Coachella Valley Firebirds edge Bakersfield Condors 3-2 in shootout

Nikke Kokko stopped Bakersfield’s shootout attempts while J.R. Avon and Eduard Sale converted to lift the Coachella Valley Firebirds to a 3-2 shootout victory over the Bakersfield Condors at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert. The win, Feb. 28, 2026, pushed Coachella Valley to 28-19-5-0 and made the Firebirds 4-0 in shootouts this season.

The Firebirds struck twice in the first six minutes. Tyson Jugnauth opened the scoring at 0:21 when his shot from the left point hit the post and deflected off a Condors defenseman into the net; Kaden Hammell and Mitchell Stephens were credited with the assists and the goal was Jugnauth’s seventh of the year. Jani Nyman followed at 6:10 with a wrister over Bakersfield goalie Matt Tomkins’ shoulder; Jagger Firkus picked up the assist and it was Nyman’s 16th goal of the season.

Bakersfield chipped away in the second and finished the comeback in the third. James Hamblin cut the lead in half with a power-play goal at 14:27 of the second period; Cam Dineen and Quinn Hutson assisted on what Condors coverage lists as Hamblin’s 21st goal and notes he has 22 points (13g-9a) in his last 22 games. Isaac Howard redirected a pass at 4:18 of the third to knot the game 2-2, assists to R. Stillman and J. Samanski.

The Condors dominated the shot column late: Bakersfield outshot Coachella Valley 37-30 overall and 15-2 in the third period, and the Firebirds did not register a shot on goal until 17:23 of the third. Overtime was scoreless and the shootout decided the outcome.

In the tiebreaker, Coachella Valley converted two attempts, Avon and Sale, while Bakersfield failed to convert; Kokko was credited with stopping the Condors’ tries. Aggregated play-by-play lists Luis Morrison and Miro Petrov among Bakersfield’s unsuccessful shooters and the Condors’ recap lists James Hamblin as having missed his shootout attempt, while the Firebirds’ account records Kokko stopping Bakersfield’s attempts en route to his 12th win of the season and a 35-save night.

The game drew a reported attendance of 7,336. Bakersfield’s official recap lists the Condors at 28-16-9 with 65 points and notes the Condors finished the season series against Coachella Valley 6-1-1. The Condors also reported that Alec Regula was recalled from a conditioning loan earlier in the day by Edmonton and that their Condors Fighting Cancer jersey auction had raised more than $32,000.

Coachella Valley heads to Henderson next, with a March 4 puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. PST, while Bakersfield finishes its road swing in Ontario the following day with a 3 p.m. start and returns home for Field Trip Day against Colorado on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. The Firebirds survived heavy third-period pressure to earn a critical extra point; the Condors leave with one point and another strong tally of shots as they press toward the playoffs.