Firebirds extend point streak in OT loss to Condors
The Coachella Valley Firebirds' five-game winning streak ended Saturday night in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Bakersfield Condors. The Firebirds, the AHL affiliate for the Seattle Kraken, gained a point in the defeat and now have earned points in 11 of their last 12 games.
Bakersfield, an affiliate for the Edmonton Oilers, found the back of the net twice in the opening period, including once on a powerplay, to grab an early lead over Coachella Valley. The Firebirds were outshot 12-7 in the first period but were left on the man-advantage that carried over into the second period.
Just 41 seconds into the period, Max McCormick redirected an Andrew Poturalski shot past Condors’ netminder Olivier Rodrigue to get Coachella Valley on the board with a powerplay tally.
With nine minutes left in the frame, Tye Kartye made a heads up play to keep the puck in the offensive zone. Kartye kicked the puck to his stick and sniped a shot top shelf to tie the game. The goal was Kartye’s second of the season and was unassisted. Then 46 seconds later, McCormick wristed a shot off the pad of Rodrigue right to Ville Petman, who cleaned up the rebound to give the Firebirds the 3-2 lead.
The Condors tied the game 1:54 into the third period on a wrist shot from Justin Bailey. Coachella Valley wasted no time in responding as Peetro Seppala wired a puck through traffic for his first of the season. The goal came just 21 seconds after Bailey’s tying tally. Bakersfield tied the game on a Carter Savoie powerplay goal with eight minutes to go.
Seth Griffith scored for the Condors at the 2:34 mark of overtime to capture the extra point for Bakersfield.
Christopher Gibson made 28 saves in the win as the Firebirds move to 12-4-3-0 on the season. Coachella Valley finished 1-for-2 on the powerplay and 1-for-3 on the penalty kill. The Firebirds put 36 shots on goal.
Coachella Valley heads to Tucson for a pair of games against the Roadrunners starting Dec. 13.
Individual game tickets are now on sale for all Firebirds home games for the 2022-2023 season, including tickets for the historic home opener that will take place at Acrisure Arena on Dec. 18 against the Tucson Roadrunners. Puck drop is at 6 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: AHL: Coachella Valley Firebirds see win streak end in OT loss
