After a rough road-trip, the Tucson Roadrunners return to the friendly confines of the Tucson Arena for a crucial home stand if they hope to make the playoffs for the third straight season.
Tucson (30-29-3-2) went 1-4 on their last long road trip dropping them into eighth place. The top seven teams in the Pacific Division make the playoffs.
After weeks of chasing the Roadrunners, the Bakersfield Condors (28-25-7-3) beat Tucson 3-2 to overtake them for the last playoff spot. With eight games left to play for Tucson and nine for Bakersfield, the Condors lead the Roadrunners by a point.
The AHL awards two points for wins, one for overtime or shootout losses and none for regulation losses.
However, Tucson is far ahead of Bakersfield in the first tiebreaker: regulation wins as they have 26 compared to the Condors’ 19.
The Roadrunners open the four-game home stand against the Calgary Wranglers (32-25-4-3) on Tuesday night. Tucson is 2-4 against the team that swept them in the playoffs last year but the Wranglers are 3-7 in their last 10 games.
Tucson Roadrunners forward Hunter Drew tallied his team-leading third multi-goal game of the season in a 5-2 loss to the Coachella Valley Firebirds at Acrisure Arena on Feb. 19. Drew plans to utilize homefield advantage for the Roadrunners' next four games.
The Wranglers are the AHL affiliate of the Calgary Flames and are in sixth place, five points ahead of Bakersfield.
The second half of the home stand is against the Condors.
“We just gotta know the moment and know what we’re in for here for the next, you know, four games at home and obviously ... you use the crowd to your advantage and then go from there,” said Tucson right winger Hunter Drew to Roadrunners personnel after their loss to Bakersfield when asked how do they capitalize on the home ice advantage.
The Roadrunners are 15-11-3-1 at home and 15-18-0-1 on the road. Tucson is 4-2 against Bakersfield this season, including 2-0 at home.
The 3-2 loss to Bakersfield comes after the Roadrunners lost 5-1 to the ninth place San Diego Gulls on Friday night. Tucson went 5-3 against San Diego this season, who have been out of a playoff spot for months.
The Roadrunners jumped ahead of Bakersfield on Saturday and after the Condors took a 2-1 lead they tied it before the Condors scored the game winner with about 10 minutes to go. Tucson killed four of the five Bakersfield penalties.
“I thought we had a lot of good moments,” Drew said. “We got a little bit of penalty trouble, but for the most part, our PK (penalty kill) was pretty good and guys are moving and doing what they can and sometimes you just don’t win these games, but we have a good chance next weekend against these guys and we’ll go from there.”
Roster shake up
Last week, Utah Hockey Club recalled a couple key Roadrunners and sent one back to Tucson.
On Wednesday, Utah HC called up forward Kailer Yamamoto. Utah called up goalie Matthew Villalta on Friday and sent goaltender Jaxson Stauber (10-5-2 AHL record this season) to Tucson.
Yamamoto started the season with Utah, having played for the Edmonton Oilers, Seattle Kraken or Utah since 2020. Villalta made his NHL debut last year, playing a couple games for the Arizona Coyotes.
Milestone week
On Friday, Tucson center Cameron Hebig played in his 280th regular season game for the Roadrunners, surpassing the record set by defenseman Dyson Mayo.
Cameron Hebig played in his 280th regular season game for the Roadrunners, surpassing the record set by defenseman Dyson Mayo. It’s his fifth season in Tucson and he has played in six playoff games for the Roadrunners.
It’s Hebig’s fifth season in Tucson and he has played in six playoff games for the Roadrunners.
Mayo played in eight playoff games for Tucson.
Villalta’s most recent Roadrunners game was his 200th regular season game in the AHL. He has played 206 AHL games overall and 94 with the Roadrunners.
Road trip bright spot
Tucson’s win on the road trip did come against the second place Ontario Reign.
The Roadrunners are 2-5-0-1 against the Reign but closed out their regular season series with them having won their last two in the Southern California city. Should the Roadrunners make the playoffs they would mostly likely be the seventh seed, which plays against the two seed and the whole first round, a three-game series, is at the arena of the better seed.
Villalta (17-21-3) made 24 saves against his former team in Tucson’s 3-0 win over Ontario. His efforts earned him a spot in the AHL’s Three Stars of the Night.
On Mar. 16 the AHL suspended Roadrunners defenseman Montana Onyebuchi (79) three games for physical abuse of an official after their game against the San Jose Barracuda on Mar. 15.
Big return for Montana
On Mar. 16 the AHL suspended Roadrunners defenseman Montana Onyebuchi three games for physical abuse of an official after their game against the San Jose Barracuda on Mar. 15.
He missed the second game of the SJ series and the games at Colorado but returned for the win over Ontario, scoring a goal and getting in a fight. In the three games since his return he has 3 points.
Ladies and Wranglers
Tuesday night’s game against the Wranglers is Ladies Night.
There will be a pre-game wine and cheese mixer and a special ticket package for night includes a Roadrunners canvas sparkle bag.
Wednesday’s game is Vail Community Night.
