RoadRunners Outgun Victoria 6-5 In A Shootout

January 28, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners News Release


Victoria, British Columbia - Goaltender Mike Mole stopped four of five shooters in the shootout and Miguel Lafleche and Joe Dusbabek each netted tallies in the five-round shootout to lead the Phoenix RoadRunners to a 6-5 win over the Victoria Salmon Kings before 4,466 at the Save-on-foods-Memorial Centre in ECHL action Friday.

Phoenix (13-24-3) struck for three first period goals to build a 3-0 advantage. Justin Quenneville opened the scoring spree at 5:43 of the first when his slap shot from the right-wing circle beat Victoria goaltender Rob McVicar to the stick side to give the RoadRunners a 1-0 lead. Phoenix would then tack on a pair of power play goals on a two-man advantage situation. Shaun Fisher struck first, firing a slap shot from the high slot past a screened McVicar at 16:32 to extend the lead to 2-0. J-F Soucy made it a 3-0 hockey game just 1:20 seconds later when his shot was juggled by goaltender BJ Boxma in replace of McVicar and the puck trickled into the net at 17:52.

Victoria (15-25-2) would fight back with three goals of their own in the middle period. Adam Taylor split the defense and lifted a wrist shot past RoadRunners goaltender Mike Mole at 3:29 to cut the deficit to 3-1. Ryan Wade scored a power play goal from the slot at 7:01 to bring the Salmon Kings back to within a single goal. Phoenix would counter as Joe Dusbabek gave the RoadRunners their two-goal lead back at 4-2 when he found the loose puck in the slot and beat Boxma along the ice with a power play tally at 11:32. But the Salmon Kings would net the final goal of the period. Taylor won the face-off at the left-wing circle back to Nate Forster, and Forster beat a screened Mole with a slap shot over the right shoulder at 14:34 on the power play to bring the Kings back to within one at 4-3 heading into the second intermission.

Victoria would strike for two quick power play tallies to open the third period. On a five minute power play, Steve Roberts re-directed Taylor's shot past Mole just 2:07 into the period to tie the game at 4-4. Roberts struck again with another power play goal at 5:49 to give Victoria their first lead of the evening at 5-4. But Mike Ouellet came back with the equalizer at 12:18, finishing a cross-ice pass from Quenneville to tie the contest at 5-5 and send the game to overtime and the eventual shootout.

Notes: Defenseman Paul Ballantyne was activated from the 30-day injured reserve earlier today. Ballantyne made his first appearance in the line-up since breaking his ankle on November 11 against Long Beach and collected three assists on the night...Six goals for the RoadRunners was their highest total since scoring seven back on October 29 against San Diego...Phoenix is now six for their last 20 chances on the power play.

The RoadRunners continue their season-long nine-game stretch away from US Airways Center at 8PM MST Saturday as they conclude a two-game series with the Victoria Salmon Kings from the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, British Columbia. Catch all the action live on News Talk Radio 1100AM KFNX and Pro Sports Radio beginning with "RoadRunners Countdown" at 7:40PM.

Phoenix returns to US Airways Center at 7:11PM on Tuesday, February 14 as they welcome the Long Beach Ice Dogs for a special Valentine's Day game. For more information or to order tickets, call (602) 462-GOAL or purchase online at www.ticketmaster.com.



ECHL Stories from January 28, 2006


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central