Game Recap: Tucson (2) at Reign (5)

Roadrunners Recap: 2/4/23 

Game #46: Tucson Roadrunners (2) at Ontario Reign (5) 

SOG: TUC (38) – ONT (29) 

PP: TUC (0/5) – ONT (1/2) 

TUCSON SCORING: Cam Dineen (4), J.S. Dea (19) 

ONTARIO SCORING: Tyler Madden (11, 12 EN), Samuel Fagemo (13), Alex Turcotte (6 PP), T.J. Tynan (7 EN) 

ROADRUNNERS AND REIGN SPLIT TWO-GAME SERIES IN FINAL WEEKEND BEFORE AHL ALL-STAR BREAK 

Ontario, California – The Tucson Roadrunners trailed by one goal late in the third period, but fell to the Ontario Reign by a score of 5-2 Saturday night after a pair of late empty-net goals by Ontario to close out the weekend series. Tucson outshot the Reign 30 to 16 over the final two periods of play and were never down by more than two goals before Ontario’s empty-net tallies secured the series split. Cam Dineen and J.S. Dea lit the lamp for Tucson, while the AHL’s leading scorer Mike Carcone became the third player leaguewide to reach 40 assists on the year. Saturday marked the Roadrunners final contest before the AHL All-Star Break, with their next game scheduled for Friday, February 10 in Abbotsford against the Canucks. 

YA GOTTA SEE IT 

Roadrunners defenseman Cam Dineen found the back of the net with 8:45 remaining in Saturday’s first period from Ontario to even the score at 1-1. The goal was Dineen’s fourth time lighting the lamp this season for the 24-year-old’s career-high 33rd overall point on the year. Dineen has notched 10 points (2g 8a) in his last 11 outings for Roadrunners, which includes four points (2g 2a) over the first three games of the Tucson’s current road trip. 

DON’T OVERLOOK IT 

FINISHING STRONG – After falling behind to the Ontario Reign in the first period of Saturday’s series finale from the Toyota Arena, the Roadrunners outshot Ontario 30 to 16 over the final 40 minutes of play and kept the Reign scoreless before a pair of empty-net goals with 1:07 left in regulation. After fending off the remainder of an Ontario power-play to start the second period, Tucson avoided going shorthanded for the remainder of the contest while drawing each of the last four trips to the man-advantage. 

PHOTO OF THE GAME 

Following Saturday’s series finale with the Ontario Reign, Roadrunners forward Mike Carcone will head to Laval, QC to represent Tucson at the 2023 AHL All-Star Classic for the first time in his career. Carcone enters the break atop the American Hockey League in total scoring with 22 goals and 40 assists for 62 total points across 39 outings in his third season as a Roadrunner. With 26 games remaining on Tucson’s schedule, the 26-year-old is just two goals away from matching the single-season franchise record, which he set last season with 24 goals in 48 games played. 

THEY SAID IT 

“It was a hard-fought game. I have to give credit to their goalie [Cal Petersen], he played good. We didn’t give them the game, we tried to fight back, but we just came up short.” 

Roadrunners forward Laurent Dauphin on Saturday’s series finale with the Ontario Reign.

THE RUNDOWN 

The Reign took a 1-0 lead 6:04 into the opening frame on Saturday, ending a streak of six-straight games where the Roadrunners scored first. Tucson responded 5:08 later with defenseman Cam Dineen’s fourth goal and 33rd point overall on the season, assisted by forwards Mike Carcone and Cam Hebig to even the score at 1-1. With the assist, Carcone became the third player in the AHL to reach 40 assists on the year while extending his league lead to in total scoring to 62 points in 39 outings. Ontario answered back with 5:23 left in the period to retake the lead at 2-1, before adding another goal with 3:05 remaining for a 3-1 game after the opening frame. The third score of the period by the Reign represented the first power-play goal of the weekend after Tucson went a perfect four-for-four on the penalty-kill in Friday’s series opener. The middle 20 minutes of Saturday’s contest marked just the second scoreless period between the Roadrunners and Reign on the season series, with Friday’s opening frame representing the first through six meetings on the year. Tucson outshot Ontario ten to eight in the second period while avoiding any trips to the penalty-kill, as they still trailed the Reign by a pair entering the third period. The Roadrunners snapped a combined scoreless streak of over 39 minutes with 3:57 still to play in regulation, as forward J.S. Dea netted his 19th goal of the season to bring Tucson to within one of Ontario at 3-2. Trailing by a goal, the Roadrunners pulled netminder Tyler Parks with 1:25 on the clock, but a pair of empty-net strikes by the Reign gave them a 5-2 win over Tucson and a series split in the weekend series from Ontario. 

(Photo Credits: Ontario Reign)