BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Behind two-point nights from Justin Kirkland, Matthew Phillips and Connor Mackey and shootout strikes from Connor Zary and Juuso Valimaki, the Stockton Heat (28-8-3-1) earned a hard-fought, 4-3 win Saturday over the Bakersfield Condors (20-11-4-4) at Mechanics Bank Arena.
For the first time in a month, the Heat conceded the game’s first score as Cooper Marody redirected a puck past Adam Werner to take a 1-0 edge 5:09 into the action. The Heat responded with goals from Jakob Pelletier and Luke Philp in the opening frame to roar back and take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
The Condors tied the contest in the second, Dylan Holloway finding the back of the net to knot the game at two, and the teams then traded scores in the third period with Kirkland and Adam Cracknell each lighting the lamp to push the game to overtime.
After a scoreless 3-on-3 set, both teams went without a tally through three rounds of the shootout before James Hamblin put Bakersfield on the brink of victory with a score in the fourth round. Stockton countered with Zary and Valimaki potting consecutive attempts, sandwiched around a Werner stop on Holloway, to take the front end of the weekend home-and-home between the Pacific Division rivals.
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