RoadRunners Come Up Aces Against Alaska 5-2
Published on February 21, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners News Release
PHOENIX, Ariz. - John McNabb had two goals and an assist as the Phoenix RoadRunners defeated the Alaska Aces 5-2 Saturday night in front of a season-high 5,096 fans at US Airways Center.
The Aces (30-20-3) opened up scoring at 9:33 of the first period when Nick Tuzzolino fed a pass to Luke Erickson who scored on a breakaway over RoadRunners' goalie Kyle Jones' glove. Phoenix (23-24-3) tied the game at 1-1 at 12:17 when McNabb slid the puck under the pads of Alaska goalie Kevin Nastiuk. Daniel Sisca and Ashton Rome assisted as the tie would hold through the first intermission.
"I thought we played a little sluggish in the first period," said RoadRunners' Head Coach Brad Church. "(But) we've been playing well the last 10 games and were able to capitalize on scoring chances."
The RoadRunners took a 2-1 lead at 5:08 of the second period when Rome scored from the bottom left circle with Dane Crowley and McNabb assisting. Gino Guyer scored just over three minutes later when he netted the puck through Nastiuk's five-hole at 8:26. Mark O'Leary and Dan DaSilva assisted. Then at 12:46 McNabb gave Phoenix a 4-1 lead with Sisca and Rome getting the assists.
"Jones has been playing well for us," Church said. "He's battled all year long and it's finally nice to see him get some wins under his belt."
The Aces were able to narrow the RoadRunners' lead to two goals at 16:34 when Brett Hemingway scored to the left of Jones in an open net with two-man advantage. Matt Stefanishion and Matt Shasby assisted. O'Leary gave Phoenix a 5-2 lead at 12:59 of the third period off a pass from DaSilva. Guyer also assisted as that would remain the final score.
"It's always nice to see a big crowd; it gets the guys jacked up to play," Church said. "It's great when you have a vibrant atmosphere to play in."
The RoadRunners out-shot Alaska 38-30. Jones stopped 28 shots to improve to 4-10-1 on the season. The RoadRunners went 0-7 on the power play while Alaska was 1-5 with the man-advantage.
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