Roadrunners Recap: Tucson (3) at San Diego (1): 1/21/2020

Game #38: Tucson (3) at San Diego (1) 

SOG: TUC (23) – SD (40)

PP: TUC (0/4) – SD (0/3)

TUC SCORING: Hancock (3), Fasching (15), Speers (2)

SD SCORING: Sprong (8)

HILL DOMINANT, USHERS ROADRUNNERS TO RETURN HOME WITH ANOTHER WINNING ROAD TRIP

Following a successful month-long stint with the Arizona Coyotes, Adin Hill made his return to a Roadrunners sweater Tuesday night, stopping 39 of 40 en route to his team’s 3-1 win over the I-8 Rival San Diego Gulls at Pechanga Arena.

A tight first period only contained six shots for each team, Tucson taking over 15 minutes to get their second.  However, it was then for the fourth straight game Tucson struck first, tonight via Kevin Hancock, who earned his team their first lead at the end of 20 minutes since prior to Christmas.  Going to the net with Blake Speers, the first-year pro Hancock opted to shoot and score, beating Kevin Boyle for the night’s first goal.

It wasn’t long into the second, 2:10 to be exact, when Hudson Fasching doubled that lead for road side.  Playing with Hancock and Tyler Steenbergen on the team’s newly-formed third line, the aforementioned two won a board battle in the attacking end, shuffling the puck to the blocker-side circle where Fasching would beat Boyle with a wrist shot.

4:52 later the third line went to work again, this time Steenbergen setting up Blake Speers for a shot attempt that knuckled its way home while cutting to the net.  Aaron Ness, who like Hancock and Steenbergen had multiple points on the night, chimed in with a secondary assist.

San Diego’s lone goal on the night would come prior to the conclusion of the second period, when Daniel Sprong shot between the mask and glove of Adin Hill on a two-on-one.

After that, Hill stole the show, denying the final 29 straight attempts from the opposition until the sound of the final horn.  Including another breakaway stop on Sprong and a three-on-one robbery from right-to-left, the fourth-year Roadrunner certainly put together a performance that looked as if he had spent the last 30+ days in the National Hockey League.

THEY SAID IT

“Adin was our best player tonight.  He made a lot of huge saves for us and he gave us that confidence in our defensive zone knowing that he’s back there making those stops.”

Forward Kevin Hancock describing the importance of his goalie this evening.

DON’T OVERLOOK IT

The team’s bounce back from Friday to Saturday was notable, allowing just one goal to the Reign in their previously most recent win.  Tonight’s play deserves just as much applause though, twisting their fate against a team that took advantage of them in the second half of their meeting Friday.

Exactly what you’d like to see corrected was, thus leading to a different outcome tonight against the I-8 Rival.

GOTTA SEE IT

Goaltenders. Sometimes they do things you can’t explain and perhaps this is one of them.

The common knowledge we all share though was that the puck stayed out and that’s what we’d hoped for.

PHOTO OF THE GAME

Not to be lost in tonight’s victory, Jeremy Gregoire returned to the Tucson lineup for the first time in three weeks tonight.  In typical 25 fashion, here he is seen mixing it up in the front of the net, always providing a policing presence when on the ice.