It wasn’t the win they planned on, of course, but suffice it to say the Tucson Roadrunners weren’t entirely displeased with what transpired at Tucson Arena on Saturday night.
While the Colorado Eagles (24-14-3-1) earned the 3-2 victory by way of a five-round shootout, the Roadrunners (28-12-1-1) slowed their own bleeding a bit, earning their first point in four games to head into an upcoming seven-game road trip with an ever-so-slim hold on first place in the American Hockey League’s Pacific Division.
“We’re a little down. … We know that we lost the last couple,” said defenseman Cam Dineen, referencing the club’s three consecutive regulation defeats before going toe-to-toe, skate-to-skate with Colorado for 65 minutes through regulation and overtime. “But I think after this weekend we’re kind of feeling a bit more positive.
“We played really hard,” he added, “and I think we have some positives to take away from it.”
On Friday, Tucson coach Jay Varady and some of his players referenced the club managing to play only “55 minutes” – a nod to the fact that Tucson saw a scoreless tie in that game turn into a 3-0 deficit over a span of just five-minutes. Saturday, Varady conceded, was a much different story.
“I liked the process tonight. I thought the process was way closer to what we wanted to accomplish throughout the five-on-five play – even the (three-on-three) overtime,” Varady said, inferring that what came next, the shootout, is hardly predictable, let alone an indicator of how well one team or the other played. “I thought we did a good job through all that. When it comes down to a shootout … you know, nine guys (out of 10) didn’t score. It’s one of those things where I thought we played the hockey game in a good fashion.”
After falling behind 1-0 nearly seven minutes into the second period on a goal by Colorado’s Michael Joly, Roadrunners’ goals by Michael Bunting – his second in two days after nine games without a goal – and Dineen gave Tucson the 2-1 lead with four minutes to play in the second. That was the first time the Roadrunners led in any capacity in 216 minutes, or the equivalent of three games and nearly two more full periods of action.
Jacob MacDonald would tie the game up for the Eagles with a power play goal 3:31 into the third period – the first goal scored in the two game set outside the second period for either team. In two games, the teams combined for 11 goals, with 10 of those coming in the middle frame.
While Varady said there’s a difference between being happy with an outcome and being willing to accept it, Dineen agreed that earning the point was a big deal for a Roadrunners team that’s 5-7-1-1 over its last 14 games.
“It’s important. I think We played pretty well in both games this weekend. We had a couple minutes here and there where kind of broke down and turned too many pucks over. But I thought for the most part we played strong, and played pretty hard,” Dineen said. “Going in to the road trip we’ve just got to carry that over and we’ll be OK.”
While Ivan Prosvetov stopped 30 of 32 shots in net in regulation and overtime for the Roadrunners – and turned away 4 of 5 Colorado shootout participants, Brayden Burke, Andy Miele, Michael Chaput and Hudson Fasching earned assists on the Roadrunners’ goals. Burke’s 24th assist keeps him at a point-per-game on the season. He has 42 points in 41 games played.
Another positive for the Roadrunners Saturday: Lane Pederson made his return to the Tucson lineup after missing five games – not the mention the AHL All-Star Classic after he earned his first career selection this season – with a lower body injury.
Tucson has been in first place in the Pacific Division for the last 31 games. The Roadrunners’ enter their upcoming “Gem Show Road Trip” – they play seven games in 13 days without returning to Tucson in any capacity as the Tucson Arena floor is taken over by festivities tied to the annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show – with a .690 win percentage. That’s a blink higher than the .683 posted by the Stockton Heat, who posted a 4-1 win over the Bakersfield Condors on Saturday.
The extra point earned by reaching at least overtime Saturday night kept the Roadrunners in first place – for now. A regular loss Saturday, coupled with that Stockton win would have dropped Tucson from the top spot for the first time since Nov. 3. In either case, the Roadrunners enter what could arguably be their toughest stretch of the season, beginning with an 7:30 p.m. faceoff Wednesday in Bakersfield.
“After our game tonight, some of the older guys spoke in the locker room,” Dineen said. “They kind of said that it would be good to get away and just be on our own for a bit – be together. … I think that’s good overall for the team – us bonding together.”
