. The play is finished with a strong net drive and shot. Coming back from injury, this is really promising.

Now the goals. The first goal is pure Savoie. That was not an easy saucer pass from Griffith, but he handled it with ease and in the back of the net.

The second goal is just a guy who likes to go to the net getting a break. Keep doing it.

This was his best game as a pro.

Tyler Tullio

He’s just a pain in the ass to play against. He works, he hits, he slashes, he yaps, etc. He does everything he can out there to win the game for his team. This player went from being a healthy scratch two games ago to playing on 1PP tonight and it was well earned.

He finished the night with a great assist on a wonderful play by he, Phil Kemp and Seth Griffith.

Whatever he did to get taken out of the lineup, he’s making sure it doesn’t happen again.

James Hamblin

Hamblin has struggled scoring the last three games, but not for try. He ended up with another 4 shots on net and was used in all roles albeit down the line a bit on both specialty teams. Given the struggles of both, I wonder if the coaching staff moves him back to PP1 and PK1 when they are back next weekend.

Phil Kemp

Kemp is really feeling his game. Tonight, he was the best defenseman on either team tonight. Kemp ended the night with two goals and was 4-0 GF at 5v5. His boots can be clunky to watch, but tonight his skating was really good. Look at his transition skating on his second goal of the night.

Before I show his other goal, I want to show a clip of what I like most about Phil Kemp. He defends both bluelines so well. Watch this wipeout play by Kemp and then the composure to move the puck back down the ice. Side note: great backtrack by James Hamblin

Kemp’s other goal, and yes I know the video is awful, is an example of Kemp’s ability to shoot the puck. That’s a 55 foot slapper on an unscreened goalie. He can absolutely hammer the puck square.

What Happened to All the Other Prospects?

Given the lack of prospects who played well, I thought I would provide some quick notes on what happened with some others.

Michael Kesselring

He had a physical night getting into a number of melees, finally leading to a short fight. It appeared the Silver Knights were targeting him all night. Thought the third game in four nights took a toll on him more than others perhaps because of his size. Tough night for him defensively. Had a chance to run PP2, but was not successful.

Klim Kostin

This is the issue with him. Play a great game. Cannot be found next game.Nothing of note for him at all.

Raphael Lavoie

See Klim Kostin.

Xavier Bourgault

Had a couple of moments early, but against three in four nights might have taken a toll on the rookie. Nothing bad tonight, just not very impactful.

Noah Philp

Steady, but quiet. Didn’t impact the game.

Bakersfield is off now until next Friday when they travel to San Diego to take on the Gulls.