GAME PREVIEW: Condors v San Jose 5 p.m.
The Bakersfield Condors meet the San Jose Barracuda for the first time this season. It is a 10-game season series in 2017-18 after the teams met for 12 games last year. San Jose is the defending Pacific Division champions. Bakersfield went 4-7-1-0 against the Barracuda last season, but were 3-2-1-0 at home. Two seasons ago, the Condors went 7-3-1-1 against San Jose and lead the all-time series 11-10-2-1.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Bakersfield won for the third time in four games with a 4-3 shootout victory over Stockton on Friday. D Ryan Mantha, RW Zach O’Brien, and RW Patrick Russell each had regulation goals while LW Joey LaLeggia and RW Ty Rattie notched the shootout tallies.
San Jose has not played yet this weekend and haven’t played since last Sunday when they beat San Diego 5-3 at home. LW Adam Helewka had two goals in the victory as G Antoine Bibeau stopped 14 of 17 in relief to earn the victory.
PLAYOFF PICTURE
Bakersfield maintained their hold of fourth place thru the weekend. The Condors sit one point in front of Stockton and four points ahead of Tucson for the final playoff spot in the Pacific Division. Stockton has a three-game week as well while the Condors and Roadrunners will play their final two matchups of the regular season on Friday and Saturday.
CONDORS NOTES
The Condors were assigned RW Iiro Pakarinen yesterday. The Finnish born winger has 32 points (18g-14a) in 48 career AHL games with Oklahoma City and Bakersfield. He had one point, an assist, in 18 games with Edmonton this season… C Josh Currie moved into 9th on the Condors all-time games played list with 210 on Friday night… D Mark Fayne returned to the lineup for the first time since Nov. 1… C Brad Malone has six points (2g-4a) in four games including an assist on Friday… D Ryan Mantha scored his first professional goal on Friday.
BARRACUDA NOTES
G Antoine Bibeau is sixth in the AHL with a 2.04 goals-against average… F Rudolfs Balcers is tied for 14th among rookies in scoring with 13 points (2g-11a) in 17 games… The Barracuda are 2-4-1-0 away from SAP Center… San Jose is 6-1-0-1 when scoring first… On special teams, the Barracuda’s penalty-killing unit is fourth at 85.9%… San Jose has been outscored 16-9 in first periods, but have outscored teams 26-16 in the third period this year.
TRANSACTIONS
12/2 – RW Iiro Pakarinen assigned by Edmonton (NHL)
11/30 – G Shane Starrett reassigned to Bakersfield (AHL)
