Roadrunners Storm Back With Five-Goal Third Period to Beat Ontario 5-4

October 30, 2026

Roadrunners Recap: 10/30/2026

Game #10: Tucson Roadrunners (5) at Ontario Reign (4)

SOG: TUC (30) – ONT (37)
PP: TUC (0/3) – ONT (2/5)

TUCSON SCORING: Austin Poganski (3), Cameron Hebig (6, 7), Brandon Tanev (2), Tomas Lavoie (2)
ONTARIO SCORING: Aatu Jämsen (3), Jack Millar (1), Kaleb Lawrence (1), Koehn Ziemmer (4)

ONTARIO, CA – The Tucson Roadrunners (6-2-2-0) had yet to overcome a multi-goal deficit or win a game after trailing through two periods this season. That changed Friday night, as the Roadrunners erupted for five third-period goals to erase a 2-0 deficit and defeat the Ontario Reign (5-5-0-0) by a score of 5-4 at Toyota Arena.

After Aatu Jämsen opened the scoring in the first period and Jack Millar doubled Ontario’s lead in the second, Tucson outscored the Reign 5-2 in the final frame to extend its winning streak to three games and point streak to eight games.

Cameron Hebig led the way with two goals and three points, while captain Austin Poganski scored for the third consecutive game. Brandon Tanev and rookie Tomas Lavoie also each scored shorthanded goals.

The Roadrunners opened the third period with consecutive goals from Poganski and Hebig just 2:21 apart to even the score at 2-2. The pair of goals set off a back-and-forth final 12 minutes that featured five combined goals.

Ontario’s Kaleb Lawrence regained the lead for the Reign at 9:23, but Tanev answered with a shorthanded breakaway goal to tie the game for a second time at 10:30. Tucson never trailed again, as Hebig scored his second of the night at 13:51 to put the Roadrunners ahead 4-3. Lavoie added a shorthanded empty-net goal at 18:37 to extend the lead to 5-3. Koehn Ziemmer scored with 18 seconds remaining to pull Ontario within one, but it wasn’t enough as Tucson held on for the victory.

Roadrunners goaltender Jaxson Stauber made 33 saves to earn his second consecutive win and improve his record to 3-1-1 on the season.

With the victory, Tucson leapfrogged the Colorado Eagles to take sole possession of second place in the Pacific Division with 14 points, one point behind the Abbotsford Canucks.

HIGHLIGHTS

TEAM NOTES

– Friday’s victory marked Tucson’s first comeback win after trailing through two periods this season.
– Friday’s victory improved the Roadrunners’ record to 3-0-1-0 through the first four games of their five-game road trip.
– Tucson’s five-goal third period marked its most productive single frame of the season and the second-most in franchise history, one shy of the six-goal first period the Roadrunners recorded on Dec. 17, 2022, at San Diego in a 9-4 victory.
– Brandon Tanev and Tomas Lavoie became the third and fourth Roadrunners to score a shorthanded goal this season, joining Ben McCartney, who scored Wednesday at Coachella Valley, and Yegor Borikov, who scored Oct. 10 at San Jose. The Roadrunners have tallied three short-handed goals over their last two games.
– Friday’s victory snapped a four-game losing streak at Toyota Arena dating back to Oct. 12, 2025.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

– Austin Poganski’s third-period goal extended his scoring streak to three games, tying Vadim Moroz for the team-season high. The Roadrunners captain has five points (3g, 2a) during that span and seven points (3g, 4a) over his last six games dating back to Oct. 16 vs. San Diego.
– Cameron Hebig’s three-point night (2g, 1a) established a new season high for points in a game and extended his point streak to a season-best four games. He has eight points (5g, 3a) during that span dating back to Oct. 23 at Henderson. Friday also marked his second multi-goal game of the season, with both coming in his last three games. Hebig has also scored in three of his last four games and ranks seventh in the AHL in goals with seven.
– Brandon Tanev and Tomas Lavoie’s third-period shorthanded goals marked the first shorthanded goals of the season for both players and their second goals overall. It also marked the first time Tucson has scored multiple shorthanded goals in a game this season.
– Jaxson’ Stauber’s 33-save performance marked his second-highest save total in a game this season, trailing only his 35-save effort in Tucson’s 4-1 victory at San Jose on Oct. 10.
– Gregor Biber recorded his third assist of the season, while Julian Lutz tallied his second, on Cameron Hebig’s third-period goal.

*Jaxson Stauber turned aside 33 shots to backstop the Roadrunners to a comeback victory Friday night. (Photo: Ontario Reign)*

THE RUNDOWN

FIRST PERIOD
Ontario controlled the game early, outshooting Tucson 10-0 through the first eight minutes. The Reign’s best chance came at the five-minute mark when Kenny Connors fired a one-timer from the right circle toward the open side of the net. Fortunately, rookie Tij Iginla was able to get his stick on the puck and deflect it wide to keep the game scoreless.

Goaltender Jaxson Stauber kept the Roadrunners in the game early, and the offense responded by weathering the storm and recording six consecutive shots on goal over the next seven minutes. However, Ontario limited Tucson’s opportunities to mostly perimeter chances and didn’t allow any high-danger looks.

The Roadrunners’ momentum stalled when Zac Jones’ penalty gave the Reign their first power-play opportunity of the game with four minutes remaining. Ontario made them pay. Just over halfway through the man advantage, Stauber kicked aside Connors’ point shot, but Aatu Jämsen pounced on the rebound and buried it into the open net to give the Reign a 1-0 lead at 17:07.

Needing a spark after being outplayed for much of the opening frame, Tucson’s Montana Onyebuchi dropped the gloves with Ontario’s Jacob Doty with a minute remaining. Doty earned the decision in the latest tilt between the two familiar AHL heavyweights.

SECOND PERIOD
After neither side generated a dangerous chance early in the frame, Tucson created the first quality opportunity when Yegor Borikov dished a no-look pass to Vadim Moroz in the low slot. However, Ontario netminder Erik Portillo corralled Moroz’s one-timer to keep Tucson off the board just over six minutes into the period.

The opportunity provided a spark, and Brandon Tanev drew a slashing penalty on Ontario’s Scott Perunovich on the following shift to give Tucson its second power-play opportunity of the night. However, the Roadrunners came up empty once again.

After Perunovich exited the penalty box, he nearly doubled Ontario’s lead at the 10-minute mark during the Reign’s second power play of the night, but his shot from the high slot rang off the post.

The Roadrunners earned another power-play opportunity less than a minute after Cole Guttman’s tripping penalty, but couldn’t convert on the man advantage for the third time of the night.

Ontario made Tucson pay for the missed opportunity late in the frame, as Jack Millar rifled a slap shot from the point past Stauber glove side to extend the Reign’s lead to 2-0 with 2:50 remaining.

Ontario nearly made it a three-goal game with 14 seconds left when Kirill Kirsanov got off a point-blank one-timer, but Stauber made his biggest save of the night to keep Tucson within two heading into the intermission. The Reign’s late pressure also forced Gabe Smith to take a holding penalty, which carried over into the opening 1:45 of the third period.

THIRD PERIOD
Tucson erased a two-goal deficit with a pair of goals in a 2:21 span to open the third period.

The Roadrunners cut the deficit in half when Austin Poganski scored off the rush at 5:38 to make it 2-1. Cameron Hebig carried the puck into the Ontario zone and sent a pass across the slot to Poganski, who beat Portillo high with a nifty backhander.

On his next shift, Hebig intercepted a failed Ontario breakout pass and raced in alone on a breakaway. Hebig deked to his backhand and slid the puck under Portillo’s pad to tie the game 2-2 at 7:59.

Despite having all the momentum, the Roadrunners surrendered the lead less than 90 seconds later when Kaleb Lawrence scored off an offensive-zone faceoff to put Ontario back in front 3-2 at 9:23.

This time, Tucson delivered a quick response of its own when Brandon Tanev scored a shorthanded breakaway goal just over a minute later to knot the game at 3-3 at 10:30. The veteran deked to his backhand and lifted the puck over Portillo’s shoulder and into the back of the net.

Ontario pulled Portillo with two minutes remaining, and with the extra attacker, Koehn Ziemmer nearly tied the game after driving hard to the net and firing a point-blank shot from just above the crease. However, Stauber robbed him with 1:45 remaining to preserve Tucson’s lead.

The ensuing pressure led to McCartney high-sticking Aatu Jämsen, giving the Reign a two-man advantage with Portillo still on the bench. However, Tomas Lavoie scored a shorthanded empty-net goal just 15 seconds later to put the Roadrunners ahead 5-3 and give Tucson its first two-goal lead of the night.

The insurance goal proved important, as Connors scored his first of the night on his 10th shot of the evening during the power play to cut Ontario’s deficit to 5-4 with 18 seconds remaining. However, it was too little, too late as the Roadrunners held on for the victory.

UP NEXT

The Roadrunners close out their road trip Saturday against the Reign at Toyota Arena, with a special early Halloween puck drop set for 3 p.m. MST. Fans can watch the game live on AHLtv on FloHockey.