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Roadrunners Secure 2-0 Shutout Victory in Series Opener against Ontario

February 4, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL) - Tucson Roadrunners News Release


Tucson Roadrunners' Ivan Prosvetov in action
Tucson Roadrunners' Ivan Prosvetov in action
(Tucson Roadrunners, Credit: Ontario Reign)

Ontario, California - The Tucson Roadrunners earned a 2-0 victory over the Ontario Reign on Friday to open a two-game set from the Toyota Arena. Forward Hudson Elynuik broke the scoreless tie 3:09 into the second period, before Milos Kelemen secured the win with an empty-net tally in the final 2:02 of regulation. Tucson goaltender Ivan Prosvetov stopped all 23 shots faced for his first shutout of the season, as the Roadrunners won for the fifth time over their last six contests. Tucson and Ontario will meet again Saturday night from the Toyota Arena for the Roadrunners final game before the All-Star Break.

The opening 20 minutes between the Roadrunners and Reign ended in a scoreless 0-0 tie, with Tucson outshooting Ontario 14 to 10 and taking all three trips to the man-advantage in the frame. The Roadrunners struck first with 3:09 gone by in the second period, as Hudson Elynuik netted his fifth goal of the season through traffic for a 1-0 advantage. The goal gave Tucson their sixth-straight game where they got on the board first to extend their season high. The second-period action continued with 9:08 left in the frame when Travis Barron dropped the gloves with Ontario's Tobie Bisson for his team-leading seventh fight of the season. Elynuik's early score represented the only offense of the middle frame to send Tucson to the final 20 minutes of play leading by one, after narrowly outshooting the Reign again by a count of nine of eight. The Roadrunners continued to hold on to their one-goal led in the third period, fending off a pair of Reign power-plays to improve to four-for-four on the penalty-kill on the night. With just 2:18 left in regulation, Ontario pulled goaltender Cal Petersen for a six-on-five attack in an attempt to even up the score late. The Roadrunners shut down the extra-attacker situation for the Reign just 16 seconds later when Milos Kelemen scored on the empty net for his 11th goal of the season and a final score of 2-0 in favor of Tucson. The Roadrunners have won five of their last six contests and will take on the Reign at the Toyota Arena again Saturday night for their final outing before the All-Star Break.

Roadrunners Captain Adam Cracknell described the team effort in Tucson's 2-0 win over the Ontario Reign on Friday.

"There was a little bit of everything. Everyone contributed, you don't have to be on the score sheet to contribute to a win like that. Everyone stuck to the game plan of what we wanted to do, which was wear [Ontario] down and force them to make mistakes."

ANOTHER BOUT FOR BARRON - Tucson forward Travis Barron dropped the gloves with Ontario's Tobie Bisson 10:52 into the second period on Friday for the 24-year-old's seventh fight of the season. Barron leads the Roadrunners with his seven bouts, while also pacing the team in total penalty minutes with 77. In his second season with Tucson, Barron has 16 points (7g 9a) across 41 outings and is third among Roadrunners forwards as a plus-three. Through five meetings on the season, Tucson and Ontario have dropped the gloves a total of six times, with Barron and forward Ben McCartney representing the only repeat offenders with two fights apiece.

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Images from this story

Tucson Roadrunners' Ivan Prosvetov in action
Tucson Roadrunners' Ivan Prosvetov in action
(Ontario Reign)		   

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