Ryan Murphy’s third period goal was the game-winner and Tomas Jurco scored in his Henderson debut, as the Henderson Silver Knights (3-0-0) stayed perfect with a 3-1 win over the Bakersfield Condors (0-3-0) on Friday night at Mechanics Bank Arena.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
Danny O’Regan notched two assists and has points in each of the team’s first three games this season. Logan Thompson made 26 saves to earn his third victory of the season.
With the score tied 1-1 in the third period, a Condors turnover in their own zone came to O’Regan at the left circle. He fed the trailing Murphy, whose slap shot from the slot beat Bakersfield goaltender Olivier Rodrigue for Murphy’s second of the season and a 2-1 Henderson lead at 8:54. Murphy has goals in back-to-back games.
Patrick Brown added his first goal of the season into an empty net with less than a second remaining to cement the 3-1 victory.
Playing his first game since Dec. 11, 2019, Jurco opened the scoring for the Silver Knights off a broken play. On a Henderson power play, an O’Regan shot from the right circle was blocked. The loose puck came to Jurco in the slot, who shoveled a backhander past Rodrigue for his first goal of the season and a 1-0 Silver Knights lead at 2:31 of the first period.
The Condors drew even at 13:59 of the first period when Markus Niemelainen’s seeing-eye wrist shot from the blue line found its way through Thompson for Niemelainen’s first AHL goal.
Thompson made 14 saves in the second period to preserve the 1-1 tie, including a breakaway stop on Seth Griffith.
Defensemen Kaedan Korczak and Jake McLaughlin made their professional debuts.
O’Regan has six points in three games this season and is tied for the league lead in scoring.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Silver Knights and Condors meets again on Saturday night at Mechanics Bank Arena, with puck-drop scheduled for 8:00 p.m. PST.