Condors impress with 4-1 road win versus Roadrunners
By Paul Taylor
The Bakersfield Condors put the game away in the final period with a three-goal blitz, to claim a victory in Tucson against a strong Roadrunners team.
Coming off a convincing 5-1 home win over a previously unbeaten Silver Knights team, the Condors were in a confident mood. However, they faced a tough challenge on Friday night, on the road versus a Roadrunners side with three wins in four games to open the season.
In the end though, the Condors proved to be too much for the Roadrunners and the 2,184 fans in attendance at Tucson Convention Center Arena. The visitors pulled away with three goals in the final 20 minutes, to secure an impressive 4-1 win.
The Condors were aggressive from the get-go, as they recorded three shots on the opposing goal in the opening minute. In total, they outshot the hosts 15-8 in the first period.
The Roadrunners were doing well to hang on, before the visitors opened the scoring on a power play, at the 14:39 mark of the first period. Noel Hoefenmayer scored his second goal of the season to make it 1-0, assisted by Sam Gagner and Carter Savoie.
This proved to be the only time the Condors would be successful with the man-advantage, as they went just 1-for-8 on the night. As for the Roadrunners, they would need the power-play for their only scoring success in the game.
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That moment came just after five minutes in the second period, as Josh Doan tied the game at 1-1 with his second goal of the season. Nathan Smith and Dylan Guenther were awarded the helpers, as the hosts took full advantage of the 5-vs-3 opportunity.
As the game entered the third period, the game was delicately poised. The Condors managed to regain the lead inside five minutes, as James Hamblin tore through the Roadrunners’ defence before calmly finishing to make it 2-1 with a magnificent second goal of the 2023-24 campaign.
Despite the 2-1 advantage, the game remained tight for the majority of the final 20 minutes. It was only after the Roadrunners decided to pull their goalie late on, that it got away from the hosts.
Max Wanner made it 3-1 on an empty-net goal with just 68 seconds remaining, with his first of the season. Brad Malone then similarly scored his first of the campaign with just 9 seconds left, with another empty-net goal.
To give some idea of how much of a team-effort the 4-1 win was, nine different Condors recorded a point on the night. They went 1-for-5 on the penalty kill, as Calvin Pickard stopped 27 of the 28 shots he faced.
dark. Next. Is it time for a Condors call up to the Oilers?
With the win, the Condors improve to 3-1-0 on the season. Next up, they face the Roadrunners at the same venue on Saturday night, to close out their October schedule.