The Stockton Thunder extended a winning streak to four games on Wednesday night (Feb. 1), but a roster tweak is expected before the team can attempt to continue the roll.
After the Thunder ran its current streak to a season-best four games by beating the Bakersfield Condors 4-1 in front of 3,091 spectators at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield, CA, Stockton Coach Matt Thomas indicated that center Chris D’Alvise and goalie Alex Stalock are expected to be re-assigned to clubs in the American Hockey League before the Thunder and Idaho Steelheads square off on Friday night (Feb. 3) at Stockton Arena.
D’Alvise, who had a goal and an assist in the victory over the Condors, is expected to be recalled by the Springfield (Mass.) Falcons after recording four points in four games since joining the Thunder late last week. Stalock, who didn’t play against the Condors, is expected to be re-assigned to the Worcester (Mass.) Sharks after going 4-0 with the Thunder. Both players have been with Stockton on injury rehabilitation assignments.
D’Alvise got the Thunder (22-18-4) off to a good start against the Condors by scoring the game’s first goal. Chris Doyle chipped in two goals and Kevin Baker added one for the Thunder, while Jesse Gimblett scored the lone Bakersfield goal. Baker had two assists in addition to his goal, and Garet Hunt also was credited with two assists for the Thunder.
Stockton was outshot 56-28, but Thunder goalie Olivier Roy made a career-high 55 saves to fall just one short of the franchise record of 56 set by Jake Moreland during the 2005-’06 season.
“Olivier was great,” Thomas said by telephone after the game. “A lot of their shots came from the outside, but he made a lot of good saves.”
For Stockton, the victory came on the heels of an impressive three-game weekend sweep of the Alaska Aces, who boast the best record in the ECHL. The sweep could have left the Thunder primed for a letdown, but the team was never headed in achieving its first four-game winning streak of the season.
“Sometimes it’s hard to keep up the same intensity all the time,” Thomas said. “That was such a big weekend for us that we potentially could have had a letdown, but we played an efficient game. When we got opportunities, we made the most of them.”
The Condors (10-30-5) enjoyed a 19-9 advantage in shots during the first period, but D’Alvise accounted for the period’s only goal when he scored on a rebound with slightly more than 10 minutes expired. Baker and Hunt had assists on the goal, which was the first for D’Alvise since his arrival in Stockton.
Doyle stretched Stockton’s lead to 2-0 with a goal at 7:42 of the second period off assists from Sebastian Owuya and Mike Little, and Baker added his 20th goal of the season just 38 seconds later to give the Thunder a 3-0 cushion. D'Alvise and Hunt had assists on Baker's goal.
Doyle allowed the Thunder to carry a 4-0 lead into the second intermission by scoring again with 1:18 left in the second period, when he netted a power-play goal off assists from Baker and Matt Foy while the Thunder enjoyed a two-man advantage.
Gimblett spoiled Roy’s bid for a shutout by scoring a power-play goal at 3:46 of the third period, but Roy slammed the door on the Condors the rest of the way.
The victory improved Roy’s record to 10-13-4 and marked the second time he has seen at least 50 shots in a game. Roy stopped 48 of 50 shots in beating the Las Vegas Wranglers 4-2 on Jan. 22 at Stockton Arena.
By winning, the Thunder pulled to within one point of the fourth-place Colorado Eagles in the ECHL's Western Conference. In the Pacific Division, Stockton is four points behind the second-place Ontario Reign.
NOTES:
The Thunder roster no longer includes forward Milan Kytnar, who is playing in Finland after being sent to the Finnish Elite League by the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League earlier this week.
Stalock was a runner-up for the most recent ECHL Goaltender of the Week award. In three games last week, Stalock was 3-0 with a goals-against average of 1.67 and a save percentage of .948. Joe Fallon of Las Vegas won the award after posting a record of 3-0 with a shutout, a GAA of 1.30 and a save percentage of .951.
