Both on the ice and for fans in the stands, patience was certainly a virtue at Tucson Arena on Tuesday night as the Roadrunners turned a third-period scoreless tie with the Colorado Eagles into a 2-1 win.
The victory, marking Tucsonβs eighth consecutive game without a loss in regulation, vaults the Roadrunners (15-5-2-1) into a virtual first-place tie atop the American Hockey Leagueβs Pacific Division with the San Jose Barracuda. Both teams have 33 points.
While Tucson goaltender Hunter Miska stopped 29 of the 30 shots he faced, it was Lane Pedersonβs sixth goal of the season that broke the futility for both teams. Pedersonβs goal came during a two-man advantage at close to six minutes into the third period.
Less than a minute later, with a slight surge of momentum clearly in the Roadrunnersβ favor as they began to pepper Colorado goaltender Pavel Francouz, Tucson jumped up 2-0 with Jens Lookeβs fifth goal of the season. Colorado (12-8-2-1) would cut the lead to 2-1 on a power-play goal by Ty Lewis with just less than seven minutes to play in regulation, but it wouldnβt be enough.
βIt was a bit of a stalemate. The game was back and forth, not much happening β¦ both teams kind of just cancelling each other out,β Peterson said. βFive-on-three, all around we were just moving the puck pretty well. ... (Robbie Russo) made a real good pass to me and I just tried to shoot it as hard as I could.β
WATCH: Roadrunners take advantage of power play in win over Colorado
While the Roadrunners fans were patient β waiting more than 45 minutes of scoreless hockey before one of the red goal lamps finally proved operable β so were Peterson, Russo, Kyle Capobianco and the rest of the Tucson crew. The Roadrunners held the puck in the Colorado zone for nearly the entirety of the 1:29 of the two-man advantage, getting off only a shot here or there before Pederson connected eight seconds before Colorado would get a man back.
βI think definitely with the two-man advantage you want to get shots, but you canβt be shooting into shin pads or sticks,β Pederson said of the patience the Roadrunners showed on the power play before the shot finally opened up. βYou want to make sure you have traffic in front. So sometimes the patient approach works, and tonight it paid off.β
Pedersonβs goal was a one-timer with the assist from Russo and Capobianco, whileΒ Pederson and Brayden Burke assisted Lookeβs goal.
The two goals in short turnaround mark the 11thΒ time this season the Roadrunners have scored twice in less than a minute.
The first 45 minutes of scoreless action Tuesday presented the type of battle youβd expect from two of the AHLβs hottest teams.
Miska and Colorado netminder Pavel Francouz stopped every one of the 22 and 23 shots, respectively, they faced through two periods.
βI had no idea weβd just gone on eight straight,β head coach Jay Varady said β a sentiment echoed by some of his players, too. βWeβre focused on the next game already. Yesterday doesnβt matter to us. Those things are behind us. We canβt control that anymore, so weβre more focused for what we have to do right now to get ready for tomorrow.β
Tucson and Colorado square off again at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday in the fourth of 12 meetings between the teams this season. Prior to Tucson's win Tuesday in Coloradoβs first-ever visit, the Eagles swept a two-game set over the Roadrunners (3-2 and 5-1) in Loveland, Colorado, at the beginning of November.
Colorado entered Tuesdayβs matchup with a 6-0-0-1 record in its last seven games and in third place in the Pacific Division; Tucson was 5-0-2-0, and two points behind San Jose at the start of the day. The Roadrunners' last regulation loss came in an 8-2 affair against Stockton on Nov. 20.
