The Henderson Silver Knights scored a flurry of third-period goals to win their series opener against the Tucson Roadrunners. The Silver Knights scored seven unanswered goals, including five in the final frame, to beat Tucson 7-1 on Tuesday night.
“I don’t think it was a 7-1 game up to that point, but it was definitely not the way we can play and that’s just not good enough, bottom line,” said Roadrunners coach Steve Potvin.
The Roadrunners (6-4-1-0) host the Silver Knights (4-10-0-0) again on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
After starting the season as the last team in the league to lose a home game, Tucson lost its third game in a row at Tucson Arena.
“I thought we came out there pretty hot there for a bit and then just cooled off a bit,” said Tucson forward Ben McCartney. “We gotta just start playing for each and play a full 60 minutes and get this back on track.”
McCartney opened up the scoring 4:20 into the game, assisted by center Jean-Sebastien Dea and forward Laurent Dauphin. It’s the first goal of the year for McCartney, who has four points this season.
“I think obviously it’s a little bit of a slump there, but you just gotta do the little things right and you’ll get rewarded and gotta just keep playing a good 20-foot game up there,” McCartney said.
A couple minutes after McCartney’s goal, Henderson responded with a power play goal by defenseman Daniil Miromanov. The Silver Knights got a second consecutive power play when Roadrunners defenseman Ronald Knot got sent to the penalty box for slashing when the goal was scored but Tucson killed the penalty.
With 8:04 left in the first, the Silver Knights took the lead on a goal by forward Brendan Brisson.
Henderson was 2 for 4 on the power play, while Tucson was 0 for 5. The Roadrunners outshot the Silver Knights 30-29.
Tucson drops to 1-2-0-0 against Henderson. The Roadrunners also played the Silver Knights in their preseason games.
“You get to know them a little bit, you just get used to their system and all that and you just gotta come back every game and it’s just gonna be a little rivalry series so we just gotta come tomorrow and be good for 60 minutes and just come out ready to go,” McCartney said.
After a scoreless second, Henderson forward Sakari Manninen scored 45 seconds into the third period.
Then a couple minutes later Silver Knights forward Connor Ford scored.
At 11:42 in the third, Henderson left wing Gage Quinney scored a power play goal. Then a little over a minute later, right wing Jonas Rondbjerg scored for the visitors.
Less than a minute after that, Henderson center Mason Primeau scored.
Tucson goalie Ivan Prosvetov had 22 saves.
“For a game like tonight, I feel bad for a guy like Ivan, that’s been the catalyst, the backbone, he’s helped out team immensely and he didn’t deserve that tonight,” Potvin said.
Slap shots
- Dauphin returned from the Coyotes on Monday. Dauphin, who is tied for the Roadrunners’ lead in goals with five, was with Arizona for nine days, playing in one game, at the New York Rangers on Sunday.
- Wednesday’s game features free tickets for kids 12 and under with a paid adult.
