Salmon Kings nip Condors in shootout
Victoria 5 - Bakersfield 4
Brian Drewry, Times Colonist
Published: Sunday, November 04, 2007

The Victoria Salmon Kings have found the magic formula for ECHL victories and the key ingredient is pure Goldie.

Ash Goldie, mixed with the ECHL's top power play and a dash of Milan Gajic, helped the Salmon Kings cook up a 5-4 shootout win over the Bakersfield Condors last night in front of 3,911 fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. It was the Salmon Kings' fourth straight win, improving their West Division-leading record to 5-2.

Fresh off a two-goal night on Friday against the Condors, Goldie repeated the feat last night with another two goals in regulation, including his league-leading eighth of the season, and then added another in the shootout.Gajic, meanwhile, had three assists in regulation to extend his point streak to seven games, and chipped in a goal in the shootout. Gajic now has points in every Salmon Kings' game this season and leads the ECHL in scoring with 14 points.

As for the league's best power-play unit, which came into the game at 26.8 per cent, Victoria went 3-for-6 with the man advantage.

"It's all just going really well for us right now and we're going to ride it as long as we can," said Gajic, who now has three goals and 11 assists to his name.

"Everyone is chipping in and everyone is playing well right now, so we just have to keep it going."

Salmon Kings captain Kiel McLeod also got in on the action, scoring his first two goals of the season, both on the power play, as the former Kelowna Rocket WHL junior twice beat Condors goalie and former Maple Leafs draft pick Jamie Hodson from in close.

"We're getting scoring from the guys who are supposed to score right now," Salmon Kings head coach Mark Morrison said.

"Guys like Ash, Wes Goldie, Kiel and Milan, that's why they're here. They're skilled offensive guys and they're showing why right now."

The Condors opened the scoring just four minutes in when Eric Sonnenberg beat Salmon Kings goalie Billy Thompson with a deflection off a point shot during a two-man advantage. Ash Goldie got that back at the 12-minute mark, converting a great feed from newcomer Chris St. Jacques.

After Ash Goldie gave the Salmon Kings their first lead three minutes into the third period, Brett Lutes tied the game with just over seven minutes remaining. Four-on-four overtime settled nothing, despite plenty of pressure by the Salmon Kings.

Thompson stopped three of four Condors in the shootout to seal the win and improve his record to 2-2.

While the offence is firing on all cylinders, the Salmon Kings defence allowed some clear shots on Thompson and Victoria also gave Bakersfield nine power-play opportunities, only two of which they converted. Justin Chwedoruk and Joe Dustin had the other Bakersfield goals.

"We knew going into the season that scoring goals wouldn't be a problem for us, but our defensive game is not where it needs to be," Morrison said.

Morrison was happy to complete the sweep of the Condors, who drop to 3-4 on the year.

"Sweeps are very tough to come by in this league and hats off to them for playing a solid, tough game tonight. We gave up too many chances in our end so we're going to work on some things on the defensive end."

The Salmon Kings now hit the road for three games Friday, Saturday and Nov. 12 in Salt Lake City against the Utah Grizzlies. Then it's back home Nov. 14 for the first of three games against the Stockton Thunder.