They’re baaaa-ack — and their presence, once again, is posing a scary proposition for opponents of the Tucson Roadrunners.
The Roadrunners certainly looked the part of American Hockey League contender during the first half of the 2018-19 season — they even hit the midway point ahead of last year’s pace that saw Tucson finish atop both the AHL’s Pacific Division and Western Conference standings.
But it’s been the return of two of the franchise’s most seasoned and successful players that has the Roadrunners poised to make a legitimate run at the Calder Cup the rest of the way.
Michael Bunting, Tucson’s career leader in points scored, and Adin Hill, the goaltender who’s played and won more games in net for the Roadrunners than any other player, each spent more than a month with the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes.
But they’re both back in Tucson now, reassigned a little more than a week ago. And while Bunting admits leaving the NHL can certainly be “bittersweet,” the return of both longtime contributors has been all sweet for the Roadrunners so far.
That’s thanks to Hill stopping all 60 shots he’s faced in two starts since coming back to Tucson. His pair of shutouts have helped the Roadrunners (23-11-3-1) enter Friday’s 7:05 p.m. matchup against the Bakersfield Condors (22-15-2-1) at Tucson Arena just a point out of first in the Pacific, and riding a three-game win streak. Tucson has won eight of its last 11.
“I’d just say confidence,” Hill said of what he gained with the parent club in Glendale — echoing the exact word Bunting used despite being asked independently of each other. “My patience has gotten a little better. But whenever you get a shutout, it’s a team effort, it’s not just the goalie.”
Tucson’s Michael Bunting has five goals and three assists in five games since being reassigned from the Coyotes.
For Bunting, as the Roadrunners have pinned the gas pedal since his return, his own name has rocketed up Tucson’s scoring charts. He’s got five goals and three assists in five games since being reassigned — and Bunting’s 11 goals on the season are tied with Adam Helewka, Hudson Fasching and Lane Pederson for the team lead.
The AHL announced Thursday that Bunting, with 26 points in 27 games, would join teammate Kyle Capobianco at the AHL All-Star Classic in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Sunday and Monday. (Conor Garland was selected but is unavailable for the event since he’s still with the Coyotes.)
Bunting said that while the NHL is still the goal, he’s relishing another playoff push in Tucson.
“You play up there, you kind of get a sniff of it, a taste of it. You feel like, yeah, you’re pretty good and you can play in the NHL,” Bunting said, adding that coming back to Tucson has its perks, too. “You get to see and play with your buddies … and try to make a playoff run here.”
Tucson head coach Jay Varady has sung the praises of both since their returns.
“He’s been a big boost for us,” Varady said of Hill. “He goes in the net and has a presence about him where the guys have trust in him. A lot of that comes from him making saves in key moments.”
Key moments like when Hill stopped 39 shots in a 3-0 win over the Texas Stars on Wednesday — an effort that included multiple point-blank glove snags from inside 10 feet, and an acrobatic, post-to-post, sliding double-pad stack to keep a surefire Texas goal in play and away from the goal.
For Bunting, the statline is one thing, but his contributions away from the puck affected the outcome of at least one game since his return to Tucson. Bunting made his presence felt in his first game back last week with an assist against the Chicago Wolves. But it was his ability to chip away at the psyche of his opponents in the third period — drawing multiple late-game penalties — that helped Tucson turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win.
“I think it’s really simple. It’s work and details. Those two things are what takes players to the next level,” Varady said of Bunting. “He went up there, got a little taste of that, and he came back down. And I think he’s been doing those two things great.”
