Gulls Rally Late to Edge Roadrunners 4–3 in Overtime

December 31, 2025

Roadrunners Recap: 12/31/2025

Game #29: Tucson Roadrunners (3) vs San Diego (4) OT

SOG: TUC (29) – SD (35)

PP: TUC (0/3) – SD (2/3)

SAN DIEGO SCORING: Jan Myšák (7), Matthew Phillips (7), Sasha Pastujov (8), Justin Bailey (11)
TUCSON SCORING: Ben McCartney (12), Dmitri Simashev (4), Artem Duda (2)

TUCSON, AZ– The Tucson Roadrunners (12-12-5-0) closed out 2025 with a 4-3 overtime loss to their I-8 rival San Diego Gulls (14-8-6-1) on Wednesday night at Tucson Arena.

Tucson controlled the first 40 minutes and built a 3-0 lead behind goals from Ben McCartney, Dmitri Simashev and Artem Duda.

San Diego stormed back in the third period, scoring twice on the power play and once at even strength to erase the three-goal deficit. Justin Bailey completed the comeback with the overtime winner with 59 seconds remaining.

Despite the loss, Jaxson Stauber delivered a strong performance and stopped 31 of 35 shots for Tucson.

The Roadrunners closed out the homestand with a 2-0-1 record, earning five of a possible six points.

NOTABLES

Tonight’s New Year’s Eve matchup against the Gulls was the fifth New Year’s Eve game in franchise history for the Roadrunners. Tucson owns a 2-3 all-time record in those contests, including 1-2 at home and 1-1 on the road. The Roadrunners last claimed a New Year’s Eve victory in a 7-4 win at Tucson Arena in 2019.
Wednesday marked Tucson’s second-straight and 10th overtime game of the season. The Roadrunners are hold a 5-0-5-0 record in overtime games.
Ben McCartney‘s goal extended his point streak to four games dating back to Dec. 20 at Abbotsford, recording four points (2g, 2a) in that span.
It’s McCartney’s team-high fifth point streak of four games or longer this season, and one shy of his season-best five-game streak to open the season from Oct. 10-24.
The tally marked McCartney’s 60^th career AHL goal, 10 shy of tying Michael Carcone for third all-time in franchise history (70).
McCartney leads Tucson with 13 points (6g, 7a) in his last nine games dating back to Dec. 5 at San Jose, which ranks tied for second in the AHL with Belleville’s Arthur Kaliyev, trailing only Bakersfield’s Isaac Howard (15).
Wednesday’s goal was McCartney’s team-high seventh home goal of the season, tied with Daniil But for the most on the team.
With Wednesday’s tally, Dmitri Simashev has nine points (4g, 5a) in his last eight games dating back to Dec. 6 at San Jose, which leads all Roadrunners blueliners and is the third-most on the team.
Simashev’s .90 points per-game pace leads all AHL rookie defensemen.
With his goal on Wednesday, Artem Duda now has a season-best three-game point streak dating back to Dec. 27 vs. Calgary, with three points (2g, 1a) in that span.
Duda owns a six-game home point streak dating back to Oct. 29 vs. Manitoba, with six points (2g, 4a) in that stretch.
Cameron Hebig‘s pair of helpers marked his third consecutive game with an assist dating back to Dec. 27 vs. Calgary, marking his longest assist of the season, and has four assists in that span.
With Wednesday’s assist, Hebig is four points shy of 200 career AHL points and needs seven assists to tie Kyle Capobianco for second all-time in franchise history (91).
Hebig has 12 points (5g, 7a) in his last nine games dating back to Dec. 5 at San Jose, the second-most on the team in that span.
Noel Nordh has nine points (2g, 7a) in his last 10 games dating back to Nov. 29 vs. Abbotsford, tied with Dmitri Simashev for the third-most on the team.
Wednesday’s assist extended Nordh’s point streak to three games dating back to Dec. 27, with three points (1g, 2a) in that span.

Cameron Hebig (no. 39) and Austin Poganski (no. 27) combined for three assists on Wednesday against San Diego. (Photo: Matt Muir / Tucson Roadrunners)

THE RUNDOWN

FIRST PERIOD
Tucson opened the scoring just before the five-minute mark as captain Austin Poganski led a quick rush into the offensive zone and slipped a pass to McCartney, who fired a shot past Ville Husso’s glove to give the Roadrunners a 1-0 lead.

The Roadrunners controlled the pace through the first 10 minutes, outshooting San Diego 4-1 during that stretch. Tucson continued to pressure the Gulls in their own zone and earned a power-play opportunity shortly after the 12-minute mark.

Despite generating several Grade-A chances on the man advantage, the Roadrunners were unable to capitalize on their lone power-play opportunity of the period.

Later in the frame, Miko Matikka nearly doubled the lead after catching the San Diego defense off guard and breaking in alone, but his backhand attempt was turned aside by Husso’s right pad.

Tucson continued to overwhelm San Diego in the final five minutes, finishing the period with a 12-6 shot advantage and carrying a one-goal lead into the first intermission.

SECOND PERIOD
Tucson picked up where it left off, controlling possession through the opening five minutes and outshooting San Diego 3-0.

Defenseman Dmitri Simashev extended the Roadrunners’ lead just before the six-minute mark, snapping a wrister from inside the right faceoff dot past Husso’s right shoulder off a feed from Ty Tulio to make it 2-0.

Tucson earned its second power-play opportunity of the game just 41 seconds later but came up empty. Minutes after the Simashev goal, Duda caught Husso off his post and slid a backhand attempt that the San Diego netminder misplayed into the net, pushing the lead to 3-0.

Stauber faced more action after a quiet first period and delivered on the ensuing San Diego power play, making multiple key stops on Justin Bailey and Tim Walshe with his left pad before sprawling to cover the puck around the 11-minute mark.

San Diego controlled much of the possession over the final five minutes, but Stauber turned aside every chance. Just before the horn, Ryan Carpenter had a chance to cut the deficit, but Stauber denied his backhand attempt with the glove.

The Roadrunners carried a 3-0 lead into the second intermission while holding a 20-13 advantage in shots on goal.

THIRD PERIOD
Beginning the third period, San Diego carried over its momentum from late in the second, outshooting Tucson 4-0 and earning its second power play of the game. Gulls forward Jan Myšák converted on the man advantage off a net-front scramble just before the three-minute mark to cut the deficit.

Despite the goal, Stauber remained sharp, stopping seven of the eight shots he faced through the opening five minutes of the period.

San Diego completed the comeback with two goals in a span of two minutes. Matthew Phillips tied the game on the Gulls’ second power play of the period, ripping a shot past Stauber. Just 1:32 later, Sasha Pastujov snapped a shot from above the left circle, bar down, to even the score at 3-3.

Tucson failed to convert on its third power-play opportunity of the game just before the 14-minute mark. Despite San Diego controlling much of the third period, the teams headed to overtime tied 3-3.

OVERTIME
Justin Bailey ended the game in overtime, firing a shot from the top of the right circle that beat Stauber to complete San Diego’s comeback victory.

UP NEXT
The Roadrunners will open 2026 on the road with a two-game set against the Calgary Wranglers at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday and Sunday. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. AZT on Friday and 1 p.m. AZT on Sunday. Fans can listen live on FOX Sports 1450 AM and the iHeartRadio app and watch on AHLtv on FloHockey.

HIGHLIGHTS