Roadrunners' Late Surge Downs Salmon Kings 5-3

by Andrew Nordmeier
February 18, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners


Better late than never, the saying runs. Better late than never is also how the scoresheet read following the Phoenix Roadrunners' 5-3 win over the Victoria Salmon Kings Friday night at the US Airways Center. Four of Phoenix's five goals came in the final three and half minutes of each period to break a four game losing streak and keep Victoria winless in six (0-4-2).

"That's hockey and when it goes your way it's great," Phoenix Head Coach Ron Filion said, "Tonight it went our way."

With the game tied 3-3 and three minutes remaining, Phoenix (17-28-3) scored twice in 57 seconds to ice the win.

J.F. Soucy picked up his second goal of the night at 17:20 when he ripped a one-time blast through the pads of Victoria netminder B.J. Boxma for his ninth goal of the year and second of the night,

Victoria (16-28-5) was knocked out by a bad bounce in the corner. After a dump-in took an odd hop, it eluded a pair of Salmon Kings and went to Mike Ouellet. He zipped it to a charging Justin Quenneville in the slot and he buried it into an empty net at 18:17 to seal the win.

"Right now I just want to make sure we collect as many points as possible," Filion said, "(Making the) Playoffs is a lot of pressure for our guys." Phoenix sits 23 points behind the Utah Grizzlies for the final playoff spot with 24 games to play. Phoenix would have to win out over the last third of the season and Utah would have to manage fewer than 15 wins to get the Roadrunners into the postseason.

The Salmon Kings opened the scoring at 11:28 with an unassisted goal from KC Timmons. Quenneville turned the puck over and Timmons skated to the front of the net and beat Phoenix netminder Michael Mole for his 11th of the season. Phoenix responded with a Shawn Snider goal at 13:18 off a Victoria turnover behind the net and Paul Ballantyne's bomb from the point at 19:21 of the opening period.

Victoria tied the score at 2-2 with Adam Huxley's goal 39 seconds into the second period when the Phoenix defensemen failed to collapse closer to the net. They took the lead at 17:18 when Lanny Gare beat Mole for his 17th goal of the season.

Continuing with the form of the night, Soucy scored the first of his two goals in the final minute of the second period with 17 seconds left. Soucy broke free on the left wing side and snapped a wrister past Boxma to even things up at 3-3 heading into the final period.

At the end of the second period, an elbow thrown by Phoenix forward Joe Dusbabek precipitated a line brawl between the two teams. Brent Henley mixed it up along the boards and was given a game misconduct for pummeling Victoria's Steve Lingren. Dusbabek and Huxley separated towards center ice and fought each other. Dusbabek got the better of the exchange and both players picked up game misconducts for second fight, same fight.

Shots favored Phoenix 42-34 and neither team cashed in on the power play. Victoria was 0-for-5 while Phoenix was 0-for-2.

Phoenix has won the first five meetings between these two teams and the sixth time comes up on March 20th. The Roadrunners' next game is Tuesday against the Utah Grizzlies as they reach the midpoint of a five-of-six game run at home.

"We're not going to finish last, that's for sure," Filion said.

Three Stars

3. Ballantyne-PHX-Goal and two assists, +3

2. Snider-PHX-Goal and an assist, +3

1. Soucy-PHX-Two goals and an assist, +3

Notes: Phoenix held a lead after the first period for just the 10th time this year...Ballantyne's goal was his since October 29 against San Diego but he missed several weeks due to injury...Victoria was 4-for-34 on the power play in its last 10 games before this one...Victoria is 2-6-4 since Troy Ward was named head coach one month ago...Quenneville's goal extended his point streak to six games...Phoenix is out of last place for the first time since November 12th...All three of the stars of the night finished with a +3 rating...Phoenix is now 5-8-0 in two-goal games and 4-5-2 on Fridays...Attendance was 4,955.



ECHL Stories from February 18, 2006


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