The Tucson Roadrunners — and maybe all of them — will return to the ice Friday night to host the San Antonio Rampage in the first game of a weekend series.
The Roadrunners were without standouts Kyle Capobianco and Laurent Dauphin in Monday’s loss to Bakersfield at Tucson Arena. Both went down with lower-body injuries in their previous game.
The result, a 3-2 loss, still stings.
“We kind of got away from our identity,” forward Lane Pederson said. “We didn’t really play the way we wanted. It’s definitely a bounce-back weekend for us. San Antonio is a good team, so we know we have to be ready to play.”
Dauphin is a game-time decision, while Capobianco is officially listed as day-to-day. Top scorer Nick Merkley could also return to the lineup Friday. Merkley skated with the team throughout practice this week, indicating that he could return. Merkley missed the last eight games with an upper-body injury; despite that, he ranks second on the team with 18 goals.
Merkley’s return would give Tucson a big boost as it faces a San Antonio team that the stymied the Roadrunners offense when the two teams played last month. The Roadrunners netted a pair of 2-1 overtime victories against the Rampage on the front end of their three-week winter road trip.
In the first of those overtime wins, Tucson unleashed 55 shots on goal compared to San Antonio’s 20 shots, but Rampage goalie Ville Husso managed to keep the Roadrunners from scoring most of the night.
“They’re a good team with really good goaltending,” Pederson said. “They shut it down and they don’t give up too many grade-A chances, so we’re going to have to capitalize on our chances when we get them.”
The Roadrunners are still in the driver’s seat of the American Hockey League’s Pacific Division standings with a .628 point percentage, a clip above second place San Diego’s .606 mark.
The Roadrunners just need to finish in the division’s top four to make the playoffs.
Tucson and San Antonio will play Friday and Saturday. The Roadrunners will then hit the road for a three-game Midwest road trip.
“About this time of the year you’re playing a lot more games, a lot less practices,” defenseman Dakota Mermis said. “They’re pretty short so you work on what you feel you failed at the previous games and just keep moving forward.”
