Tucson Roadrunners fall 2-0 to Calgary in playoff opener despite peppering Wranglers with 46 shots on goal

The Tucson Roadrunners outshot the Calgary Wranglers 46-35 in the first game of the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs Wednesday night at Tucson Arena. But even with that many chances, an opposing goaltender turning away every last one of them makes it literally impossible to eke out a win.

The second-seeded Roadrunners (43-24-4-2) fell behind 1-0 late in the second period before ultimately losing 2-0 to No. 7 seed Calgary (36-28-6-3) after a late empty net goal.

Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Friday at 7 p.m. at Tucson Arena; a Roadrunners win in that one and the teams play again in a decisive Game 3 Sunday night, also in Tucson.

“Honestly I thought it was a playoff game, that’s what it looked like,” Tucson head coach Steven Potvin said after Wednesday’s matchup. “I thought we had a lot of good chances that we didn’t capitalize on but the goalie did make some good saves. We got to make sure that we get to the inside a little bit more and just generate a little more screen shots with some second opportunities there with rebounds. He doesn’t give up a lot of rebounds, so we got to make sure he doesn’t see the puck so that we can try to get the second and third opportunities in the net.”

The Wranglers are the NHL affiliate of the Calgary Flames who sent five players to Wranglers for the AHL playoffs. One of those is goalie Dustin Wolf, the AHL’s most valuable player last season who played in 22 playoff games in 2022 and 2023.

Tucson entered the playoffs with a league best 6-0-1-0 streak to end the regular season, while Calgary limped into the postseason with a 0-4-1-0 mark.

Not unlike their counterpart, the Roadrunners received a load of NHL talent before the AHL playoffs started too.

Two of those players, forwards Josh Doan and Dylan Guenther, led the Roadrunners with seven shots apiece.

“Their goalie played well. Obviously he’s won player of the year … and goalie of the year a couple times now, so you kind of know what to expect,” Doan said. “But we liked our looks tonight and a couple of those go in it’s a completely different game.”

Tucson goaltender Matthew Villalta was no slouch with 33 saves on 34 shots against. Two of the three stars of the game were goalies, with Wolf, after his 46-for-46 performance, first star and Villalta third.

“I think goaltending has a major impact on a series, there’s no doubt. But I thought Matty played a strong game as well,” Potvin said. “Matty made some really key saves and the expected goals I’m sure were pretty high on both sides and I thought both goaltenders did what they could do help their teams win.”

Calgary center Cole Schwindt scored at 6:14 in the second period, assisted by right wing Adam Klapka and left wing Jakob Pelletier to give the Wranglers that 1-0 lead.

Tucson pulled Villalta with 1:42 left and Calgary forward Matt Coronato scored an empty net goal at 19:19 in the third after an errant back pass by Roadrunners defenseman Steven Kampfer.

Tucson outshot Calgary 16-9 in the third period.

The Roadrunners were 0 for 5 on the power play, while the Wranglers were 0-for-3.

“I thought we had a lot of possession time and I thought we had some shots that were quality except they missed the net,” Potvin said. “It looked like they had an opportunity to go in, it looked like the short side was available and we just missed the net.

“I think there were probably four shots that sailed wide and when that happens it’s hard to get second opportunities but it also hard to score,” he added.

Tucson went 2-1-1-0 against Calgary in the regular season, losing 5-4 in overtime on March 5 at home but winning 3-2 the next day.

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Villalta said he’s “not too worried" about the other goalie but added that a game like this is fun for a netminder.

“It’s fun. You’re in the moment,” Villalta said. “Our jobs (are) to make saves. Especially in the playoffs, every opportunity counts and you got to make saves and you got to give the boys a chance to get going on the other side of it.”

Wednesday’s attendance of 4,823 was a Roadrunners record for a weeknight playoff game.

“It was cool tonight. Obviously I’ve been to a couple playoff Whiteouts in my life and this one was pretty special to be a part of,” said Doan, seemingly referencing seeing the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, which featured his dad, Shane Doan, as their longtime captain, in playoff home games.

“Obviously we want to get the win, but we got Friday to look forward to now and take it from there.”

Slap shots

• The Roadrunners changed the banners they hang in the northern and southern ends to special Whiteout ones. The team also added a new intro video that featured the Calder Cup, fans from Tucson playoff games past and footage of a snowy mountain.

• The Roadrunners gave out Whiteout towels Wednesday night. There was also extra spotlights on both ends and a smoke machine in the south end.

• It’s unknown if a Roadrunners loss Friday (or Sunday if Tucson wins Friday) would be merely the end of the 2023-24 season, or the last Roadrunners game in Tucson at all.

Fliers tied to a fan-generated petition circulated throughout Tucson Arena Wednesday — the ask being for digital signatures in support of keeping the Roadrunners in Tucson.

Roadrunners team owner Alex Meruelo, who sold the Coyotes’ NHL hockey assets for $1.2 billion last week but held on to the Tucson AHL club in his portfolio, stated multiple times last week his interest in exploring a move to Tempe for the Roadrunners.

It's been reported that such a relocation proposal would need to be presented to the AHL’s Board of Governors for approval. Those running the petition, which had 1,867 signatures within the hours after Wednesday’s game, hope to share it with the board prior to a league vote for relocation.

Photos: Roadrunners open the Calder Cup play-offs with a 2-0 loss to Calgary, AHL playoffs