Roadrunners Race Past Gulls 4-2

by Andrew Nordmeier
October 29, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners


The Phoenix Roadrunners picked up their first win at America West Arena Friday night with a three-goal burst in the third period and doubled up the San Diego Gulls 4-2 in ECHL action.

The period started with a 1-1 tie but it didn't last long as Mike Ouellet scored his first goal of the season just 10 seconds in to give Phoenix (2-2) the lead. He found the rebound of a Cory Pecker shot and put it past Gulls' goaltender Tyler Weiman. Pecker got in the scoring column himself at the 5:18 mark when his power play goal gave the Roadrunners a 3-1 edge. Pecker curled out from the side of the net and squeezed the puck past Weiman for his league-leading fifth goal of the season.

"After the first period, I walked in the locker room and wasn't too happy and challenged a few of our players," Phoenix Head Coach Ron Filion said, "After that all JJ and I did was coaching. The players grabbed the locker room for themselves. The leadership came from within.

San Diego (1-3) made it close when Richard Keyes scored his second goal of the night with 4:57 left to cut it to 3-2. Keyes beat Phoenix goaltender Mathieu Chouinard on a rebound and gave San Diego hope.

The Gulls tried to equalize and pulled Weiman in the closing minute but Ben Knopp iced the win for the Roadrunners with his 120-foot backhander that found the empty net.

Defenseman Ed Hill assisted on the first three Phoenix goals but was more concerned with getting the win.

"It's always nice to get points but the two points is the main key," Hill said, "We've got to be a little more gritty and we'll start pumping out more wins."

Phoenix's penalty kill was another big reason for the Roadrunners' triumph. They stopped San Diego stone-cold on all nine attempts with the extra man. Phoenix went 1-of-5.

It was huge, huge huge," Filion said, "We focused on that all week long because we haven't had time before."

Hill had his reason why the Phoenix penalty kill was so effective.

"Penalty killing is all about hard work and we kept it simple," he said, "We didn't start running around when got tired out there."

San Diego outshot Phoenix 43-33 including a 30-20 edge in the final two periods. The Gulls had a high volume of shots but Chouinard was able to get clear looks at them and pull them into his chest.

These two teams meet again Saturday night at America West Arena to close out the weekend series at 7:11pm in Phoenix.

"We just need to keep it simple and let them turn the puck over and hopefully execute on their mistakes," Hill said about what needs to be done to complete a weekend sweep of San Diego

Three Stars

3. Chouinard-PHX Stopped 42 of 44 in the win

2. Hill-PHX Three assists in the win

1. Pecker-PHX Goal and assist in the third period for the Roadrunners

Notes: San Diego scored the first goal of the game just 45 seconds in and it was the first time all season they held a lead...Hill led all players with a +3 rating...Pierre-Luc Sleigher led all players with 11 shots on goal...In both Phoenix wins Chouinard has stopped 42 of 44 shots...Attendance was 3,242



ECHL Stories from October 29, 2005


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