Bakersfield wins in shootout

STOCKTON, Calif. – Stockton Thunder drops another game, but picks up a point against Bakersfield, in a 5-4 shoot-out loss at the Stockton Arena before 6,516 fans.
Phil Mangan opened the scoring with a power play goal at 2:59, assisted by Justin Maylan and Nathan Deck.   Bakerfield’s Robby Dee evened the score with a power play goal of his own at 13:41, with assists to Levi Nelson and Zach Cohen.   The teams would be knotted at the intermission bell.
Midway through the period there was a lengthy delay as Olivier Dame-Malka was injured behind a play, and was taken off the ice on a gurney and transported to a hospital as a precaution.
Bakersfield turned it up during the second period, holding Stockton to only eight shots on goal. Peter Boyd scored the first goal of the second period on a power play at 5:04, followed less than a minute later by Alex Hudson’s goal at 5:50, putting the Condors up 3-1.   Another power play opportunity by Stockton gave Mangan his second goal of the night at 15:57, with assists to Maylan and Harrison Reed.
In the third period, Stockton returned the ice with more energy, but the Condors’ Parker Stanfield, still found a scoring chance at 5:39 on another power play to extend the Condors lead by two.
Yannick Riendeau scored on another power play opportunity at 10:22 to close the gap, and then the tying goal at 12:25 came from Eric Hunter, who had returned to Stockton earlier in the day following a short stint at AHL Oklahoma City Barons.  
The two teams cruised through the sudden-death overtime period, with Stockton leading 4-1 in shots on goal, but not finding a way to get anything past Scott Greenham in the net for the Condors.   In a game where regulation was filled with penalties and man-advantage play, the overtime period was without a whistle, resulting in the final score of 4-4, forcing a shootout.
With Tyler Bunz in the net for Stockton, the first three Condors skaters scored, while none of Stockton’s skaters could solve Greenham.   Boyd, Dee and Nelson all found the back of the net against Bunz.   The Condors took the extra point with a final score of 5-4.
Bakersfield was 3-for-4 on the power play opportunities, while Stockton was 3-for-7. Bunz took the loss with 30 saves, while Greenham adds another win under his belt with 36 saves for the night.   Greenham is 4-0 in shootouts for the season.
The Condors’ win helps them snap a six-game winless streak, while the Thunder suffers their fourth straight loss.
Condors continue their road trip on Wednesday in San Francisco, while the Thunder host the Wranglers on Tuesday night.
Contact the writer at Shellie.Lima@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photographer at Jack.Lima@prohockeynews.com
Follow us on Twitter @ProHockeyNews