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AHL Tucson Roadrunners

Game 17 Preview: Ontario at Tucson

November 22, 2019 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Tucson Roadrunners News Release


Game #17 - Ontario (8-6-2-0) at Tucson (12-4-0-0)

7 PM MST, Tucson Arena - Tucson, AZ

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LISTEN LIVE Fox Sports 1450, iHeart Radio app

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Referees: Olivier Gouin (#54), Stephen Reneau (#34)

Linesmen: Brent Hooks (#20), Mike Sarter (#90)

It's hard to imagine a better bounce back performance than that of what Tucson provided Wednesday in their 8-2 win over San Jose.

With that in the rearview and only a travel day Thursday in between them and tonight's matchup against a well-rested Ontario club, tonight presents challenges of its own.

The affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings makes their way to Southern Arizona for a weekend set beginning at 7 p.m. for the first time since early March.

Three Things

1) Certainly it's early in the season but the Roadrunners have already displayed several examples of answering the bell. After their first loss of the year to San Antonio, they turned it around by sweeping the same Rampage team on home ice. While Chicago was a tough case to crack, Tucson turned the page on a 7-1 drubbing Sunday in San Jose and one-upped the Barracuda by putting up an eight spot on them days later. Players were audibly angry and embarrassed by their performance following Sunday's game and they moved on from it quickly. Kudos to them.

2) Before Wednesday's game we pointed out that 16 of the team's 23 shots in Sunday's loss came from defenseman. Offensive weapons like Brayden Burke, Michael Chaput and Lane Pederson were held without shots. In another testament to making adjustments, 17 of the team's 18 skaters had a shot in Wednesday's win. Ironically enough, Pederson, the team's leading goal scorer (10) was the only one held without a shot. Dually though, his attempt, which was blocked by a Barracuda stick, fell right in the lap of Michael Bunting for the team's fourth goal.

3) Day 14/14. Under the NHL's rules today is the final day Eric Comrie is allowed to be with the Tucson Roadrunners on his current conditioning loan. Thus far, a successful stretch of three wins and no losses have given the newest member of the organization positives to depart with, however, there could be one last game to take with before the road ends. While Comrie played Wednesday in San Jose and Hill is the better rested of the two, it's certainly possible we see Comrie get one last game before the Arizona Coyotes are forced to make a decision on what to do.

What's The Word?

Roadrunners forward Beau Bennett sharing his thoughts in hindsight on Wednesday's win...

"I'd been getting a lot of chances and having missed the last two games, I felt pretty fresh. Coming off of Sunday's game it was important for us to get a good start there and unfortunately they got the first one but we took it from there."

Roadrunners forward Beau Bennett sharing his feelings on his offensive contributions from the victory...

"That's who I've been in the past and I haven't had that to start this year but hopefully that game jumpstarts me and I can keep it rolling."

Roadrunners forward Beau Bennett on how the team was able to respond the way they did and what it means transferring into tonight...

"What's been important to our team this year is that we have a short memory. We put Sunday behind us quick and did the same thing to them Wednesday. Now we'll keep it rolling into the weekend and try and make it a streak here."

Number to Know

6. Roadrunners forward Brayden Burke has six goals this season and all of them have come on the man advantage. That total has him tied for the league lead in power play goals with Chris Terry of Grand Rapids and Nathan Walker of San Antonio.

We're Doing It Live

Catch tonight's active LIVE on AHLTV or join Roadrunners play-by-play voice Adrian Denny on Fox Sports 1450 AM and iHeart Radio as he calls the game from the Roadrunners' flagship radio station, where coverage begins at 6:45 PM.

Check out the Tucson Roadrunners Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from November 22, 2019


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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