Trailing 3-0 on Saturday to the Texas Stars and staring a fourth consecutive loss dead in the eyes, the Tucson Roadrunners desperately needed a spark.
While forward Michael Bunting entered last weekend tied for the American Hockey League lead in points, and linemates Lane Pederson and Kevin Roy weren’t far behind, they wouldn’t be the heroes on this night.
Rather, it was Tucson’s fourth line — the unit on any high-level hockey team looked at not for their offensive output, but more likely for their physical play and ability to hold down the fort defensively.
The end result was the same even with the jump-start provided by fourth-liners Kevin Hancock, Nate Sucese and Ryan McGregor. Two Hancock goals cut the Stars’ lead to 3-2 before an empty-net goal by Texas finished the Roadrunners off at 4-2. The Roadrunners have now lost five of six.
But it’s the principle of the matter — finding not only a spark during a tough streak, but getting a bit of scoring punch outside of the Bunting, Pederson and Roy trio — that has the chance to help the Roadrunners (5-5-0-0) get back on track they hit the road this Friday and Saturday for back-to-back outings in Southern California.
“I’m really happy to see them get results like that. They’ve been putting in the work. They’ve just been able to keep it simple,” Tucson coach Steve Potvin said of Hancock, who scored twice Saturday, and linemates Sucese and McGregor.
McGregor assisted Hancock’s first goal, which came with barely a minute to go in the second period, with Sucese earning the assist on the follow-up, about five minutes into the third.
Hancock’s pair Saturday were even more improbable with the fact that he’d been a healthy scratch for all but one Tucson game this season before that.
Prior to Saturday, it was Jeremy Gregoire who had been penciled in that spot instead of Hancock. Gregoire, Sucese and McGregor were arguably the Roadrunners’ bright spot Friday night, too. Tucson lost 5-2, but it was McGregor’s first-career professional goal six minutes into the first period, assisted by Sucese and defenseman Doyle Somerby, that allowed the Roadrunners to jump on top ever-so-briefly.
“Potsie wants everyone to keep things simple, but I think that maybe applies even a little more to us,” McGregor said, adding that his first career goal was “a really good feeling. Obviously it took me a little longer than I would have liked. It kind of starts to get tough after, whatever it was, nine games.”
Gregoire, an alternate captain in his third year in Tucson, also made his presence felt Friday. A shorthanded specialist, Gregoire laid out to block a Texas shot on the penalty kill; his sacrifice would lead to him limping to the bench and eventually being helped to the locker room. Gregoire was listed as day to day, with Hancock taking his place Saturday.
In Sucese’s case, playing on the fourth line — a group in hockey yesteryear often referred to as a “checking line” — was the antithesis of where’d been relatively recently in his progression. Sucese played NCAA Division I hockey for Penn State, and finished his four-year college career last spring as the Nittany Lions’ all-time leader in points (140) and goals (61) in 147 career games.
“Obviously it’s a new role that we’ve stepped up into,” Sucese said. “But I think for my and Ryan’s sake, we’ve taken the (penalty kill) responsibility pretty seriously, and used those kills as moral victories in our own minds. And then being able to hop in offensively and help out with a couple of goals Saturday was big.”
Upon joining the Roadrunners, even with moving back and forth between the third and fourth lines this season, one area Sucese hasn’t been afraid to replicate from his college days: Shooting the puck. Sucese’s 22 shots on goal is fifth on the Roadrunners so far and in the upper echelon of all AHL skaters.
“I’ve always had a shot first mentality,” Sucese added. “I don’t really have the best shot in the world, but to create rebounds for guys, or create havoc is a big thing.”
Getting that kind of offensive production out of the fourth line is only heightened of late, considering how Tucson’s offense has flatteend out.
The Roadrunners' 2.7 goals per game are in the bottom six league-wide.
Potvin said that despite Saturday’s loss, he saw one of the most complete, “60-minute games that we’ve played” so far this season. Potvin added that McGregor at center, Hancock on right wing and Sucese on the left side “were really forcing my hand to put them out there more based on the energy they were creating. … They were wearing down the other team.”
Potvin said he has some decisions to make about how his lineup will shake out this weekend. Burke, just like Gregoire, sat out last Saturday and is listed as day-to-day, too.
So whether Hancock stays in the lineup is to be seen. But, Potvin said, Hancock and his linemates did make his decision that much tougher.
“Those are tough decisions to make because you care about all the players and you value the effort they’re putting in,” Potvin said. “Everybody on our team is a good piece of our culture and we care about them. It makes it for a difficult decision, but it’s definitely about the team and you’ve got to make the right decisions in order to make the team moving forward.”
