Sports stats



Tucson Roadrunners

Roadrunners Rally 3-1 Past San Jose

March 23, 2024 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Tucson Roadrunners News Release


Tucson Roadrunners defenseman Victor Soderstrom
Tucson Roadrunners defenseman Victor Soderstrom
(Tucson Roadrunners, Credit: San Jose Barracuda)

SAN JOSE, CA - If you had the team from Tucson advancing in your bracket, you would be correct as the Tucson Roadrunners defeated the San Jose Barracuda 3-1 on Saturday afternoon to improve to 36-20-3-2 on the year from the TECH CU Arena.

Tucson gave up a goal faster than in any other game this season, just 48 seconds into the contest, then goaltender Matthew Villalta and company would save the next 33 attempts and hold San Jose to just the early goal. A 1-0 San Jose lead would hold for nearly 40 minutes of play, until the final minute of the second period. In that final minute of the second frame, it would be Tucson Roadrunners leading scorer and AHL rookie leading goal scorer Josh Doan lighting the lamp and knotting the game up at one apiece. Doan scored on the power-play and was assisted by Jan Jenik and Aku Raty. Raty now has seven points in his last five games and Josh Doan has eight points in his last six, and a six-game point streak.

The third period would remain in a 1-1 tie for the first 5:10 seconds of play before Colin Theisen would score the game-winning goal to give Tucson a 2-1 lead. Theisen found the top corner of the net off the passes from Jan Jenik and Victor Soderstrom. It was Jenik's second point of the night and his 10th multiple-point game of the season which leads the Roadrunners in that category.

San Jose pulled their goalie late and Vlad Kolyachonok would take advantage, scoring the empty net goal at the 18:27 mark to extend the Tucson lead to 3-1. The Roadrunners would secure the 3-1 victory and two points. Tucson was 1-3 on the power-play while holding the Barracuda to 0-3 on the power-play. The two teams battle it out tomorrow afternoon at 3:00pm in San Jose.

"We just try to take it easy out there. The boys got going and found our game as the game went on. The penalty-kill was really good and the boys made some big blocks and cleared out traffic. We're going to take it easy tonight and get ready for tomorrow," said Goalie Matthew Villalta following Tucson's 3-1 win on Saturday afternoon.

Check out the Tucson Roadrunners Statistics




Images from this story

Tucson Roadrunners defenseman Victor Soderstrom
Tucson Roadrunners defenseman Victor Soderstrom
(San Jose Barracuda)		   

• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...

American Hockey League Stories from March 23, 2024


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