Steelheads Trail Early, Lose Second Straight

The Idaho Steelheads (14-15-7) fell behind just over a minute into the game, and fell by a 6-2 score in Bakersfield to the Condors (18-14-1) before a crowd of 5,511 at Rabobank Arena. The Steelheads have won just one of their last six games, while the Condors have now won 10 of their last 11 contests. Bobby Robins and Peter Zingoni each scored in the game?s first 4:43 to give Bakersfield a 2-0 lead that would carry into the first intermission, and hold until Bakersfield?s Andrew Ianiero made it 3-0 just over a half-minute into the second period; each goal came on a shot from inside the faceoff dots. Bakersfield?s J.D. Corbin extended the Condors? lead to 4-0 at 3:57 of the second period, before Matt Tassone received a pass from Aki Seitsonen on the doorstep and banged home a power play goal; his sixth tally of the season, at 6:37 of the second period. Matt McKnight also assisted on the goal. At 10:21, Evan Barlow took a pass as he emerged from the penalty box, darted toward the net on a breakaway, and deked to his backhand to score his second of the season and pull Idaho to within two goals. Before the second period ended, Zingoni scored his second of the game at 16:15 of the second period to give Bakersfield a 5-2 lead. Ianiero added an insurance tally in the third period to regain the four-goal lead for Bakersfield; the game?s final goal left the score at 6-2. Mike Zacharias saw 23:57 of action and stopped 11 of 15 shots in the Idaho net; he is now 7-7-4 in goal with the loss. Jase Weslosky played 36:03 of relief, and turned away 19 of 21 shots. Josh Tordjman stopped 20 of 22 Idaho shots, and improved to 13-9-1; Tordjman now carries a 3-0-0 record against Idaho with the victory. The Steelheads and Condors will play another in Bakersfield on Saturday night, January 8th. After Idaho?s game in Utah on January 12th, the club returns to Qwest Arena for three games against the Victoria Salmon Kings on January 14th, 15th, and 16th.