IRVINE, Calif. — Jan Jenik succinctly expressed a frustrating five weeks for the Tucson Roadrunners when he banged his stick on the ice at the end of Tuesday's play-in game in the American Hockey League's Pacific Division playoffs.
Despite Jenik's goal, the fourth-seeded San Jose Barracuda rallied for a 2-1 win over the seventh-seeded Roadrunners at FivePoint Arena at Great Park Ice. San Jose will face either the Colorado Eagles or the Ontario Reign on Wednesday night for a chance to play the top-seeded Henderson Silver Knights in the semifinals.
The Roadrunners, however, end their season having lost their final four games, five of their past six and 10 of their last 14.
"I thought we played a good game," Tucson coach Steve Potvin said. "The chances were on our side. But it's the old story that we've been telling all year: With opportune times to make the opportune play, we just weren't able to convert. That's been our Achilles' heel all year."
San Jose took early control by using a disciplined neutral-zone trap and aggressive forechecking to stifle the Roadrunners. But 3:01 into the second period, Jenik put Tuscon ahead.
While under tight pressure, Nate Sucese passed the puck from the left corner to Jenik, who was rushing toward the net. The Czech forward faked to his backhand, then beat goalie Josef Korenar to earn a point in his seventh consecutive game.
"That was great work by the forwards in the corner," Jenik said. "I tried to go between (Korenar's) legs, and it worked out."
Roadrunners winger Ben McCartney battles a San Jose Barracuda attacker in Tuesday’s playoff game.
Jenik ends the season with points in eight of his past nine games with both the Roadrunners and the Arizona Coyotes. In the process, he became the second player in the Coyotes franchise history to get two points in his first two NHL games.
Jenik's goal forced the Barracuda out of their defensive posture and energized the Roadrunners, who tried exploiting their speed. But nearly 8 1/2 minutes after Jenik scored, San Jose tied the score on a fluke goal.
Stationed at the left boards, Nicolas Meloche passed to Evan Weinger at the left post. But the puck deflected off Weinger's skate and into the net at 11:24 of the period.
The Roadrunners had a chance to move ahead with three minutes left in the second period. Dysin Mayo's shot hit the left post and dribbled across the goal crease to Sucese, who tried to poke the puck inside the opposite post. But Korenar fell on it.
LEFT: Courtesy of the Tucson Roadrunners Kevin Roy and the Tucson Roadrunners saw their season end Monday with a loss to the San Jose Barracuda in the AHL Pacific Division playoff opener.
Then with 10:42 left in the game, San Jose took the lead. Jayden Halbgewachs stole the puck from Victor Soderstrom behind the net passed to Jake McGrew, who beat goalie Ivan Prosvetov on the glove side. Prosvetov finished with 18 saves.
For Potvin, Tuesday's game provided a miniature version of the Roadrunners' season.
"I thought our guys played with a lot of character all year," he said. "There were only a few practices where the guys didn't have it in them to compete as hard as they could. There were only two or three games all year where I thought we didn't have the juice to get the points.
"But if we're making saves, then we're not scoring goals. If we're not making saves, we're not scoring goals. It's unfortunate. I'd like to know the exact number of one-goal games that we lost, or games where we scored only one goal. I would imagine it's pretty high."
