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AHL Tucson Roadrunners

Game 49 Preview: Tucson at San Jose

February 17, 2020 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Tucson Roadrunners News Release


Game #49 - Tucson (30-15-1-2) at San Jose (15-25-3-2)

7 PM MST, Stockton Arena, Stockton, CA

LISTEN LIVE Fox Sports 1450, iHeart Radio app

WATCH LIVE AHL TV

Referees: Chris Waterstadt (#88), Jeremy Tufts (#78)

Linesmen: Neil Campbell (#7), Alexander Ledovskiy (#21)

The fourth annual Gem Show Road Trip and Tour de Pacific Division culminates tonight in San Jose as the Roadrunners play their seventh game in their sixth different building over the last 13 days.

Their first of three games this week will determine whether the trip is a successful one for Tucson, who has earned points in three of the six games played already on the trip.

Three Things

1) Earning a point Saturday night in Stockton was nice but undoubtedly the end result can still be utilized as motivation to want to bounce back tonight. Unfortunately, like the stop in San Diego and one of the night's in Colorado, penalties proved to be a world of difference in the game, thus paving the way to two points for the Heat without them even having to score a single even strength goal all game. The positive from the contest regarding that aspect of the game the penalty kill drastically improved in the final 25 minutes of the contest, which included two massive stops in the third and another in OT. Additionally, if you look outside special teams, Tucson was once again the better team with the better effort.

2) This is a very young San Jose team that's lost both their head coach and their captain since the start of the year. Certainly the group won't tab either as excuses for their current position in the league, however, as we've seen this season, they're still a team capable of winning games against anybody and they beat Bakersfield 5-2 Sunday night. They got the best of Tucson 7-1 back on November 17th and the message from that one was seemingly resounding enough that no one has forgotten the ability of that team since. To further, the last time these two teams met in early January at Tucson Arena, a game in which Ivan Prosvetov was removed from the game to start the third period as a precaution due to an Antti Raanta injury in Glendale, San Jose left victorious in overtime. This won't be a walk in the park tonight.

3) Tyler Parks earned his fifth AHL game played Saturday night in Stockton, entering in relief of Ivan Prosvetov to start the third period. Parks was strong, going 8/8 in the final period of regulation and OT, allowing his team to score two, get back in the game and eventually reach a shootout. It was another effort of reassurance that Parks is more than ready to go when he's called upon.

What's The Word?

Roadrunners defenseman Aaron Ness on tonight's contest against the Barracuda...

"It's a big game for us. We're looking forward to the challenge. We know that they have a good team coming in. The point we got Saturday was huge and now we want to build off of that."

Roadrunners defenseman Jalen Smereck on the team's current standing and mindset within the locker room...

"I think it's really good. Starting the road trip we were kind of in a little slump. We talked as a team and we found our way out of it. Now we're starting to roll a little bit here. We're battling and we're trying to find a way to get points, which is the biggest thing."

Roadrunners defenseman Jalen Smereck on what's made the team's defense successful, limiting scoring at five-on-five...

"We want to try and stay up in the other team's face and hold our gaps. We don't want to give them any space to play. We want to play that "in your face" type of game and you won't allow too many goals that way. If we do give up a shot, we try to keep it on the outside, stay solid in the defensive zone and stay on them right away."

Number to Know

41. Through five meetings this season the Roadrunners and Barracuda have combined for 41 goals. That's an average of over eight goals per game, so if history repeats itself tonight, prepare for some high scoring entertainment.

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, beginning at 6:45 PM.

Check out the Tucson Roadrunners Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from February 17, 2020


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