In rather improbable fashion, the visiting Colorado Eagles staved off a furious rally by the Tucson Roadrunners Saturday night, scoring the game-winning goal in overtime with only three seconds left on the clock to secure a 5-4 win and a two-game weekend sweep.
Tucson has now lost four straight — although the Roadrunners did pick up a point by pushing the game to overtime. Tucson concludes its homestand with two wins in six tries — and now leaves Tucson Arena entirely for the better part of the next three weeks.
“I think it’s just a bad situation. An offensive zone faceoff, you don’t want to give up goals,” Tucson coach Jay Varady said of the overtime game-winner off the stick of Colorado’s Andrew Aggozino past goaltender Adin Hill, who took over in the second period in relief of Tucson starter Hunter Miska.
“But that was the way it went in overtime. I was more interested with our energy and our effort … throughout the course of regulation play.”
Varady said he was pleased with Tucson’s power play, which, despite being firmly entrenched in the American Hockey League’s bottom five for most of the season, managed three goals to keep the Roadrunners in the game despite second-period deficits of 3-1 and 4-3.
“I thought it was an edgier game than last night, and I thought we had an answer to them in terms of our physical play,” Varady said of the team’s follow-up to a 3-1 loss the night before. “The power play was excellent tonight. I thought we created chances, we had the five-on-three … I thought that generated momentum for us and kind of set us up for the rest of the game in terms of confidence on the power play.”
Defenseman Robbie Russo and forwards Lane Pederson and Tyler Steenbergen each scored a power-play goal for the Roadrunners (23-14-4-1), with Brayden Burke scoring as well at even-strength. Russo had a goal and two assists, while Jordan Gross notched three assists.
The visiting Eagles (22-17-3-1), which now lead the season series 6-2 over the Roadrunners with four more to play, got goals from Logan O’Connor, Igor Shvyrev, Michael Joly, Tim McCauley and Aggozino.
In goal, Colorado’s Spencer Martin followed up his 31-save performance in Friday’s 3-1 win with 44 saves on 48 shots. For Tucson, Miska stopped 15 of 18 shots before he was replaced with Hill in the middle frame. Hill stopped 13 of 15 while appearing in some fashion in his fifth consecutive game.
As for the four-game losing streak that’s sent Tucson from second to fourth in the American Hockey League’s Pacific Division Standings — that coming just two weeks ago had the third-best record in the entire 31-team AHL — Varady said he’s looking forward.
“We live in the moment. The past is the past. We can’t change the past,” Varady said. “Those things are done. We don’t dwell on that stuff. We move forward. That’s the way it goes.”
The Roadrunners leave Tucson Arena — and Tucson entirely — Monday for a nearly three-week, four-city, six-game road trip.
Tucson Arena will be overtaken by the annual Tucson Gem & Mineral show, meaning the Roadrunners will operate entirely from the road, not returning to Southern Arizona for eight days.
The trip starts in Rockford, Ill., before San Jose. Then its Austin, Texas, and San Diego, before a final bus ride home to Tucson on Feb. 21.
