Game #29: Tucson Roadrunners (3) vs San Diego Gulls (2)

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Roadrunners Recap: 12/30/2023

Game #28: Tucson Roadrunners vs San Diego Gulls

SOG: TUC (31) – SD (16)

PP: TUC (2/4) – SD (1/8)

SAN DIEGO SCORING: Judd Caufield (6), Josh Lopina (8)

TUCSON SCORING:  Dylan Guenther (10), Aku Raty (8), John Leonard (7)

ROADRUNNERS DEFEAT SAN DIEGO GULLS 3-2 IN FIFTH STRAIGHT WIN IN FRONT OF SEASON HIGH 6,087 FANS

TUCSON, AZ – If every one of the 6,087 Roadrunners fans in attendance counted the fingers on one of their hands it would equal the number of Tucson wins in a row as the Roadrunners defeated San Diego 3-2 to improve to 19-8-1-1 on the year Saturday night at Tucson Arena.

YA GOTTA SEE IT

Dylan Guenther gets Tucson on the board in Saturday night’s 3-2 victory over the San Diego Gulls. Guenther’s power-play goal was his 10th of the season. Guenther leads all Roadrunners with 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists) in 28 games played this year.

DON’T OVERLOOK IT

SHOOT FROM THE HIP – After San Diego took a 2-0 lead in the first period of Saturday night’s contest, the Gulls were outshooting the Roadrunner 8-1. From that point on, the Roadrunners flipped the script and outshot the Gulls 30-8. In that span the Roadrunners were also 5-5 on the penalty-kill and scored three unanswered goals.

LOOK AT THIS

(Photo Credits: Kate Dibildox, Tucson Roadrunners)

Tucson Forwards John Leonard and Austin Poganski celebrate Leonard’s game-winning goal in the third period. Leonard now has three goals in his last three games.  

THEY SAID IT

It starts with goaltending, Matty (Villalta) and (Dylan) Wellsy have both been unbelievable for us. Everyone is always looking for different ways to improve and two wins on the weekend is always a good thing

Forward John Leonard after Tucson’s 3-2 win on Saturday night and fifth straight victory.

THE RUNDOWN

San Diego came out firing on Saturday night at the Tucson Arena. They scored twice in the period and had the 6,000+ Roadrunner fans quiet for the first twenty minutes. Roadrunners goalie Dylan Wells had some great saves on the two San Diego power-plays Tucson faced in the period and kept Tucson in it early.

The second period would be a different story for the good guys in white as Tucson would add two goals of their own. The first would come on a power-play at the 14:02 mark. Dylan Guenther would create a breakaway chance for himself and bury the shot to bring Tucson within one. Justin Kirkland and Max Szuber picked up assists on the play. The two sides would battle it out in a 2-1 game until the Roadrunners would tie things up at the 19:34 mark. Aku Raty would light the lamp and the Tucson faithful would erupt. Dylan Guenther and Cam Crotty assisted Raty. Guenther picked up his team-leading 18th assist and added to his points total of 28 (10 goals, 18 assisted) in 28 games played.

The final 20 minutes would be controlled by Tucson as they outshot San Diego 8-4 and had the puck in San Diego’s zone for most of the period. An interference minor on San Diego would put the Roadrunners on the power-play with the chance to take their first lead of the night. They did just that as John Leonard would dive after a rebound and put it in the back of the net. Leonard’s game-winning goal was assisted by Milos Kelemen and Aku Raty. Leonard has three goals in his last three games. Tucson would hang on to the one-goal lead for the remainder of the period and secure the fifth-straight win for the team.