Game #28: Tucson Roadrunners (3) vs Coachella Valley Firebirds (1)

Roadrunners Recap: 12/29/2023

Game #28: Tucson Roadrunners vs Coachella Valley Firebirds

SOG: TUC (27) – CV (37)

PP: TUC (1/5) – CV (0/3)

COACHELLA VALLEY SCORING: Connor Carrick (4)

TUCSON SCORING:  Dylan Guenther (9), Milos Kelemen (4), John Leonard (6)

ROADRUNNERS DEFEAT COACHELLA VALLEY FIREBIRDS 3-1 IN FOURTH STRAIGHT WIN

TUCSON, AZ – Before fans had a chance to get their Sonoran hot dogs and settle into their seats the Roadrunners had a 3-goal lead and defeated the Coachella Valley Firebirds 3-1 to improve to 18-8-1-1 on the year and pickup their fourth consecutive win Friday night at Tucson Arena.

YA GOTTA SEE IT

It’s a tough day for opponents when Matthew Villalta is in net for the Roadrunners. Friday night at the Tucson Arena, Villalta stood on his head stopping 36 of 37 shots against and held Coachella Valley scoreless through the final two frames. Villalta picked up his AHL leading 15th win.

DON’T OVERLOOK IT

THE MATH WOULD SUGGEST TUCSON’S HOT – Friday night, Dylan Guenther scored his team-leading 4th first goal to give the Roadrunners a 1-0 lead. Tucson is 15-0-0-1 when scoring the first goal in a game and Friday night marked the fourth time in 10 games that the Roadrunners have scored at least three goals in the first period.

LOOK AT THIS

Tucson Forwards Justin Kirkland and John Leonard celebrate a first period goal from Leonard that gave Tucson a 3-0 lead. It was Leonard’s sixth goal of the year and the second assist of the night for Kirkland who now has 11 assists and 12 points this season in ten games.

THEY SAID IT

As the game went on, we weathered their storm and it was a full team effort. We have a great group of guys, and everybody cares about each other personally and professionally. Everybody has bought in to our system.

Captain Steven Kampfer after Tucson’s 3-1 win and his return to from injury.

THE RUNDOWN

It didn’t take long for the Tucson Roadrunners to jump out to a lead on Friday night scoring a power-play goal off the stick of Dylan Guenther at the 3:58 mark in the first period. Justin Kirkland and Victor Soderstrom picked up assists on the play and Tucson wouldn’t look back. 32 seconds later Milos Kelemen would score and give Tucson a 2-0 lead. Kelemen was assisted by Aku Raty and Cam Crotty. The following face-off would be won by Tucson and taken into the Coachella Valley zone and scored by John Leonard just 14 seconds after Kelemen’s goal. Leonard was assisted by Justin Kirkland and Josh Doan. Tucson had a 3-0 lead just 4:44 into the game. Coachella Valley would answer with a goal at the 6:32 mark and the frame would end in a 3-1 score.

For the first time this season, neither team would score in the final two frames. What was a 3-1 game at the end of the first twenty would be a 3-1 game at the end of sixty. Over the final two frames, Tucson netminder Matthew Villalta would stop all 25 shots he faced, and the Roadrunners would kill-off three penalties over that span. Villalta would end the night stopping 36 of 37 shots on goal. The 4,863 fans in attendance would not be disappointed by the performance of Villalta and the entire Roadrunners team who won their fourth consecutive game and improved to 15-5-1-1 since November 1^st.

Saturday will feature a Tucson doubleheader; The Arizona Bowl at 2:30pm followed by Star Wars Night at the Tucson Arena as the Roadrunners square off against the San Diego Gulls.