After a post-holiday hangover that included their first two losses in nearly a month, the Tucson Roadrunners found their offensive rhythm again Tuesday night, celebrating with a 7-4 New Year’s Eve victory over the San Diego Gulls at Tucson Arena.
The Gulls (12-13-2-1) led on three different occasions over the first two periods before the Roadrunners (24-7-0-0) jumped ahead midway through the middle frame and held on for good.
“We played with energy,” Tucson coach Jay Varady said. “We didn’t really love how we started the game, but I thought as the game went along … we were able to get a push.”
Added Lane Pederson, who joined fellow forward Michael Bunting and defenseman Kyle Capobianco with a goal and two assists apiece on the night: “I think everyone is just a little bit relieved. We finally got back to playing how we were before the break. I mean, we started slow a little bit again tonight, but we found our legs in the second period there.”
Tucson enters the 2020 portion of its schedule tied atop the American Hockey League with 24 wins, with Tuesday’s dispatching of San Diego was the 16th straight time this year Tucson has held on to win when leading after two periods.
“I think it goes a lot to our leadership in our dressing room. I think it started with our practice yesterday, and our attitude we had coming to the rink, and how we went through our day yesterday and our meeting we had today,” Varady said of not only his team being resilient enough to come back after three separate deficits, but to get a lead and build on it. “I think there’s an added focus. I think that’s our leadership taking control of our room.”
Tucson trailed 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 after San Diego goals by Blake Pietila, Justin Kloos and Chase De Leo, and Roadrunner markers by Bunting and newcomer Blake Speers.
Capobianco pulled the Roadrunners even for the third time nearly nine minutes in to the second period, before forward Brayden Burke’s league-high 10th power-play goal of the season gave Tucson a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
Forward Kelly Klima, Pederson and Burke – his second goal of the night into an empty net – would round out Tucson’s scoring in the third, while De Leo’s own second goal kept the Gulls within relative striking distance.
Through 31 games, Pederson and Bunting now lead Tucson with 32 points, bringing both forwards to a tie for fourth in the American Hockey League in that category. Pederson’s 16th goal puts him into the top five there, too, while Burke’s two goals give him 15 on the year – also a top-10 figure.
To boot, Bunting’s 25 assists are second in the AHL, while Capobianco is second among AHL defenseman in points per game.
While Varady praised those players as that aforementioned “leadership,” he added that a host of little things that didn’t show up in the stat line carried just as much weight in his eyes.
“They’re expected to do some of those things. They performed tonight, but even more you’ve got a guy like (defenseman) Dysin Mayo who gets hit, he’s cut, doesn’t miss a shift,” Varady said. “We’ve got guys who went down early in the game, guys who played lots of minutes double-shifting … those are all important factors that go a lot deeper than points.”
Goaltender Ivan Prosvetov started his fifth consecutive game in net for the Roadrunners. Prosvetov stopped 30 of 34 shots against, but gave up four goals for a third straight start. Tucson, meanwhile, peppered San Diego starter Anthony Solarz, depositing six on 45 shots, save for the empty netter.
Forward Beau Bennett’s two assists made it five Roadrunners with a multi-point game, while defenseman Vili Saarijarvi and forwards Hudson Fasching and Tyler Steenbergen each had an assist.
Speers’ second-period goal was his first of the year, and first as a Roadrunner after the forward was acquired earlier this month in the blockbuster trade that sent 2018 NHL most valuable player Taylor Hall to the Arizona Coyotes.
Speers was asked postgame how he “picked his spot” on his score, but he admitted there might not have been all that much science to it.
“Honestly, I didn’t. I just looked at the net, and I heard (Varady) in the back of my mind telling us to fire as many pucks as we can,” he said. “I didn’t see another option, so I kind of just funneled it. I saw the net move and luckily it went in.”
Pederson called Speers a “dog on a bone out there. He buzzes. He’s a really good skater. … He works his butt off, so it’s nice to see him get rewarded.”
Speers, who said he thought “we all had a little pep in our step” Tuesday, played on the top line against San Diego, alongside Bunting and Beau Bennett. That was one in a litany of lineup adjustments Varady instituted not only after the back-to-back losses the past weekend, but also after the Coyotes recalled Michael Chaput to the NHL on Monday.
“Obviously with Chappy getting called up we had to shake the lines up, which is exciting,” Varady said. “It’s an exciting scenario to kind of see guys in different spots with different people, and I thought the guys did a really good job with that tonight.”
