The Condors continued their recovery from a poor start to March, with an impressive 3-1 win on Friday night at home in a challenging matchup with the Colorado Eagles. The Eagles entered the game in second place in the Pacific Division, were 4-2-0 versus the Condors this season and had a strong road record of 16-8-4.
On the night, the headlines went to Dylan Holloway and Jack Campbell. Holloway was taking part in his first game since being loaned back to the Condors, while Campbell made it fours wins in his past five starts.
The game actually got off to a disastrous start for the Condors, when they fell behind after just 160 seconds of action. Ondrej Pavel bared down on goal from the right wing, and gave Campbell no chance as he fired home to make it 1-0 to the Eagles.
Campbell excels
However, that would be the only time the visitors got the puck past Campbell on the night, as he put in a stellar performance. He stopped 31 of 32 shots in total and went six-for-six on the penalty kill, as he deservedly took home the game's First Star.
The Condors will be the first to admit they were second-best during the opening 20 minutes, but they managed to tie the game at 1-1 at the 16:12 mark. And of all people to score the tying goal, it almost had to be Holloway.
The goal was set up by Max Wanner's shot, which Holloway tipped home. He now has five points in five games for the Condors this season, comprising of three goals and two assists.
The second period proved to be a closely fought affair, as the Condors outshot the Eagles 10-9. They managed to finally take their first lead of the night, with just under five minutes remaining in the second.
It was somewhat of a fortuitous goal by the Condors, albeit depending on your perspective. Regardless, Adam Erne actually took a shot from behind the visitor's night, with the puck going in off Ivan Prosvetov's pad to make it 2-1 to the home side.
No comeback in the third
It figured to be a tense final period, but the Condors gave themselves some much-needed breathing space just 26 seconds in. They hit the Eagles with a three-on-two break, as Seth Griffith set up Raphael Lavoie to blast home a one-timer past the far post.
The Condors have repeatedly benefitted from the duo this season. Griffith now leads the Condors with 34 assists and 46 total points, while Lavoie has a team-high 24 goals.
The Eagles did play well and applied pressure during the remainder of the third period, but ultimately to no avail. Erne and Holloway were awarded the Second and Third Star respectively, while Cam Dineen 's secondary assist on Lavoie's goal means he now has a point in six consecutive contests.
The win was crucial for proving the Condors can compete with the best in their division. They are now also 25-4-1 on the season, when scoring at least three goals.
The impact of Holloway
Postgame, Holloway has asked about his smooth return to action with the Condors back in Bakersfield. Speaking to the media, he said: "Yeah, I'm pretty comfortable with the guys here. I know everybody pretty well, so I guess the transition was easy (and) everybody's nice. It was good to get the win tonight and I felt like our team was buzzing."
Condors coach Colin Chaulk discussed the positive influence Holloway has on the team. Speaking to the media, he said: "He's an impactful player. I think it pushes the rest of the players on our team to play to his level, but at the same time he has to make sure he sustains the level that he was at tonight, and we're happy to see him get the first (goal)."
In general, Chaulk was very happy with the team effort versus the Eagles. He said: "We know that we can play with them. We had a little blunder there on the first goal against. We felt like we froze a little bit, but once we settled in, we started to fight back, we started to shoot the puck. We're happy we were able to tie the game, get the lead and keep (it)."
With the win the Oilers improve to 29-20-4, move up the sixth in the Pacific Division and still have a realistic shot at second place. They will now face the Eagles again at home on Saturday night, with Olivier Rodrigue scheduled to get the start in net.