Game Recap: Tucson (3) at Bakersfield (7)
Game #44: Tucson Roadrunners (3) at Bakersfield Condors (7)
SOG: TUC (35) – BAK (35)
PP: TUC (1/5) – BAK (0/3)
TUCSON SCORING: Cam Dineen (3 PP), Boko Imama (4), Ben McCartney (6)
BAKERSFIELD SCORING: Tyler Benson (2), Michael Kesselring (11, 12), Justin Bailey (6), Max Gildon (1), Xavier Bourgault (10), Raphael Lavoie (11)
ROADRUNNERS FOUR-GAME WINNING STREAK ENDS WITH LOSS TO CONDORS IN BAKERSFIELD
Bakersfield, California – The Tucson Roadrunners snapped a four-game winning streak Tuesday night with a 7-3 loss to the Bakersfield Condors in the first outing of a seven-game road trip. Tucson opened the scoring with a power-play goal by Cam Dineen 4:12 into the contest, but a four-goal second period by the Condors led Bakersfield to their fourth win over the last five outings. The standalone matchup from the Mechanics Bank Arena capped off a stretch of seven games in 12 days for the Roadrunners that began at home against Bakersfield on January 20. Tucson will continue their road trip on Friday for the first of two meetings with the Ontario Reign.
YA GOTTA SEE IT
Tucson defenseman Cam Dineen put the Roadrunners on the board 4:12 into the opening frame of Tuesday’s meeting with the Bakersfield Condors. The goal was scored four seconds into Tucson’s first man-advantage of the night, as Nathan Smith won the face-off to send the puck backwards to Dineen. The Roadrunners have lit the lamp on the power-play in four of the first six meetings with Bakersfield on the season, outscoring them on the man-advantage overall by a count of six to two.
DON’T OVERLOOK IT
MORE ABOUT MIKE – With an assist on Ben McCartney’s goal late in the second period Tuesday, Roadrunners forward and the AHL’s leading scorer Mike Carcone extended his active scoring streak to 15 games. Carcone now leads the American Hockey League for the most consecutive outings with a point this season, and is one game away from matching last year’s season high of 16. He also added to his league lead in total scoring with 61 points (22g 39a) in 37 appearances for Tucson.
PHOTO OF THE GAME
Defenseman Cam Dineen opened the scoring on Tuesday in Bakersfield with his third goal of the season, scored on the power-play for a 1-0 Roadrunners lead. The goal was Dineen’s second while on the man-advantage and gave the 24-year-old his 20th power-play point of the year. With 18 power-play assists, Dineen is tied with Roadrunners forward Mike Carcone and Iowa’s Joe Hicketts for third in the American Hockey League. The fifth-year Roadrunner added an assist late in the second period on a Ben McCartney goal for his seventh multiple-point performance of the season.
THEY SAID IT
“[Bakersfield] got some good bounces, and we didn’t. I thought we had a good effort. Everyone was playing hard, that’s not the issue. We have to clean some things up and we’ll be okay moving forward.”
Roadrunners defenseman Cam Dineen on Tucson’s effort Tuesday against the Bakersfield Condors. Facing a five-goal deficit in the second period, the Roadrunners scored the final two goals of the frame to make it a 6-3 game going into the third.
THE RUNDOWN
The Roadrunners opened the scoring for their fifth-straight contest when Cam Dineen lit the lamp four seconds into a power-play for an early 1-0 Tucson lead. With 4:12 gone by in the opening frame, the score marked Dineen’s third goal of the season and his 20th power-play point on the year. After the Roadrunners successfully fended off a five-on-three advantage for the Condors that lasted 1:19, Bakersfield evened the score at 1-1 with a five-on-five goal before the midway point of the first period. The Condors took their first lead of the contest at 2-1 with 1:24 still to play in the opening frame, as the Tucson entered the second period trailing by one. Bakersfield opened the scoring in Tuesday’s second period to make it a 3-1 advantage, scored by Michael Kesselring for his second-straight goal of the game. The Condors struck again 1:33 later for a 4-1 lead with 8:14 gone by in the middle frame. Bakersfield added another pair of goals in the span of 23 seconds for their largest lead of the night at 6-1 with 7:32 still to play in the second period. The Roadrunners got back on the board with Boko Imama’s fourth goal of the season, scored with 6:13 left in the frame to reduce the deficit to 6-2. Tucson wasn’t finished in the second period, as forward Ben McCartney found the back of the net with ten seconds left on the clock for a 6-3 game entering the final 20 minutes of play. With assists on McCartney’s sixth goal of the season, Cam Dineen notched his seventh multi-point night (1g 1a) of the year and Mike Carcone extended his active scoring streak to an AHL season-high 15 games with his 39th assist. The Condors regained the momentum with a goal 50 seconds into the third period, pushing their lead back out to four at 7-3. The final 19:10 of the contest marked the longest scoring drought of the night, as Bakersfield came away with a 7-3 win over Tucson in their last meeting until March 31.
(Photo Credits: Bakersfield Condors)
