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Phoenix Plays Four Games in Five Nights This Week

February 2, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners News Release


'RUNNERS REWIND: The Phoenix RoadRunners emerged victorious at US Airways Center last Friday against Utah while dropping road games Tuesday at Las Vegas and Saturday at Stockton. With a record of 18-19-3 and 39 points, the RoadRunners sit in fifth place in the West Division three points behind fourth place Utah and in eighth place in the National Conference.

Tuesday, Chris and Peter Ferraro each tallied goals and Kevin Lalande made 37 saves to lift the Las Vegas Wranglers to a 2-1 victory over the Phoenix RoadRunners before 3,488 at the Orleans Arena.

Following a scoreless first period, Las Vegas (18-17-3) struck first with a power play goal at 15:00 of the second. RoadRunners' goalie Craig Kowalski tried to clear the puck from behind his net, but his clearing attempt hit the skate of Chris Ferraro and rolled into the empty net for the score.

The RoadRunners (17-18-3) would net the equalizer earlier in the third as P.J. Fenton streaking down the left wing boards beat Lalande with a shot through the goalie's pads at 7:09 to tie the contest at 1-1. But a second RoadRunners' miscue 1:01 second after Fenton's goal proved costly as Tyler Mosienko deflected the puck to Peter Ferraro charging down the slot, and Ferraro fired the puck past the outstretched glove of Kowalski and into the net at 8:10 for the go-ahead and eventual game-winning goal.

Phoenix out-shot Las Vegas 38-26. Kowalski stopped 24 shots but suffered the loss to fall to 14-12-1 on the season. The RoadRunners went 0-5 on the power play while Las Vegas was 1-4 with the man-advantage.

Friday, P.J. Fenton scored two goals and Daniel Sisca had the only goal in a shootout as the Phoenix RoadRunners beat the Utah Grizzlies 6-5 in front of 3,851 fans at US Airways Center.

The Grizzlies (15-14-12) got on the board first at 5:54 of the first period when Rob Hennigar scored off a rebound by Andy Sertich. Ryan Kinasewich also assisted on the goal that came 25 seconds after a failed penalty shot attempt by Tim Verbeek on RoadRunners' goalie Craig Kowalski.

"We had a breakdown on the fore-check and took the penalty," RoadRunners' Head Coach Brad Church said of what led to the penalty shot. "Kowalski came up with a big save."

The RoadRunners (18-18-3) tied up the game at 1-1 when Dan DaSilva set up Gino Guyer who scored from the bottom right circle at 6:45 of the second period. Phoenix took a 2-1 lead when Gord Burnett set up Fenton for a breakaway goal scored at 10:07. Fenton gave the RoadRunners a 3-1 lead at 11:56 when he tipped in a shot from Mitch Carefoot, taking a two-goal lead into the locker room at the second intermission.

"We came out hard and capitalized on our chances," Church said of the second period. "We had the opportunity to make a bigger gap but their goalie (Dan Turple) made big saves for them."

Utah narrowed Phoenix's lead to one goal at 3:05 of the third period when Sertich scored five-hole on Kowalski from the bottom left circle. Hennigar and Kinasewich assisted. Mark O'Leary gave the RoadRunners a 4-2 lead on his first goal of the season at 4:31 when he scored from the top right circle with Grizzly goalie Turple caught out of his crease. Ashton Rome had the assist.

Kinasewich countered just over a minute later when he was centered a pass by Tyler Wooddisse and scored at 5:53. The Grizzlies tied the game at 4-4 on the power play when Verbeek rifled a shot past Kowalski from the top left circle at 9:37. Sertich then gave Utah a 5-4 lead at 12:26 off a pass from Verbeek. Hennigar also assisted. Then with one minute left in the game Jim Jorgenson scored a goal from the left circle with Kowalski pulled for the extra attacker, tying the game and forcing overtime. Rome and Carefoot assisted.

"(The Grizzlies) are a hard working team," Church said. "There's a reason they've battled back and tied so many games but we were able to keep in it and earned a break in the end."

After a scoreless overtime Sisca scored the only goal of the shootout while Kowalski went 5-for-5, giving the RoadRunners a final 6-5 win.

Phoenix out-shot Utah 44-37. Kowalski stopped 32 shots to earn the victory and improve to 15-12-1 on the season. The RoadRunners went 0-1 on the power play while Utah was 1-3 with the man-advantage.

Saturday, rookie goalie Andrew Perugini turned aside 32 shots and Damian Surma collected a goal and an assist to propel the Stockton Thunder to a 3-1 victory over the Phoenix RoadRunners before 6,610 at Stockton Arena.

Stockton (20-20-5) opened the scoring at 12:03 of the first period when Darryl Marcoux beat Kyle Jones with a long shot through traffic from the right point giving the Thunder an early 1-0 lead.

Cory Urquhart extended the Stockton lead to two early in the third period when he picked up the loose puck in the slot and fired a shot off the right post and past Jones at 2:20. The RoadRunners (18-19-3) fought back three minutes later to score when Mark O'Leary picked up John McNabb's rebound to the left of the cage and threw it past Perugini and into the back of the net at 5:20 to cut the deficit to 2-1. But failing to score on a five-on-three power play for 1:22 and a four-minute power play in total came back to hurt the RoadRunners in the end as Stockton converted for a power play goal into the empty net when Surma snapped the puck in from the blue line at 19:21.

Phoenix out-shot Stockton 33-32. Jones stopped 29 shots but suffered the loss to fall to 1-6-1 on the season. The RoadRunners went 0-6 on the power play while Stockton was 1-4 with the man-advantage.

HOME SWEET HOME: The RoadRunners grabbed their 13th home win of the season Friday and are now just two victories away from matching their ECHL-club record of 15 home wins set back in 2006-07. Phoenix has outscored their opposition 84-82 at US Airways Center while averaging 3.36 goals per game. The RoadRunners have also scored 20 of their 28 power play goals this season on home ice, and they maintain the ECHL's second best penalty kill at home having allowed just 19 goals on 148 chances.

SHOOTOUT STOPPER: With his perfect five-for-five effort in the shootout last Friday, goalie Craig Kowalski is now 10-for-10 this season in shootouts and leads all ECHL goalies with the best shootout save percentage.

BOMBS AWAY: The RoadRunners have averaged 38.25 shots per game in their last four outings and came two shots on goal short Friday of matching their season-high after firing 44 shots on Utah goalie Dan Turple. Phoenix currently ranks eighth in the ECHL averaging 32.23 shots per game.

POWER OUTAGE: The RoadRunners' power play is currently in one of its biggest droughts of the season. Phoenix has gone just 1-25 (4%) on the man advantage in its last six games and 4-39 (10.2%) in the last 10 outings. The RoadRunners have had just one multiple power play goal game in their last 22 contests and only six total for the season.

NEWS & NOTES: The RoadRunners finished the month of January with a 5-6-0 record, but were 3-2-0 away from US Airways Center...Forward Mark O'Leary tallied his first two goals of the season Friday and Saturday in his first game action since Dec. 27, 2008 after going on the 30-day injured reserve...The RoadRunners have nine shorthanded goals on the season, one shy of their ECHL-club record of 10 set back in 2006-07...Rookie forward P.J. Fenton's career-best four-game goal streak and seven-game points' streak came to a conclusion Saturday in Stockton. Fenton has eight goals and nine points since Jan. 16... Center Kimbi Daniels missed his first game of the season Saturday due to an unspecified upper body injury suffered in Friday's game against Utah.

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 play four games in five nights beginning with a visit from the Ontario Reign to US Airways Center at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday. Phoenix will then travel to Salt Lake City, Utah for a three-game series with the Utah Grizzlies at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from the "E"-Center. Catch Friday's and Saturday's action live on Independent 1310 KXAM and all four games live at www.phxroadrunners.com beginning with "RoadRunners Countdown" twenty minutes prior to face-off. Information on season tickets, half-season packages, and flex plans for the 2008-09 season of Phoenix RoadRunners Hockey are available by calling (602) 462-GOAL.



ECHL Stories from February 2, 2009


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