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AHL Tucson Roadrunners

Roadrunners Beat Abbotsford 5-0 with Four-Goal Second Period

December 16, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Tucson Roadrunners News Release


Tucson Roadrunners' John Leonard, Josh Doan, Jan Jenik, and Montana Onyebuch on game night
Tucson Roadrunners' John Leonard, Josh Doan, Jan Jenik, and Montana Onyebuch on game night
(Tucson Roadrunners, Credit: Kate Dibildox, Tucson Roadrunners)

TUCSON, AZ - A four goal second period and a shutout from netminder Matthew Villalta led to a 5-0 Tucson victory to help them improve to 14-7-1-1 on the season and make it a pretty good Friday night and Tucson Arena, eh?

The Roadrunners returned home on Friday night and came out with a vengeance against Pacific Division rival Abbotsford. The two teams came into the night equal in the standings with one team going to come out of Friday night on top. In the first it was the Roadrunners Aku Raty breaking the 0-0 tie in favor of the Roadrunners. Raty scored in front of his parents, who were in town from Finland and his brother, Aatu, who was in town playing for the Canucks. It was Aku and Aatu's first time playing against each other professionally. Aku Raty was assisted by Peter DiLiberatore and Victor Soderstrom on the play.

Tucson's offense came alive in the second period but not at even-strength. A late first period minor would cause the Roadrunners to spend the first 1:58 of period two on the penalty-kill. The party really got started at the 1:02 mark with a John Leonard shorthanded goal for the Roadrunners. It was Leonard's third of the year and the team's first shorthanded goal of the year. Leonard was assisted by Victor Soderstrom who picked up his second assist of the night. Just 53 seconds later, it would be Josh Doan who would find himself on a breakaway and score another Roadrunners shorthanded goal. With a 3-0 lead Tucson wasn't finished. Jan Jenik would light the lamp at the 9:08 mark to stretch the lead to four. Montana Onyebuchi and Josh Doan assisted Jenik on the goal. Just 55 seconds later Ryan McGregor, returned from his first NHL call-up with the Coyotes, would find the back of the net and make it a 5-0 game. McGregor was assisted by Dylan Guenther, who picked up his team leading 14th assist, and Nathan Smith on the play. It was the third four-goal period in the last three Tucson home games.

The third period became the Matthew Villalta show. Villalta was more than solid for the Roadrunners, pitching a shutout, the first of the year for Tucson. Villalta faced 21 shots-against in the game with ten of those coming in the third period. Tucson's penalty-kill unit was a perfect 3-3 killing off the Abbotsford power-play.

Tucson returns home Saturday night at 7:00pm at the Tucson Arena against Abbottsford. Saturday night is Teddy Bear Toss so be sure to bring your teddy bears to be thrown onto the ice after the Roadrunners first goal and then donated to local kids in the Tucson area.

"We got off to a pretty good start and kept it rolling. In the third, we really got back to our game and closed it out well." said Forward Ryan McGregor after Friday's 5-0 victory at the Tucson Arena.

Check out the Tucson Roadrunners Statistics




Images from this story

Tucson Roadrunners' John Leonard, Josh Doan, Jan Jenik, and Montana Onyebuch on game night
Tucson Roadrunners' John Leonard, Josh Doan, Jan Jenik, and Montana Onyebuch on game night
(Kate Dibildox, Tucson Roadrunners)		   



American Hockey League Stories from December 16, 2023


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