Naturally, the Tucson Roadrunners’ club-record eight-game winning streak was to be stopped by an opponent on a tear of its own.
The Roadrunners (23-6-0-0) crawled back from multiple two-goal third-period holes to tie the visiting Colorado Eagles (16-10-2-1) at 3 apiece midway through final frame Saturday night at Tucson Arena, but a late Colorado power-play goal proved the difference maker in a 4-3 Eagles’ victory.
The loss was the Roadrunners’ first at home in nearly two months – they had won eight in a row on home ice since a 3-0 loss to the Chicago Wolves on Oct. 30. It was Tucson’s first defeat overall since Nov. 30, ending an 8-0 start to the month of December.
Inversely, Colorado has now won a season-high six consecutive games, while picking up at least a point in the standings in eight straight. The Eagles have not lost in regulation since the last time they played the Roadrunners, Dec. 4 in Tucson.
“We’ve got to control our own destiny better,” Tucson coach Jay Varady said. “We’ve got to play our game from the beginning of the game. They were up 1-0 on us early in the game from giving up an odd-man attack. That’s just something we don’t do.”
Trailing 2-0 after two periods following Colorado goals from Shane Bowers and Jacob MacDonald, Tucson got on the board thanks to Lane Pederson’s 15th goal of the year barely 90 seconds in. The Eagles brought the lead to 3-1 a few minutes later off the stick of Martin Kaut, before the Roadrunners’ Dysin Mayo and Andy Miele scored less than two minutes apart to tie the game inside 10 minutes to play.
But Colorado would pull away for good on a Sheldon Dries power play goal with five minutes and change remaining.
“We had a little bit of pushback in the third. It was a situation where we were in a little bit of a hole, and the guys pushed to get us back 3-3,” Varady said. “But again, we have to be better earlier in the game.
“Yeah, we did better things in the third period, but I don’t think you get excited about playing 20 minutes in a hockey game,” he added.
Tucson had a second-period goal by Michael Chaput disallowed that otherwise would have cut a 2-0 lead to a single goal. On-ice officials viewed the replay for several minutes, and while they concluded that Chaput kicked the puck in – thus waving it off – he disagreed.
“Definitely. I definitely think so,” Chaput said, when asked postgame if the goal should have counted. Maybe they saw it another way. But it is what it is.”
Tucson players were visibly upset late in the game, too – among other moments – after being called for an icing inside the final minute of play; the Roadrunners had goaltender Ivan Prosvetov at the bench and an extra attacker on, but the official’s whistle brought the puck out to center ice. That effectively killed any last-ditch comeback effort.
“They’re things that happen fast – quick decisions that either the linesmen or the refs have to make, and right now we just have to live by it,” Chaput, Tucson’s captain, said about those frustrations. “We’ll move on and play the next game.”
That next game is a quick turnaround Sunday. The Roadrunners and Eagles will face off again Sunday in an early-evening start – 5:05 p.m. – at Tucson Arena.
“I’m excited to play tomorrow. I think the guys are as well,” Varady said. “I don’t think that leaves a very good taste in your mouth tonight, and we want to get back at it.”
While the Roadrunners came into Saturday with the American Hockey League’s best record, they ultimately left in the same spot. As it turned out, the five teams with the top winning percentage across the 31-team AHL landscape – those being the Roadrunners, Milwaukee Admirals, Stockton Heat, Rochester Americans and Toronto Marlies – all lost Saturday to keep the pecking order intact.
Stockton’s loss, however, gave the Roadrunners something to celebrate, nonetheless. Tucson is now guaranteed to hold the best record in the AHL’s Pacific Division through at least Dec. 31. With that, the league announced late Saturday that Varady will serve as head coach of the Pacific Division squad at the AHL All-Star Classic, Jan. 26-27 in Ontario, California.
All-star player announcements are expected within the next week or two.
