Game #58: Tucson Roadrunners (4) vs Texas Stars (1)
Game #58: Tucson Roadrunners vs Texas Stars
SOG: TUC (27) – TEX (26)
PP: TUC (0/3) – TEX (0/2)
TEXAS SCORING: Mavrik Bourque (22)
Nathan Smith, that goal was disgusting. Please, not at the table. Nathan Smith recorded his ninth goal of the season in the third period of Saturday night’s contest. Smith, in his second year with the Roadrunners, has 54 points (21 goals, 33 assists) in 111 games played for Tucson; including two points in Saturday night’s victory.
DON’T OVERLOOK IT
THAT’S A LOT OF PEOPLE – Saturday night was the largest crowd in 2024 for the Tucson Roadrunners and the largest First Responders Night crowd in Roadrunners history. There were 5,967 fans at the Tucson Arena to watch the Tucson Roadrunners defeat the Texas Stars 4-1 following the First Responders Game in the afternoon. It marks the third time this season the attendance has surpassed 5,000.
LOOK AT THIS
Defenseman Montana Onyebuchi celebrates his second period game-winning goal on Saturday night as the Roadrunners beat the Texas Stars 4-1. Onyebuchi, and 5,967 fans, showed their excitement as the Roadrunners would take the 2-1 lead on the play and never look back. Montana Onyebuchi, in his first year with the Roadrunners, has recorded a point in back-to-back games, and has eight points on the season.
THEY SAID IT
“I think the whole team was playing really well tonight, we scored early, and it was easy to get it going after that. We need to continue to play as a team and stay confident. We have four lines of hard-working players,”
Forward Aku Raty following Tucson’s 4-1 win over Texas on Saturday night.
THE RUNDOWN
The Arizona Coyotes won, the Tucson Roadrunners won, and the Tucson Fire Department defeated the Tucson Police Department 3-1 on First Responders Night completing the perfect day for hockey in Arizona.
It was the Tucson Roadrunners who started the scoring first, breaking the 0-0 tie with a goal from Forward Milos Kelemen. Kelemen scored his 14th goal of the season at the 13:55 mark as was assisted by Aku Raty and Nathan Smith. Texas would answer later in the frame and the two sides would be tied at the end of the first frame.
The second frame would feature a game-winning goal from Montana Onyebuchi of the Roadrunners. The defensemen, in his first year with the team, scored the game-winner at the 17:02 mark of the period. Austin Poganski and Patrik Koch assisted Onyebuchi on the goal. It was the only goal scored for either team in the frame. Tucson outshot Texas 9-7 in the period. Tucson held Texas to seven shots in the first and seven shots in the second. Matthew Villalta made all seven saves in the second, six of seven in the first, and all 12 in the third.
In that final frame, it was Nathan Smith scoring the first insurance goal at the 6:42 mark of the third. Smith’s goal, which made the game 3-1, was assisted by Milos Kelemen and Aku Raty. Raty picked up his second assist of the night, Smith and Kelemen picked up their second point of the night, each with a goal and an assist. In the final two minutes of play, Texas would pull their goalie and give up and empty-net goal to Justin Kirkland. Kirkland was assisted by Josh Doan and the goal would give Tucson the 4-1 win.
