Phoenix Hosts Bakersfield Tuesday at US Airways Center

December 29, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners News Release


'RUNNERS REWIND: The Phoenix RoadRunners resumed their schedule following a five-day holiday break with a 3-1 loss Friday at Las Vegas and a 2-1 loss Saturday against Ontario at home. With a record of 12-13-3 and 27 points, the RoadRunners sit in a two-way tie with the Utah Grizzlies for fourth place in the West Division and sixth in the National Conference.

Friday, Matt Beaudoin tallied a pair of goals including the empty-netter with 1:06 seconds remaining in regulation to lift the Las Vegas Wranglers to a 3-1 victory over the Phoenix RoadRunners before 3,965 at the Orleans Arena.

Following a scoreless first period, Las Vegas (12-13-2) took the lead when Adam Miller stripped a RoadRunners' defenseman of the puck deep in the Phoenix zone with the RoadRunners on a power play, centered a pass to Chris Neiszner, and Neiszner put a shot through the pads of RoadRunners' goalie Craig Kowalski for a shorthanded goal at 4:50 of the second and a 1-0 Wranglers lead.

The RoadRunners (12-12-3) tallied the equalizer on a power play when Kimbi Daniels fired a one-time slap shot by Wranglers goalie John DeCaro at 3:13 of the third period to tie the contest at 1-1. But Las Vegas countered on a power play of their own when Beaudoin collected a bouncing puck in the slot and shot the puck over the right shoulder of Kowalski and in at 7:34 on the man-advantage to give the Wranglers a 2-1 lead and a lead they would not relinquish.

Las Vegas out-shot Phoenix 39-23. Kowalski stopped 36 shots but suffered the loss to drop to 9-9-1 on the season. The RoadRunners went 1-8 on the power play while Las Vegas was 1-6 with the man-advantage.

Saturday, John Murray stopped 29 shots to earn his ninth straight win and lift the Ontario Reign to a 2-1 victory over the Phoenix RoadRunners before 3,603 at US Airways Center in ECHL action Saturday.

Ontario (18-9-2) opened the scoring at 6:47 of the first period when Mike Howe tallied his first professional goal jamming Brad Mehalko's rebound through RoadRunners goalie Kyle Jones for a 1-0 lead.

The Reign extended their lead to two at 11:13 of the second as Jon Francisco punched home a rebound for his team-leading 12th goal of the season. The RoadRunners (12-13-3) responded less than four minutes later when off a neutral zone turnover by the Reign on the power play, Dan DaSilva beat Ontario goalie Murray with a shot over the blocker at 14:32 of the period for a shorthanded tally to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The RoadRunners out-shot the Reign 13-5 in the third period and came close a few times to netting the equalizer, but in the end could not put the puck past Murray.

Phoenix out-shot Ontario 30-27. Jones stopped 25 shots but suffered the loss to drop to 1-3-1 on the season. The RoadRunners went 0-4 on the power play while Ontario was 0-6 with the man-advantage.

DEFENSE STEPPING UP: The RoadRunners' defense has tightened up over the last five games by surrendering just 13 goals in regulation, which translates to a 2.60 goals against average and is nearly a full goal below the RoadRunners season average of 3.54 goals against per game. Phoenix had allowed 46 goals in the 10 games before this current stretch, an average of 4.60 goals against per game.

BUT WHERE'S THE OFFENSE? However, while the RoadRunners defense has been getting the job done, the offense has picked the wrong time to go into hibernation. Phoenix has scored just 10 goals in their last seven games, or a paltry 1.42 goals per game, and has scored more than two goals only once during this stretch. The RoadRunners offense currently ranks 20th in the ECHL averaging 2.64 goals per game. A big factor in the lack of offense has been the lack of shots on goal. The RoadRunners have fired 30 or more shots on goal only three times in the last seven games and are averaging just 27 shots on goal over that time, which is well below their season average of 31.57. Phoenix was held to a season-low 23 shots Friday at Las Vegas.

IT'S OUR SPECIALTY... The RoadRunners penalty kill continues to impress. Phoenix has killed off 79 of their opponents' 87 power plays over the last 12 games, a 90.8% efficiency rate. The RoadRunners have held the opposition without a power play goal in 14 out of their 28 games this season and currently rank second overall in the league on the penalty kill at an even 88%.

...OR MAYBE NOT: Yet while the penalty kill has flourished like the team defense, the power play like the rest of the offense has struggled. The RoadRunners are just 1-19 (5.2%) on the power play in their last three games and are 6-61 (9.8%) on the man-advantage on the road. Phoenix has just five multiple power play goal efforts on the year.

NEWS & NOTES: Dan DaSilva's goal Saturday was his first since scoring two in his RoadRunners' debut on Nov. 21 against Bakersfield...Phoenix notched their fifth shorthanded goal of the year Saturday against Ontario. The RoadRunners had only five shorthanded goals all of last season. The most shorthanded goals that the RoadRunners have scored in one year is 10 back in 2006-07...Phoenix is 9-4-0 when scoring first as opposed to 3-9-3 when allowing the first goal...Forward Mitch Carefoot is two games shy of 100 for his professional career while center Gino Guyer is three games short of the 100-game plateau...Center Kimbi Daniels had a season-high five-game scoring streak snapped Saturday. Daniels collected two goals and six points from Dec. 14-27.

WATCH THE 'RUNNERS LIVE IN '08-09: The RoadRunners have teamed up with B2 Networks to bring you live action of Phoenix RoadRunners hockey in 2008-09. RoadRunners fans will be able to click the "Watch Online" link at www.phxroadrunners.com to view and listen to the game. These broadcasts are available to fans for a charge of $6 per game. All 72 RoadRunners broadcasts will be available on-line. A cable or DSL Internet connection and Windows Media Player 9 are required to view the games.

UP NEXT: The RoadRunners will host the Bakersfield Condors at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday at US Airways Center. Phoenix was scheduled to play a two-game series at Fresno Friday and Saturday, but the Falcons ceased operations last Monday. A revised 2008-09 ECHL schedule has not been released as of this time. Catch Tuesday's game live at www.phxroadrunners.com beginning with "RoadRunners Countdown" twenty minutes prior to face-off.



ECHL Stories from December 29, 2008


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