As the Victoria Salmon Kings drove towards the RaboBank Arena, little did they know that over two nights they would be trying to "catch a tiger by the tail." Despite outshooting the Bakersfield Condors on both nights, 43 to 37 and 48 to 27, the Salmon Kings would come up short on the scoreboard. Friday, Feb 26, series opener, the Condors strike ealry, two goals in 39 seconds. Early in the third, the Condors made it 3-0. Two late game power play goals by Wes Goldie (his 36th and 37th) allowed the Salmon Kings to salvage a shoutout loss and turn in into a one goal game. Both Jimmy Sharrow and Olivier Filion assisted on their captain's goals. As Coach Morrison and his team walked "the streets of Bakersifield", they tried to unvavel the riddle of Bakersfield, the town that Buck Owens called home. Bobby Davey donned Salmon Kings colours on Friday and Dirk Southern rejoined the linup for Saturday. Glen Fisher was in nets on the Friday;Leland Irving got the Saturday call. Again the Condors struck first, but Randall Gelech's power play goal tied the match. Then in the second, two unanswered Bakersfield goals made it a 3-1 game. Early in the third, off passes from Dirk Southern and Olivier Filion, Wes Goldie rifled in his 38th goal. Condors would strike once more, final score 4-2 Bakersfield. In both games plus/minus tells the tale. Fridays ended up with minus 15 Victoria vs plus 15 for Bakersfield. Saturday is was minus 13 for the Salmon King and plus 15 again for the Conddors. On the bright side, the Salmon Kings were 3 of 8 on the power play and perfectly killed off nine penalties. The California trip continues with an upcomng three game series in Stockton. On Mar 10, 12 and 13 the Salmon Kings are back home to meet the National Confrence leading Idaho Steelheads. A LOOK AT THE STANDINGS--with 730 PIMs, the Salmon Kings remain the least penalized team in the ECHL. Currently they are both 2nd in the West Division and the National Conference. The wins by Bakersfield allowed the Condors to move to within one point (65 to 66) of Victora. The Condors have three games in hand on the Salmon Kings. A study of the schedule shows that the games in hand will even out during the Salmon Kings late March trip to Idhao. LONG BEACH TO MONTREAL--Jiri Halak of the Montreal Canadiens, the goalie of the gutsy team from Slovakia played against the Salmon King in SOFMC when he was with the now defunct Long Beach Ice Dogs.