On the frozen tundra, they call it black ice — the slippery patch you never want to find yourself on — and in hockey, every team goes through a similar stretch.
Reeling after a three-game road trip that saw them get outscored 14-2, the Roadrunners return to Tucson Arena on Wednesday for a pivotal two-game set with the Ontario Reign.
Much of the team took Monday off after playing three games in four nights. The Roadrunners returned to the ice on Tuesday to address what ails them. Of course, when what ails you is the mental fragility in the aftermath of team captain’s Craig Cunningham medical episode Nov. 19, that’s easier said than done.
“When you’re going through what we’re going through — and every team goes through it, injuries, whatever it is — you have to go out with the mentality you’re not going to give up anything,” Tucson assistant coach Mark Hardy said Tuesday. “That’s the only way we can go through it.”
Earlier this season during a scorching start, the Roadrunners lived off opportunistic scoring, and plenty of it. But with valuable contributors being called up in recent weeks, including top scorer Brendan Perlini, the unit has had to regroup.
“We’re not scoring very many goals right now because of players we’re missing,” Hardy said. “Right now, we have to hunker down and have a 1-0 mentality. We’re going to have to get greasy goals and be really good defensively. I thought they were really focused today. We had a good uptempo practice, which is what we needed. I thought we had good energy out there.”
The offense should be aided by the addition of center Laurent Dauphin and defenseman Anthony DeAngelo, who were sent down from the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes. Perlini was summoned to the Coyotes; he made his NHL debut in Monday night’s 4-1 loss at Columbus.
Hardy said he expected Dauphin to provide “a spark,” but that more importantly, “We’re going to have to win all the little one-on-one battles.”
“It’s all about doing the little things,” forward Christian Fischer said. “There’s no major area of our game that needs improvement; I think we just need to get back to playing our style of hockey. We could always shoot the puck more. These past few games, we’re getting 20-30 shots where earlier we were getting 40 or 50. We need to get it in deep, make the simple plays. We’re trying to force too much.”
More moves
The the Roadrunners recalled forwards Hunter Fejes and Lindsay Sparks from the Rapid City Rush of the ECHL on Tuesday while sending Dysin Mayo and Justin Hache down.
Sparks, an undrafted free agent, scored 11 goals and had 14 assists with the Rush. The former University of Michigan standout signed with the Coyotes organization .
Cunningham update
Cunningham is showing positive signs and has spoken in recent days, Hardy said, adding that the captain’s improved state is having a positive effect on the team. The Coyotes have not released any additional information on what caused Cunningham’s pregame collapse.
“I would say it’s all of us — it’s the whole organization — that’s gone through something you don’t wish on anybody,” Hardy said. “Cunny is such a big part of our team; it takes a while to recover, especially with what he’s going through.”
