Tucson Tops Iowa 3-0 Behind Villalta's Shutout
AHL Tucson Roadrunners

Tucson Tops Iowa 3-0 Behind Villalta's Shutout

Published on November 1, 2025 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Tucson Roadrunners News Release


Des Moines, IA - The Tucson Roadrunners (4-4-1-0) opened their weekend series with a 3-0 shutout win over the Iowa Wild (2-5-0-1) Saturday night at Casey's Center. Tucson was backed by a 19-save performance from Matthew Villalta, who earned his first of the season and improved his record to 4-1-0 on the year.

Assistant captain Ben McCartney opened the scoring midway through the first period, while former Wild forward Sammy Walker added the insurance goal early in the second against his former club. Captain Austin Poganski scored for the second-straight game after adding an empty net goal with just under two minutes left to secure Tucson's 3-0 victory. The goal was Poganski's 70th career AHL goal and 200th career AHL point.

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak, improved their road record to 2-1, and lifted them into fifth place in the Pacific Division with nine points.

NOTABLES

All three of Sammy Walker's goals have come on the road, which leads the team.

Saturday marked the second time this season Ben McCartney has scored the game's first goal, which leads the team.

Defensemen Scott Perunovich and Artem Duda both recorded their team-high sixth assist of the season on Ben McCartney's goal.

Matthew Villalta needs just one more win to tie Ivan Prosvetov for 2nd all-time in franchise history (54).

Saturday marked Matthew Villalta's eighth shutout with the Roadrunners. He needs just two shutouts to tie Adin Hill for 1st all-time in franchise history (10).

Daniil But earned the lone assist on Sammy Walker's goal. He leads Roadrunners rookies in goals (3) and points (6) and ranks sixth among all AHL rookies in points and tied for fifth in goals.

Austin Poganski became the first Roadrunner to score an empty-net goal this season and has

Ben McCartney scored his team-high fourth goal of the season, opening the scoring for the second time this year. (Tim Garland / Iowa Wild)

THE RUNDOWN

FIRST PERIOD

The Roadrunners nearly capitalized on an early defensive miscue by Iowa, but Julian Lutz was denied by the stick of goaltender Cal Petersen to keep the game scoreless.

Tucson continued to apply pressure, forcing several Wild turnovers that led to quality scoring chances for defensemen Artem Duda and Robbie Russo.

The persistence paid off just before the 10-minute mark when Ben McCartney fired a wrist shot from the point past Petersen to give Tucson a 1-0 lead.

Iowa responded shortly after, as Liam Ohgren rang a shot off the right post. A minute later, Michael Milne was stopped on a penalty shot by the right pad of goaltender Matthew Villalta at the 12-minute mark.

Villalta came up big again late in the frame, turning aside Nicolas Aubé-Kubel on a two-on-one chance with a strong left-pad save to preserve the lead.

Tucson controlled the pace for much of the period and carried a 1-0 advantage into the first intermission.

SECOND PERIOD

Villalta was tested early in the second period and made a sprawling glove save on Ohgren off a defensive-zone turnover to keep Tucson in front.

Just a few minutes later, Walker doubled the lead, snapping a low wrist shot past Petersen's glove at the 4-minute mark to make it 2-0 Roadrunners.

Cameron Hebig nearly extended the advantage midway through the frame, but Petersen flashed the glove to deny a highlight-reel chance around the six-minute mark.

Villalta continued his strong performance with key stops on Hunter Haight, David Špaček and Ben Gleason to preserve the two-goal cushion.

Iowa came up empty on its lone power play of the period, as Tucson's penalty kill unit allowed just two shots, and the Roadrunners carried their 2-0 lead into the second intermission.

THIRD PERIOD

Both teams traded high-quality chances early in the third. Poganski rang a shot off the post and Gerry Mayhew was denied by Villalta's glove on a dangerous opportunity for Iowa.

Tucson controlled much of the play from there, maintaining extended pressure in the Wild zone with quality looks from Owen Allard, Duda and Daniil But.

Villalta continued to stand tall midway through the frame and made back-to-back right pad saves on Špaček and Aubé-Kubel to preserve the Roadrunners 2-0 lead and his shutout bid.

Tucson had a chance to add to its lead on its first power play of the night with five minutes to play but couldn't convert. The Roadrunners penalty kill also came through late and successfully stopped both of Iowa's third-period power plays to preserve the shutout.

With two minutes remaining, Poganski sealed the win with an empty-net goal - his fourth of the season - to make it 3-0 Tucson.

UP NEXT

The Roadrunners wrap up the series against Iowa on Sunday. Puck drop is set for 2 p.m. AZT. Fans can listen to the games live on KXEW 1600 AM and the iHeartRadio app and watch on AHLtv on FloHockey.

Check out the Tucson Roadrunners Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from November 1, 2025


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