Despite outshooting the Ontario Reign by more than double, the Tucson Roadrunners fell in overtime on Friday night.
The Reign beat Roadrunner 4-3 even though Tucson had a 47-23 edge in shots on goal.
“I think we had full control of the game, some unfortunate bounces and we took too many penalties in the 'O' zone; you can’t take offensive zone penalties and think we’re gonna kill them,” said Tucson coach Steve Potvin. “That’s really the unfortunate part of the game because really other than that I thought we were the dominant team tonight.”
The Roadrunners host the Reign again on Saturday at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on CW Tucson feature the annual Teddy Bear Toss.
At 2:24 in overtime, Roadrunners forward Jan Jenik was called for a tripping penalty. Five seconds into the ensuing power play, Reign forward Quinton Byfield scored the game-winner. Ontario was 2-for-4 on power plays while Tucson was 0-for-3.
Roadrunners forward Adam Cracknell said the club proved it can play with the Reign.
“We knew it’s gonna be tight; (the) standings showed that, (and) we’re playing a very good team,” Cracknell said. “Obviously we gave them a little bit of life on the power play but that’s just the way it is, we know we can play well against them, and when we do the right things, we’re generating success.”
Tucson forward Michael Carcone opened the scoring with an assist from Cracknell seven minutes into the game.
“That connection’s been really strong,” Potvin said. “Obviously they’ve had some points and they’ve had some chemistry and they seem to find the back of the net, so it’s been a good pairing and I think (forward) Nathan (Smith) played well with them tonight also.”
A couple minutes later, the Reign tied it up with a goal from forward Lias Andersson.
At 13:13 in the first Cracknell scored this time assisted by Carcone and defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok.
Andre Lee scored for Ontario just after the start of the second period.
With 13:38 gone in the second, Cracknell scored again, assisted by defenseman Cameron Crotty and forward Nathan Smith. Ontario tied it up four minutes into the third when defenseman Helge Grans scored.
It’s the second straight overtime loss for Tucson, which fell 4-3 at San Jose last weekend.
Slap shots
- Saturday’s game is the Roadrunners’ annual Teddy Bear Toss. Fans are encouraged to bring stuffed animals to throw on the ice following Tucson’s first goal. The stuffed animals will benefit Aviva Family Services. "It’s an interesting event,” Potvin said. “I think everybody wants to be a part of it and they want to be the guy that scores the goal to get everybody to throw the teddy bear toss. I think the guys get excited for it, there’s no doubt, it’s too bad there isn’t a teddy bear toss for each of the goals, I think the guys would be even hungrier.”Cracknell, who has played professionally since 2005, said he couldn’t remember if he has ever scored the teddy bear-triggering goal.
- The Roadrunners are also collecting unwrapped toys that Dusty will bring to Banner Health’s Diamond Children’s Medical Center on Monday.
- The Roadrunners will have 50/50 raffle, with proceeds going to the Assistance League of Tucson for this game.
- Entering play on Friday, seven of the 10 Pacific Division teams have a winning record. The other divisions have either seven teams in the case of the Central and The North and the Atlantic has eight.
