Condors find no luck on power play in 2-1 loss to Stockton

STOCKTON, Calif. – The Bakersfield Condors (21-41-2-3, 47pts) could not convert on late power play opportunities and dropped a close 2-1 decision to the Stockton Thunder (34-26-5-4, 77pts) on Sunday afternoon at Stockton Arena.

Bakersfield came out of the gates with good pressure, registering four shots in the first two minutes of action, but could not find the back of the net. Instead, it was Stockton who drew first blood as F Shawn Weller snapped a shot from the bottom of the right circle into a vacated net after a good feed from D Nathan Deck at the 6:21 mark. The Condors received two power plays, but could not generate much offense and the Thunder took a 1-0 lead with them into the intermission. Shots were 11-7 for Stockton.

Two fights broke out in the second period as F Brett Lyon took on D Colten Hayes and D Art Bidlevskii tangled with F Cameron Abney in the opening five minutes of the frame. Stockton scored the lone goal of the frame as F Garet Hunt beat Condors G Brian Stewart from the right-wing circle at 17:13 to push Stockton’s advantage to 2-0. Bakersfield outshot Stockton, 13-10.

The third period belonged to the Condors as they pressured the Thunder in search of pulling into a tie. They received a bit of good fortune at 8:56 of the period as D Kyle Haines flip-in from the blue line found its way off the glove of Thunder G Olivier Roy and into the back of the cage to halve the deficit at 2-1. Bakersfield then went on six minutes worth of power plays over the last half of the period, including a full 5-on-3 power play, but never found an equalizer and fell 2-1.

Tonight’s box score: click here.