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Roadrunners Drop Series Opener with Barracuda in Final Weekend of Five-Game Road Trip

December 3, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL) - Tucson Roadrunners News Release


Tucson Roadrunners' Jan Jenik In Action
Tucson Roadrunners' Jan Jenik In Action
(Tucson Roadrunners)

San Jose, California - The Tucson Roadrunners began a two-game set with the San Jose Barracuda Saturday night at the Tech CU Arena, as the two teams met for the fifth time this season. The Roadrunners led for 32:28 of the contest before the Barracuda netted three power-play goals to come away with a 4-2 victory on their home ice, moving Tucson to 10-7-1-0 on the season. Roadrunners goaltender Jon Gillies was perfect for the first 38:17 of the night and finished with 32 saves, while Captain Adam Cracknell notched a multi-point night with assists on both Tucson goals.

Saturday's series opener began with an early score by Tucson for their third time lighting the lamp first through four games on their current road trip. Forward Jan Jenik took a pass from defenseman Victor Soderstrom and fired it past San Jose backstop Strauss Mann for his third goal of the season and a 1-0 Roadrunners advantage. With just 5:49 gone by in the opening frame, the goal was the fastest score by either team in five meetings this season. The remainder of the first period was without another score, as Jon Gillies stopped all six shots faced and Tucson carried their one-goal lead into the second period of play. Gillies continued to keep the Barracuda off the scoreboard on their Teddy Bear Toss night through the first 18:17 of the second period, before a power-play goal by San Jose sent the teams to an early second intermission with the score tied at 1-1. Another goal while on the man-advantage for San Jose in the remaining 1:43 of the middle period gave the Barracuda their first lead of the night at 2-1, as the Roadrunners trailed entering the final 20 minutes of play. San Jose netted a third-straight power-play strike just past the midway point of the third period for the first multi-goal lead of the contest at 3-1. The goal came in the final 12 seconds of a five-minute major penalty on the Roadrunners, who continued to have the only even-strength goal of the game. That changed in the final 2:50 of regulation with another San Jose goal, their first five-on-five score of the night. Tucson was able to light the lamp once again with an extra attacker late in the period, as J.S. Dea scored his tenth goal of the season for his fourth consecutive outing with a goal. Dea's goal with 1:31 remaining was the final score of the contest, as the Roadrunners fell to the Barracuda by a count of 4-2. Tucson and San Jose will wrap up the two-game set Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. MST with their last meeting until the final weekend of the regular season.

Roadrunners Captain Adam Cracknell commented on Saturday's series opener that saw Tucson and San Jose each score just one even-strength goal:

"When we're able to play five-on-five and stay fresh, we're a hard team to play against. The strength of our team is four lines of five-on-five. We need to [be able to] keep that momentum going."

THE STREAK SURVIVES - Tucson forward J.S. Dea lit the lamp with 1:31 remaining in the third period of Saturday's series opener with the San Jose Barracuda. The goal gave Dea his fourth-straight outing with a goal scored, the longest streak by a Roadrunner this season. The score also marked the 28-year-old's tenth time finding the back of the net this season, which leads the team in his first year as a Roadrunner.

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Tucson Roadrunners' Jan Jenik In Action
Tucson Roadrunners' Jan Jenik In Action
   

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