The Tucson Roadrunners’ bid to finish the regular season over .500 ended on Friday night when yet another third-period rally came up just short.
After being edged by Tucson for the AHL Pacific Division's final playoff spot last week, the San Jose Barracuda gained a little revenge with a 4-3 win over the Roadrunners (30-32-8-1) at the Tucson Arena.
“I didn’t think we had it tonight. We were kinda fighting it and weren’t playing to our identity, weren’t playing to our strengths and penalties obviously — that hurt us,” said Tucson forward Cameron Hebig. “It wasn’t a good one so we're gonna move on and we gotta get ready for tomorrow and it leads into playoffs, so gotta be going tomorrow.”
Tucson Roadrunners cuts the deficit to 3-2 late in the third period of the Roadrunners' second-to-last regular-season game of the 2022-23 campaign on Friday, April 14, 2023. The San Jose Barracuda defeated the Roadrunners, 4-3. Video courtesy Tucson Roadrunners
The Barracuda were 2-for-6 on the power play, while Tucson was 0-for-4. The Roadrunners outshot San Jose 37-29.
“I thought we came out pretty chippy tonight we tried to turn it to our advantage but honestly we just got caught in some penalty trouble early and it hurt us,” Tucson head coach Steve Potvin said. “Unfortunately you can’t put your penalty kill under that much stress and think that you’re gonna come out on top, particularly when we’ve got some new guys playing some new positions and, you know what, we just gotta be a little bit smarter.”
The Roadrunners host the Barracuda (30-34-2-5) again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Tucson Arena to close out the regular season. Unless they pull off an upset in the first round of the playoffs — a best-of-three series entirely with Tucson entirely on the road — Saturday will be the Roadrunners' last home game of the season.
Tucson forward Nathan Smith scored a goal 7:45 into the game, assisted by center Jean-Sebastien Dea and defenseman Cameron Crotty.
Tucson Roadrunners forward Nathan Smith opens the scoring 7:45 into the first with his 12th goal of the season in Tucson's second-to-last regular-season game of the 2022-23 campaign on Friday, April 14, 2023. The San Jose Barracuda defeated the Roadrunners, 4-3. Video courtesy Tucson Roadrunners
At 14:51 in the first San Jose forward Andrew Agozzino equalized it with a power play goal. Then a little under four minutes later, San Jose forward Danil Gushchin lit the lamp.
A little over a minute into the third Tucson right wing Josh Doan scored, assisted by forwards Adam Cracknell and Michael Carcone. The AHL’s leading scoring, Carcone has 54 assists, third in the league in that category.
Those three have points streaks of four games.
“They’re obviously firing on all cylinders right now,” Potvin said. “They’re creating a lot of energy for us.
“They’re playing on both ends of the rink and most often when you play with a good hard mindset in the defensive zone you’re gonna get a lot of good offensive looks and those guys are playing really well together.”
Tucson Roadrunners forward ties the game at two each 1:20 into the second period in Tucson's second-to-last regular-season game of the 2022-23 campaign on Friday, April 14, 2023. The San Jose Barracuda defeated the Roadrunners, 4-3. Captain Adam Cracknell and AHL leading point-producer Michael Carcone assists on Doan's goal. Video courtesy Tucson Roadrunners
San Jose left wing C.J. Suess score 7:52 in the third. Gushchin scored a power play goal halfway through the third to but the baby sharks up by two.
Hebig scored a short handed goal at 15:03, assisted by defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok.
Although the game was technically meaningless in the standings, the Roadrunners were still battling to get the equalizer like diving to stop Barracuda shots late.
“I don’t think it matters what game it is, you got something to play for, everyone in there and you gotta fight right until the end,” Hebig said.
The Roadrunners were unable to convert on a 6-on-4 that they had for 40 seconds in the last minute, which ended when defenseman Steven Kampfer took a tripping penalty rather than surrender an empty net goal.
Slap shots
• Before the game the Coyotes sent five players to Tucson after their season ended on Thursday: goalie Ivan Prosvetov, defensemen Victor Soderstrom and Michael Kesselring and forwards Milos Kelemen and Jan Jenik. All five were scratches on Friday night.
“Those are the guys that we were expecting back,” Potvins said. “I think those are guys that spent a good portion of their time here I think it’s important for them to be in some meaningful games and it’s important for their growth and the organization’s growth.”
• On Thursday the Roadrunners signed Quinnipiac forward Michael Lombardi to an amateur tryout agreement. He had 22 points for the national champions this season.
He didn’t play on Friday either, but did participate in warmups.
• The Roadrunners started selling playoff gear: a white t-shirt with the white out logo and a puck with the Calder Cup Playoffs and Roadrunners logos.
• Tucson forward Ben McCartney played in his first game since Mar. 3.
• Locked into the seven seed, the Roadrunners will have to wait another day to see who (and where) they will play. The Calgary Wranglers could have clinched the top seed in the Pacific and the bye with a point but lost.
The Wranglers and Coachella Valley Firebirds are vying for the Pacific and AHL regular season titles.
