Huddy's three assists not enough for Thunder

Published on March 7, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


STOCKTON, Calif. - Mike Wirll buried a pair of goals and added an assist while goaltender Dave McKee made 39 saves to help the Bakersfield Condors send the Stockton Thunder (28-28-5, 61 points) to a 6-3 defeat before 6,670 fans at Stockton Arena on Friday night.

Thunder forward Ryan Huddy, who tallied three assists, help set up goals by James Bates, Cleve Kinley and Cory Urquhart. Matt Pope, Tylor Michel, Dave Bonk and Mark Derlago also scored a goal for Bakersfield, who won their fourth straight game and beat the Thunder for the fifth time in six head-to-head meetings this season.

Wirll scored on the Condors' first shot of the game for a 1-0 lead at 1:43 of the opening period when he took a centering pass from Dave Bonk and snuck a wrist shot past Andrew Perugini's blocker.

The Thunder retaliated and leveled the score on Bates' 12th goal of the year on the power-play with 5:25 left in the first, re-directing Cleve Kinley's one-timer past McKee while setting a screen in front of the net.

Just 44 seconds later, Mark Derlago put the Thunder in a 2-1 hole when he collected a rebound from Ryan Mahrle's point shot and lofted the puck over an outstretched Perugini.

Tylor Michel's fourth goal in his last two games, and his 7th of the season hiked the Bakersfield lead to 3-1 at 2:27 of the second period when his wrist shot from the slot glanced off the right shoulder of Perugini and into the back of the net. Just 1:24 later, the Condors converted on a line-rush to put the Thunder in a 4-1 hole on Matt Pope's 30th goal of the season, who took a pass from Andrew Ianiero in the slot and snuck a wrist shot past Perugini's blocker.

McKee turned aside all 14 shots he faced in the second period, including a breakaway on Ryan MacMurchy.

An increasingly physical Thunder team responded in the third period by getting the second power-play goal of the game on Kinley's blast from the high slot, beating McKee to the blocker side with 18:46 left in regulation which cut the deficit to 4-2.

After the Condors turned away the fifth Thunder power-play of the game, Wirll notched his second goal of the contest with 7:01 left in regulation for a 5-2 Bakersfield lead by sneaking in a wrist shot through Perugini's five hole from a bad angle.

Urquhart closed the gap to 5-3 with his career-high 28th goal of the year when he converted Huddy's saucer pass at the goal mouth past McKee's glove. The Thunder threatened and pulled Perugini for a 6-on-5 skating situation, but Bonk put the game out of reach with an empty net goal with 1:49 left in regulation for a 6-3 score.

Perugini was handed only his third loss in the last 16 appearances (13-3-0), making 25 saves.

NOTES: The Thunder scratched Marc-Andre Bernier (injured reserve), Jordan Bendfeld (injured reserve) and Garet Hunt (healthy) ... the Thunder converted at a 2-for-5 rate on the power-play and outshot the Condors 42-31 ... the Thunder fell to 11-13-7 lifetime against Bakersfield ... Huddy's three assists extended his scoring streak to six straight games (3g-8a).

The Thunder returns to play tomorrow at home against the Utah Grizzlies, starting at 7:30 p.m. at Stockton Arena for "Easy Being Green" Presented by Port of Stockton California. The game is available exclusively online for viewing online (audio is free-of-charge) for a $7 charge at http://www.stocktonthunder.com/ (courtesy of B2 Networks).

The proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers and American Hockey League's Springfield Falcons, the Thunder was voted "Best Local Sports Team" by readers of the San Joaquin Magazine, has led the ECHL in attendance for three consecutive seasons and drew 239,337 fans to Stockton Arena in 2007-08. Season, group, individual tickets and mini plan packages are on sale now. For more information about tickets, merchandise, or other inquiries contact the Stockton Thunder offices at (209) 373-1500 or visit http://www.stocktonthunder.com/.

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ECHL Stories from March 7, 2009


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