After a pair of near-wire-to-wire wins this past week, even after the host Tucson Roadrunners jumped out to a sizable first-period lead yet again, surely Saturday night’s result couldn’t be as clear-cut as the prior two outings, right?
It certainly wasn’t. Tucson won this one the hard way. The Roadrunners’ 3-1 lead over the visiting Abbotsford Canucks dissipated into a 4-3 second-period deficit, before a pair of late third-period goals propelled Tucson to a 5-4 win and the team’s first three-game win streak of the 2021-22 season.
First-year Tucson defenseman JJ Moser’s power play goal inside a minute to play in regulation broke a 4-4 tie and moved the Roadrunners’ record above .500 for the first time since opening night, seven weekends ago. Moser, whose four goals are tied for the second highest total among all AHL defenseman, added two assists on the night, too.
“it was a lot of win one, lose one, win one, lose one,” Tucson forward Cam Hebig said after his two-goal night Saturday. “So our goal was to string a couple of wins together. That’s what our focus was coming in. We won one last weekend, and then two, so we’re kind of on a roll here. So we’ve got to keep the momentum going and keep the energy up.”
Coach Jay Varady’s decision to use his team’s lone timeout with Tucson on the power play late in the third proved positive toward the Roadrunners’ end result.
When the Abbotsford penalty began just inside three minutes to play, Varady and associate coach Steve Potvin sent the potent unit of Moser, Mike Carcone, Matias Maccelli, Ben McCartney and Jan Jenik out for the first power play shift. That group stayed on the ice 1:14 before a whistle deep in the Canucks’ zone stopped play. Initially, Varady took the group off and sent his second unit out, but before the puck could drop on the faceoff, he used the timeout in his pocket.
Tucson kept the same group out for the remainder of the power play, with Moser’s blast from the point making its way through with seven seconds left on the man advantage, and 50 ticks left in the game overall.
“(That power play unit) had two, three good scoring chances there on that power play,” Varady said. “There was some time left, so we thought let’s go back with them and see what we can do for the last little bit there.”
Hebig scored a pair of goals, including the one that tied it back up at four apiece inside six minutes to play, while Maccelli’s four-point night gave him a six-point weekend. Maccelli’s goal and three assists gives him 14 points in his last seven games. That’s propelled him into a tie for eighth on the AHL’s league-wide point producing charts with 17 in 13 games, while his six goals and 11 assists help him lead Tucson in all three offensive categories.
Maccelli, Hebig and Carcone, who had an assist on Maccelli’s first-period goal, have turned into Tucson’s most productive offensive line, with Varady heaping praise on all three.
“Those guys have found some chemistry together,” Varady said. “Hebes, in my opinion, is the guy who pushes the energy in the group. He’s all over the ice. His forechecking, he’s backchecking, he’s reloading and he’s doing a lot of the dirty work.”
Added Hebig: “It’s great to contribute like that. But I’ve got to give a lot of the credit to my teammates like that, playing with Carcone and Maccelli … They make great plays, so I’m just trying to get open and try to capitalize.”
Of Maccelli’s four-point night, Varady added: “He’s been doing amazing things. And he’s doing it on a consistent basis producing points. It’s hard to do at this level.”
Bokondji Imama, Tucson’s physical leader night-in, night-out, rounded out Tucson’s scoring with his second goal of the season, coming in the first period.
“I just like his energy,” Varady said of Imama’s contributions across the board. “It’s nice to see him get rewarded tonight. He had a post last night I think. So two good nights … He provides that energy for us.”
Victor Sodorstrom, Ty Emberson and Lewis Zerter-Gossage contributed assists on the night for Tucson as well.
Zane McIntyre stopped 21 of 25 shots for the Roadrunners, earning his second win in net in two starts for Tucson this season.
For Abbotsford, goaltender Arturs Silovs turned away 18 of 23 shots on goal, with the Canucks earning goals from Will Lockwood and Sheldon Dries in the first and Jarid Lukosevicius and John Stevens in the second.
Tucson’s first weekend sweep of the season pushed the Roadrunners into fourth place in the American Hockey League’s Pacific Division race. Next up is a two-game road set against the Colorado Eagles. Matchups Friday and Saturday night from Loveland, Colorado, each commence at 7:05 p.m.
“You know, it's still early in the season,” Imama said of Tucson jumping above .500 again. “There's a lot of pieces that got brought together (this weekend).”
