AHL Tucson Roadrunners

Roadrunners' Winning Streak Ends at 5

Published on January 3, 2024 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Tucson Roadrunners News Release


San Jose Barracuda's Justin Bailey battles Tucson Roadrunners' Matthew Villalta
San Jose Barracuda's Justin Bailey battles Tucson Roadrunners' Matthew Villalta
(Tucson Roadrunners, Credit: Andreea Cardani, San Jose Barracuda)

SAN JOSE, CA - They say all good things must come to an end including Tucson's five game winning-streak as the Roadrunners fell to the San Jose Barracuda 6-4 on Wednesday night to fall to 19-9-1-1 on the year from the SAP Center in San Jose.

It would be the San Jose Barracuda defending their home ice and scoring the first two goals of the game at the 4:10 and 12:18 marks of the first period. Tucson, riding a five-game winning streak, was unphased by the hot starts for the Barracuda and cut their lead in half at the 17:44 mark. It was Austin Poganski scoring his fourth of the year on the power-play for Tucson to get the Roadrunners on the board. Poganski was assisted by Max Szuber and Aku Raty. Just under two minutes later it would be San Jose lighting the home lamp for a third time in the frame and giving them a 3-1 lead. But fear not, said Josh Doan, as he scored a goal off the face-off following San Jose's third goal and cut the lead to 3-2. Doan scored just 12 seconds after San Jose and was assisted by Jan Jenik and John Leonard. With assists for Leonard and Raty in the period both players have four game scoring streaks currently. The goal was Doan's team-leading 13th of the season.

The second frame would be a back-and-forth battle between the two Western Division foes with San Jose outshooting Tucson 15-9. Tucson netminder Matthew Villalta was fantastic in the period stopping all 15 attempts against him and the Roadrunners. Most of the period was played at 3-2 San Jose until defensemen Cam Crotty ripped a blue line snipe and knotted the game up 3-3. Cam Crotty, who scored his first goal of the season, was assisted by Ben McCartney and Jan Jenik. The final minute and 45 seconds of the second period were played in a 3-3 tie and the game would come down to the final period.

San Jose would start the third frame on the power-play, and they would take advantage of the man advantage. Scoring the go-ahead goal and giving the home team the 4-3 lead. For the next 8:20 San Jose would keep that one-goal lead until Victor Soderstrom would light the lamp for the Roadrunners and tie things up 4-4. Another Tucson penalty would put San Jose on the power-play and the Barracuda would score their second power-play goal of the game and retake the lead 5-4. Tucson would pull goalie Matthew Villalta with just over a minute left, but they would not be able to score and instead would give up an empty netter to San Jose. The 6-4 final would bring Tucson's five-game winning-streak to an end.

The Roadrunners have two weekend road series ahead of them in both Chicago and Abbotsford before returning home on Monday, January 15th against the Iowa Wild for a Kids Come Free night at the Tucson Arena.

"I think we were a little bit slower starting this game compared to the last couple. We talked about playing more simple in the third and getting more pucks on net which we did." said Defenseman Victor Soderstrom following Tucson's 6-4 loss on Wednesday night in San Jose.

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Images from this story

San Jose Barracuda's Justin Bailey battles Tucson Roadrunners' Matthew Villalta
San Jose Barracuda's Justin Bailey battles Tucson Roadrunners' Matthew Villalta
(Andreea Cardani, San Jose Barracuda)		   



American Hockey League Stories from January 3, 2024


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