Disciplinary breakdowns, leading to one untimely third-period penalty after another, proved especially costly for the Tucson Roadrunners on Saturday night, as the visiting Stockton Heat used a pair of power play goals and a couple empty-netters to flip a 1-0 Tucson lead into a 4-1 Stockton victory in a battle for American Hockey League Pacific Division supremacy.
The win at Tucson Arena slides the Heat (29-14-4-3) past the Roadrunners (31-17-1-2) in the division race with exactly one-quarter of Tucson’s 2019-20 regular season schedule left. The clubs are actually knotted at 65 points, but Tucson has played one more game than Stockton to date, giving the Heat the edge — at least for the time being.
“You don’t get rewarded for playing two periods. … Our discipline totally got away from us. A key to (our) Friday night overtime win, and tonight, we lost our composure,” Tucson coach Jay Varady said. “We took five penalties, I think, in the third period and you can’t do that and win hockey games against good teams.”
Added forward Andy Miele: “It’s very disappointing. It’s unfortunate that it was somewhat in our control because we were the ones obviously taking the penalties. I obviously don’t agree with every call. I’ll be biased. But we’re going to have find a way to be better than that and put together 60 minute games because when we do we’re a very good team.”
Arizona Coyotes goaltender Darcy Kuemper, named an NHL All-Star earlier this season before missing the last two months with a lower body injury, got the nod in net for the Roadrunners as part of what is likely a one-and-done conditioning assignment. After Kyle Capobianco’s second-period power play blast put Tucson up 1-0, Kuemper entered the locker room for the second intermission with a 14-save shutout through two periods.
But Tucson spending too much time in the box gave Stockton the chance to score twice in the final frame’s first eight minutes and wrestle control of the game. Matthew Phillips scored about four minutes in, with Austin Czarnik netting the second roughly three minutes later — both on the power play. The Heat’s Adam Ruzicka and Glenn Gawdin wrapped things up late with Kuemper pulled to the Roadrunners’ bench in favor of the extra Tucson attacker.
Kuemper stopped 26 of 28 shots. His long layoff most recently included a false start of sorts Feb. 10 when he was penciled in for a start for the Coyotes in Montreal, only to see that change after that day’s morning skate.
“It’s been a long time so it’s good to get back into a game, and good to get back competing again,” Kuemper said. “It would have been nice to get the win for sure, but it was nice to be back out there.
“We got into some penalty trouble there,” he added. “The guys were working super hard — the effort was there — so it would have been nice to get rewarded. Just a little bit of penalty trouble there and couldn’t hang on.”
Official word may come Sunday or Monday, but by all accounts it appears Kuemper is in line for a potential start for the Coyotes on Tuesday night in Glendale at 7 p.m. against the Florida Panthers. Kuemper’s blueline counterpart with the Coyotes, Antii Raanta, also saw a one-game conditioning stint with the Roadrunners this season. Raanta posted a 19-save shutout in a 2-0 Roadrunners win in the team’s season opener – a road matchup at the Texas Stars.
Whether Kuemper’s impending return to the Coyotes’ lineup means the Roadrunners will see a change in available netminders is to be seen, but Adin Hill may very well be on his way back to Tucson in exchange. Ivan Prosvetov served as Kuemper’s backup Saturday, while Tyler Parks, who would most likely head back to the ECHL’s Rapid City Rush if Hill returns to the Roadrunners, was a healthy scratch.
In nine starts with the Coyotes (and 13 appearances overall), Hill has posted a 2-4-3 overall record with a 2.62 goals against average and .918 save percentage.
Should all that occur, Hill could conceivable be ready for Tucson as early as Wednesday, when the Roadrunners wrap up a brief three-game homestand against the surging San Diego Gulls.
The Gulls, 7-2-1-0 in their last 10 games, and Roadrunners match up Wednesday night at 7:05 at Tucson Arena. For comparison, Tucson has won just three times in its last 10 outings.
Miele said that playing a midweek game instead of going from one Friday-Saturday set to another this go-round will benefit the Roadrunners after an otherwise strong weekend overall.
“I think it’s great that we get to get back at it. We put together five good periods. We’re playing good hockey,” said Miele, who along with Beau Bennett carded an assist on Capobianco’s goal Saturday. “We’ll get two really good practices in, and we know San Diego is a hot team right now.”
