Tucson Roadrunners right wing Egor Sokolov has been racking up the points lately, but he’s focused on the team’s points.
Sokolov has tallied seven points in the Roadrunners’ last six games. He had two goals and an assist in Tucson’s 5-1 win over the Rockford IceHogs on Friday and then scored the game-tying goal on Saturday, which led to the Roadrunners getting a standing point.
“He’s been right on the spot, right?” said Tucson head coach Steve Potvin. “He’s a scorer, he’s a putter, you give him the opportunities, and he’s gonna put it in.
Egor Sokolov has tallied seven points in the Tucson Roadrunners’ last six games, including the game-tying goal on Saturday, which led to the Roadrunners getting a standing point.
“I’m happy to see that he got his 20th (Saturday) and he’s been contributing not only on the power plays but contributing to 5-on-5 hockey.”
Sokolov was named first star of the game after Friday’s win.
“I’ve been good, honestly it don’t matter if I score or not, it’s just as long as I can contribute to the team and help the team win, that’s all matters to me,” Sokolov said. “I’ve been in the league for for a while now and I’ve learned a lot, it’s not all about goals and points it’s how much you can contribute to help the teams have success. And no, I think I’ve been doing a good job with it, you know obviously having an opportunity to score and I did so. At the end of the day sucks to get one point out of two, so just gotta move on.”
The Tucson Roadrunners (25-22-3-2) travel to the Ontario Reign (31-17-2-1) for a Wednesday solo game.
Sokolov’s 20th goal puts him one behind his AHL personal best that he set last year and the year before, though that was over 71 games in 2023-24 and 70 games in 2022-23. Last season, Sokolov was second in goals for the Belleville Senators and tied for second with 46 points.
This season, he has 39 points.
Home sweet home
The Roadrunners split with the Rockford IceHogs, finishing their four-game home stand with an important seven points.
After Tucson beat Rockford on Friday, they rallied from a 2-0 deficit to force overtime. The IceHogs won it in OT, though, and Tucson had to settle for one point.
The Roadrunners thought they deserved a power play in overtime after Tucson right wing Austin Poganski was wrestled down in the middle of the ice.
“I thought it was a well-fought series and obviously I don’t think we played our best when we started the game, but we expected that they were gonna come back with a response,” Potvin said. “They came out pretty hard, they got to us right away, they got the first one, obviously they get the next one, but I liked our response.
“I liked that Staubs (goalie Jaxson Stauber) kept us in there, he did what he could to get us the points and look, I think it’s unfortunate at the end, I thought that was definitely an effort based sequence that should have resulted in a penalty against them and a power play for us,” he added. “At the end it’s disappointing to see the non call and you know what, sometimes typically you don’t get the next bounce.”
The Roadrunners thought they deserved a power play in overtime Saturday vs. the IceHogs after Tucson right wing Austin Poganski (27) was wrestled down in the middle of the ice.
The seven points comes after they only picked up two in their previous home stand, where they went 0-4-1-1, which made up the bulk of their eight-game winless streak. On that home stand, the Abbotsford Canucks swept Tucson, but on the most recent one, the Roadrunners swept the Canucks.
“Obviously I wanted to come out with two points, sucks, but yeah, I thought the team put up a really big fight and I don’t usually talk about officiating but I thought it was a pretty obvious call on Poganski,” Sokolov said. “They got two points and we got one, so we gotta move on and learn from it.”
Tucson hits the road sitting in the seventh and final playoff spot in the division. The Roadrunners have the chance to gain ground on the fourth-place Reign (who have the fourth and final home-ice advantage in the first-round slot) and hold off the eighth-place Bakersfield Condors, who Tucson plays on Friday and Saturday.
Ontario has 65 points, Tucson 55 and Bakersfield 53.
Homecoming games
Rockford left wing Zach Sanford returned to Tucson over the weekend, getting three points, including two goals on Saturday, one of which was the game-winner.
Sanford was named first star of the IceHogs’ 3-2 overtime win over Tucson. In October 2023, he was named as an alternate captain for Tucson.
Sanford played 16 games for Tucson before getting called up by the Coyotes and then after Arizona waived him, the Chicago Blackhawks claimed him. Then he played 18 games for Chicago and 13 for Rockford last season.
“Oh, he was a strong player, obviously he’s played in the NHL and he’s won a Stanley Cup, knows what it takes to play in critical moments and then, you know, these types of games,” Potvin said. “He’s a patient player that waits for his opportunity, but he’s also a player that can defend well; so he’s definitely an elite player.”
In July, Utah Hockey Club signed Stauber to a two-way deal. Stauber played two seasons for Rockford and six games with the Blackhawks.
Stauber (9-5-2 AHL) lost to the IceHogs on Saturday, making 27 saves and giving up three goals.
Rough return
Tucson defenseman Juuso Välimäki’s return to the AHL was a rough one.
Välimäki suffered a lower-body injury in the second period of Friday’s game and is out indefinitely. Friday’s game was Välimäki’s first in the AHL since 2022 after playing 271 games in the NHL for Calgary, Arizona and Utah.
