Game #71: Tucson Roadrunners vs. San Jose Barracuda

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Game #71: Tucson Roadrunners (42-23-3-2) vs. San Jose Barracuda (23-33-10-4)

Time: Friday, April 19, 7:00 p.m. MST, Tucson Convention Center, Tucson, Arizona

**LISTEN LIVE** HERE

**WATCH LIVE** HERE

Tucson Roadrunners Current Roster: CLICK HERE

Referees: #51 Bobby Jo Love, #27 Jackson Kozari

Linespersons: #74 Eric Anderson, #48 Jake Herzog

The Roadrunners return home for the final two games of the season with a two-game series against the San Jose Barracuda and will be wearing their El Lazo de Tucson uniforms for the third and final time this season. Tucson is second in the AHL’s Pacific Division after defeating the Coachella Valley Firebirds Wednesday and maintaining the tie breaker over the Ontario Reign. The Roadrunners are carrying a season-high and current AHL best five-game winning streak for the second time this season and look to make it six-straight tonight; which would set the new season-high.

Three things:

  1. Forward Hunter Drew nabbed two goals in Tucson’s 3-2 victory over the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Wednesday. In his last seven games, Drew has seven points (5 goals, 2 assists) and leads the team for goals in April with four. Drew became the 10th Roadrunner this season to score 10 goals or more and has 16 total points (10 goals, 6 assists) in 35 games played. In addition, Drew has a plus/minus of +10; which is second on the team behind Max Szuber’s +11.
  2. In the first four games between these two teams, the Roadrunners and Barracuda combined for 42 goals; with Tucson outscoring San Jose 24-18; including an 8-6 Roadrunners victory on Dec 20; which is the highest goal count between Tucson and an opponent this season at 14. However, the last two games in this season series both coming at Tech CU on March 23, and March 24, only resulted in eight goals. In the last five games, the Roadrunners are averaging 3.20 goals-per-game; with having allowed just nine goals which averages to 1.80 goals-against-per-game. In addition, Tucson’s penalty-kill has been perfect in the last six games at 20-for-20; which is the most penalties killed in a row since the team killed 21-straight from January 6 to January 17.
  3. During the five-game winning streak, the Roadrunners have been in four one-goal games; extending their record to 23-5-3-2 in one-goal contests. The 23 wins are tied for the second best in the AHL with the Milwaukee Admirals and just one behind the Hershey Bears’ best at 24. Overall, the Roadrunners have the third-best winning percentage in one-goal games at .772; while Milwaukee (23-6-1-1) is second at .774 and Hershey (24-2-0-5) is first at .854.

What’s the word?

“This is when you want to be gearing up for playoffs and playing great hockey; we’ve had a good five-game stretch here so we’re looking to carry that into playoffs and finish as high as we can.”

Tucson forward Cameron Hebig on Tucson’s five-game winning streak and staying in second place to finish the season.

Number to Know:

43 – Wednesday’s victory marked win number 42 for the team; which tied for the most in a season with the 2017-18 team. With a win tonight, the Roadrunners will hit the most wins in a regular season all time at 43.

Latest Transactions:

  • On Friday, April 19, the Arizona Coyotes (NHL) reassigned Josh Doan, Dylan Guenther, Michael Kesselring, Aku Raty and Vlad Kolyachonok to the Tucson Roadrunners (AHL).

ON THE AIR:

Tonight’s game will be broadcasted live on the radio on FOX Sports 1450AM and the iHeartRadio app. Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. with Roadrunners Warm-Up hosted by Jonathon Schaffer, following with “The Voice of The Roadrunners” Adrian Denny as he brings all the action from Tucson Arena. The game can also be seen on AHLtv.