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AHL Tucson Roadrunners

Roadrunners Return Home Saturday with 3-2 Win Over Henderson

February 19, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Tucson Roadrunners News Release


Tucson, Arizona - The Tucson Roadrunners took down the Henderson Silver Knights 3-2 in front of a crowd of 5,071 on Saturday in the first matchup of a two-game weekend series from the Tucson Arena. The Roadrunners led for the final 35 minutes of regulation after Ben McCartney scored a go-ahead power-play goal exactly five minutes into the second. Defenseman Vlad Kolyachonok notched a pair of assists for his first multi-point outing of the season, while goaltender Ivan Prosvetov stopped 23 of 25 shots faced for his third win on the year against Henderson. Tucson and the Silver Knights will clash Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. to wrap up the two-game weekend set, as the Roadrunners will look for their sixth-straight win on home ice.

The Silver Knights opened the scoring in Saturday's contest with a goal 5:53 into the first period for a 1-0 lead. Tucson answered back just before the midway point of the opening frame, as Devante Stephens netted his second goal of the season with assists from J.S. Dea and Laurent Dauphin to even the score at 1-1. The action continued with 7:37 still to play in the opening 20 minutes, as Tucson's Ben McCartney dropped the gloves with Henderson's Gemel Smith for the 21-year-old's third fight of the season. The remaining 10:30 of the first period after Stephens' tally remained scoreless, sending the Roadrunners and Silver Knights to the middle frame even at 1-1. Tucson struck quickly in the second period with a power-play goal scored exactly five minutes into the frame by Ben McCartney for the Roadrunners first lead of the night at 2-1. The goal was McCartney's seventh time lighting the lamp this season, with defenseman Vlad Kolyachonok notching his third point (1g 2a) in the last four games with an assist. With their new lead, Tucson held the Silver Knights to just three shots on goalie Ivan Prosvetov in the middle 20 minutes of play to still lead by a goal at the start of the final frame. The Roadrunners began the third period with another quick goal to extend their advantage to 3-1. Captain Adam Cracknell fired a laser of a shot from the right-wing face-off circle that went off the post and into the back of the net for his 16th goal of the season. Vlad Kolyachonok tallied his second-straight assist on the goal to add his fourth point in as many outings and record his first multi-point performance of the season. Henderson pulled back to within one of Tucson when forward Gage Quinney netted a power-play goal with 7:36 remaining in regulation. Still up by one, the Roadrunners survived a late six-on-four attack by the Silver Knights to come away with a 3-2 victory in their first game on home ice since the end of January.

Roadrunners defenseman Devante Stephens described returning to the Tucson Arena Saturday for the first time since January 29. The 3-2 win over the Henderson Silver Knights marked Tucson's fifth consecutive victory on their home ice:

"It's always nice to be in front of your home crowd and fans, it gives you that extra bit of energy. Being on the road can turn into kind of a grind, so getting to reset and be back home is a treat... The atmosphere was great."

MCCARTNEY MAKES IT HAPPEN - Roadrunners forward Ben McCartney was named the First Star of Saturday's matchup with the Henderson Silver Knights. The 21-year-old dropped the gloves in the first period with Henderson's Gemel Smith for his third fight of the season, before netting the go-ahead goal for Tucson exactly five minutes into the second period. He also finished second on the team in total shots with five behind only forward Laurent Dauphin, who posted a season-high eight shots on Silver Knights backstop Jiri Patera. With the performance, McCartney became the first Roadrunners skater to record both a goal and a fight in a game since Travis Barron checked both boxes against the Ontario Reign on December 10.

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