Roadrunners 'expecting to win at home' as Calder Cup playoffs come to Tucson

The Tucson Roadrunners return home Wednesday to host Game 3 in the first round of the American Hockey League playoffs against San Jose.

They’ll be here for a while. The first home playoff game in Roadrunners franchise history will be followed by Game 4 on Friday and Game 5, if necessary, on Saturday. The best-of-five series between the Roadrunners and Barracuda is tied at one game apiece.

Tucson forward Dylan Strome said he expects big things starting with Wednesday’s “White Out.”

“You’re expecting to win at home, and I think we’re going to have the crowd behind us to do that,” Strome said. “We’re looking forward to Wednesday and Friday, and hopefully that’s only it.”

Tucson won Game 1 of the series 4-2 before dropping Game 2 by a score of 6-3 on Saturday.

San Jose’s offense outshot Tucson by a 70-49 margin across the two games. The six goals Tucson allowed on Saturday were the most its given up since a 6-4 loss to Ontario on Jan. 12.

“We haven’t given up much all year being pretty defensive (minded),” coach Mike Van Ryn said. “We’re pretty aware in what we’re supposed to do. I think that they’ve just done a real good job of executing. “They’ve got games that have obviously been a playoffs before, and we’ve got guys who haven’t. So this is new for our group as a team.”

Van Ryn said the team identified its faults from the first games of the series. But there’s a difference between cleaning it up in practice and executing in games.

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“The nerves are part of the equation,” Van Ryn said. “We’ve got a couple different gameplans, so we can start with one and morph into the other if we don’t like it. I feel that we’re pretty prepared going into it. The faults we’ve had are very correctable and easy to see.”

Tucson is most comfortable playing tight, low-scoring hockey. San Jose’s offensive approach has been tiring out the Roadrunners’ defense.

“They’ve thrown a lot at the net,” defenseman Joel Hanley said. “Obviously, we’ve got to tighten up a bit defensively. Coming back home, we know how to play at this arena and with the crowd behind us, we’re hoping to bring that shot total down.”

Tucson has counted on Strome to counter San Jose’s attacks. The forward has three goals through two games.

“If we do what they’re doing by throwing pucks in the net I think we’re going to be successful as well,” Strome said.

Adin Hill is the likely choice to start at goalie, although the Roadrunners could go with Hunter Miska. Hill allowed five of the six goals in Saturday’s loss.

“We’ve had a couple good days of practice,” Hill said. “Productive. We’ve looked at the games and seen what we need to work on. We’ve got a three-game series basically, all on home ice, so we’re looking forward to it.”