Game #40: Tucson at Colorado

Regular Season Game #40 –Tucson Roadrunners at Colorado Eagles

7:05 p.m. MST, Budweiser Events Center, Loveland, CO

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Referees:  Justin Kea (20) Chris Waterstradt (88)

Linesmen: Joshua Pergande (51) Kilian McNamara (31)

The Tucson Roadrunners wrap up their six-game road trip Saturday night as they’ll take on the Colorado Eagles for the second-straight matchup at the Budweiser Events Center. The Roadrunners took the first meeting of the weekend Friday night by a score of 3-1, with all three Tucson goals scored in the first period. Forward Travis Barron set a new season team-best for fastest goal to begin a game when he scored 1:11 into the first period against his former team, beating out Victor Soderstrom’s opening goal on January 4 against the Stockton Heat by 18 seconds. Before Friday’s contest, forward Stephen Baylis was called-up from the Rapid City Rush for the second time this season and appeared in his third game of the 2021-2022 campaign. Baylis has 19 goals with the Rush this season and played alongside Cedric Lacroix and Stephen Harper in Friday’s victory.

Three Things
1) The Roadrunners took the first four trips to the man-advantage in Friday’s series opener, scoring twice on the power-play as Tucson jumped out to a 3-0 lead. The Roadrunners now have seven power-play goals against the Eagles this season in just five meetings. Mike Carcone is the only Roadrunner with two special-teams goals against Colorado after scoring his team-leading 17th goal of the season on the man-advantage Friday night. The other power-play score from Friday’s win came from Ben McCartney, as he deflected a blast from Cam Dineen on the team’s first man-advantage of the evening. McCartney’s next goal will be his tenth of the season, becoming the fifth Roadrunner this year to reach double-digit goals.

2) Three Tucson skaters recorded multiple-point performances in Friday night’s 3-1 win over the Eagles, all achieved in the first 17:08 of regulation. Defenseman Cam Dineen assisted on both of the Roadrunners power-play goals for his third multi-point night in the last four outings. Matias Maccelli went one step further, assisting on all three goals scored for his third 3+ point performance in Tucson’s last four contests. Dineen and Maccelli each lent an assist to Mike Carcone’s team-leading 17th goal of the season and Tucson’s third score of the period with 2:52 remaining in the opening frame. The goal completed Carcone’s two-point night after he was credited for an assist on the Roadrunners first goal of the night alongside Maccelli. The first period of Friday’s matchup also marked Tucson’s third three-goal frame on their current road trip, with each coming in a different period.  

3) Tucson has a chance to sweep the Colorado Eagles for the first time ever in Colorado Saturday night after Friday’s 3-1 win to start the weekend. The Roadrunners had the opportunity to earn back-to-back wins at the Budweiser Events Center on December 4 after a 4-1 victory on December 3, but the Eagles came back out the next night hungry for a win, defeating Tucson 4-0 with 47 shots on goal. Despite the series split, the Roadrunners were either leading or tied with the Eagles for the first 106:46 of the weekend in December. Tucson was outshot by Colorado in each period of their 4-1 win on December 3, but their most recent victory saw the teams even in shots for each period. A sweep would even up the season series between the Roadrunners and Eagles after Colorado snuck out two wins at the Tucson Arena in January, one of which came in a shootout.

What’s The Word?

“I think good things happen when we work well together. We’ve been working hard and trying to have some fun too.”

Roadrunners forward Travis Barron on playing alongside high-scoring forwards Mike Carcone and Matias Maccelli. The top-line trio combined for six points in Friday’s series opener, with Barron scoring the first goal of the contest against his former team.

Number to Know
41 – The number of consecutive saves made by goaltender David Tendeck to begin his AHL career. The 22-year-old earned his first American Hockey League win in Friday’s series opener against Colorado, stopping the first 24 shots faced to hold the Eagles scoreless for the first 55:43 of regulation. Tendeck’s performance drew comparions to the series opener of Tucson’s last trip to Colorado, when Ivan Prosvetov kept the Eagles scoreless for the opening 56:26 of a 4-1 win on Friday, December 3.

We’re Doing It Live
Today’s game will be broadcast on AHLtv, as well as on the radio on Fox Sports 1450AM, or on the iHeartRadio app. Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. MST with Roadrunners Warm-Up, as Jimmy Peebles gets you ready for the game before “Voice of the Roadrunners” Adrian Denny has the call at 7:05 p.m. live from the Budweiser Events Center.