The Bakersfield Condors have some catching up to do in 2017.
The Edmonton Oilers’ AHL affiliate has a six-game losing streak (0-3-2-1) going into Friday’s home game against the San Jose Barracuda. San Jose is on a 9-1-1-1 run and will present a difficult test for the Condors who are 10-11-4-1 and hold seventh place in the Pacific Division.
There are reasons for optimism for the Condors as they navigate the ups and downs of the AHL’s six-month regular-season grind.
They arrived back on home ice this week where they have gone 8-6-1-0 this season.
Before the road trip, the Condors had been on a 4-0-2-0 push. They endured a five-game trip that yielded only three of a possible 10 points. However, three of the five losses were one-goal defeats against quality opponents in the Ontario Reign and Tucson Roadrunners, and the Condors managed to scratch out a point in each of those outings.
Bakersfield has also been forced to go without leading scorer Taylor Beck, who remains on recall with the Oilers. Beck has gone 9-21-30 in 19 AHL games this season. Should he return eventually, he would boost an offence that ranks 22nd in the AHL at 2.62 goals per game as well as the team’s 23rd-ranked power play (15.3 per cent).
While that power play went 0-for-7 in a 4-1 home loss to San Jose this past Wednesday, it has shown signs lately that it can produce. It went 5-for-13 in a two-game road series against Tucson.
And while Beck remains with the Oilers, forwards Anton Lander (8-8-16 in 11 games) and Anton Slepyshev (2-5-7 in six games) have provided boosts offensively. Captain Ryan Hamilton is as dependable as ever, tied for the team lead with Beck at nine goals and placing second with 26 points.
Goaltender Laurent Brossoit has endured some early-season struggles, going 6-7-3-2 with a .909 save percentage to go with his 2.72 goals-against average. However, the 23-year-old is a proven AHL number-one netminder that has posted save percentages of .920 and .918 in each of the past two seasons.
While a return to top form for Brossoit would be welcome for the Condors, they have had good news in the crease. Rookie Nick Ellis, an undrafted Providence College product that Edmonton signed to a two-year entry-level deal this past spring, has provided strong work. Ellis, who will turn 23 in January, has been strong (4-4-2-0 / 2.51 / .923).
The Condors will also have something to break up the midseason grind next week when they host Ontario in the Condorstown Outdoor Classic on Jan. 7 at Bakersfield College Memorial Stadium. That event will also feature guests Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille among others in an Oilers-Los Angeles Kings alumni game.
A road-heavy schedule is ahead for the Condors in January, with six of their nine games away from home. But February and March will see the Condors skate at home 14 times in 24 games.
The Pacific Division remains wide open. Ontario and Tucson have endured up-and-down seasons. The Stockton Heat might be the deepest team in the Pacific Division but they are working through their own three-game losing streak (0-2-1-0).
A strong finish to 2016 this weekend would be a step toward a better 2017 for the Condors.
POWER 5
1. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (21-5-3-0, 45 points) – The Penguins continue to roll through the AHL despite playing in a brutally tough Atlantic Division alongside the Hershey Bears and Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Rookie winger Jake Guentzel has piled up five goals in his past two games and taken over the AHL lead with 17 goals. A challenge awaits with Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray sidelined by injury. Murray’s absence prompted the recall of number-one Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goaltender Tristan Jarry (13-5-1-1 / 2.15 / .921). But back-up Casey DeSmith is an excellent option, having gone 8-0-2-0 / 1.97 /.925.
2. Lehigh Valley (21-8-1-0, 43 points) – There is no breathing room for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, not with the Phantoms lingering nearby. The AHL’s top-scoring team (3.73 goals per game) continues to overwhelm opposing defences and is 8-2-0-0 in its past 10 games. When the Lehigh Valley attack is rolling, few teams can even slow it down.
3. Hershey Bears (17-6-5-2, 41 points) – The Bears are tied for the third-most points in the AHL yet they still sit in third place in the Atlantic Division. Washington Capitals prospect Vitek Vanecek is poised to take over the starting crease job in Chocolatetown. The Bears have used a well-balanced offence to put up 3.53 goals per game, second-best in the AHL. Injuries have hit the Bears hard this season, and they endured another loss Wednesday when defenceman Madison Bowey sustained a slight laceration of the tendon on his ankle that will put him out of the lineup indefinitely.
4. Grand Rapids Griffins (19-7-1-2, 41 points) – The Griffins have battled the Milwaukee Admirals for Central Division positioning this season, passing them to move into first place. Grand Rapids has survived the loss of goaltender Jared Coreau, who remains with the Detroit Red Wings while goaltender Jimmy Howard is out. The Griffins have tormented opponents all season with their league-best power play (27.9 per cent), and they did so again this past Wednesday, going 2-for-3 in ending the Cleveland Monsters’ own eight-game point streak.
5. Providence Bruins (17-7-4-3, 41 points) – The Bruins survived a poor start and are back in the Atlantic Division hunt thanks to a 13-game point streak, the AHL’s longest such streak this season. Goaltender Zane McIntyre (9-0-0-0 / 1.35 / .953) has provided the Bruins with excellent goaltending and proven to be a worthy challenger to prospect Malcolm Subban. A difficult test is ahead this weekend with stops at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Hershey.
AWAITING THE CALL
Utica Comets centre Curtis Valk has shown that he can score in the Western Hockey League and the ECHL.
Valk had 16 goals in 30 games last season in the ECHL. He had 46- and 47-goal seasons in his final two WHL seasons with the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Now the 23-year-old Valk, who is 5-foot-9 and 166 pounds, is showing he can put the puck in AHL nets as well.
Valk leads the Comets with 10 goals and his 18 points put him third in team scoring. He has done so for a Comets team that ranks 27th in goals per game at 2.41.
The parent Vancouver Canucks do not have a lot in their farm system, and Valk is playing on an AHL contract. After two seasons spent mainly in the ECHL, Valk may yet earn himself an NHL contract.
THE BIG GAME
NHL road trips have nothing on what the St. John’s IceCaps endure but their current sojourn is a rough one even by their standards.
Road trips of six and eight games are common for the far-flung IceCaps but their current journey stretches nearly five weeks. The IceCaps continue their season-high 10-game road trip Saturday with a visit to the Syracuse Crunch. The IceCaps have not played on home ice since Dec. 10, and they will not return to their fans at Mile One Centre until Jan. 13.
Life on the road has not slowed the IceCaps, who have gone 3-0-2-0. The trip’s only two losses, each in overtime, have come against the Binghamton Senators and Rochester Americans, a pair of teams trying to avoid the bottom of the North Division.
St. John’s is without leading scorer Chris Terry, plus Sven Andrighetto and veteran blue-liner Mark Barberio, who are with the Montreal Canadiens. Instead, the IceCaps have relied on goaltender Charlie Lindgren’s quality work (four goals against in his past three starts) and balanced scoring.
The trip has put the IceCaps into second place in the North Division, two points behind first-place Syracuse going into play tonight.
But Syracuse will present a difficult challenge. The Crunch have been hit by a continuous stream of recalls to the Tampa Bay Lightning. But they knocked off a quality Hershey team this past Wednesday in a 3-2 overtime home win and received forward Erik Condra from the Lightning today.
