Game #32: Tucson Roadrunners (4) vs Chicago Wolves (0)
Roadrunners Recap: 1/6/2024
Game #32: Tucson Roadrunners vs Chicago Wolves
SOG: TUC (30) – CHI (19)
PP: TUC (1/6) – CHI (0/7)
CHICAGO SCORING:
TUCSON SCORING: Milos Kelemen (5), Travis Barron (6), John Leonard (8), Victor Soderstrom (8)
Dylan Wells doesn’t play baseball but he still pitched a shutout Friday night at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, IL as the Tucson Roadrunners defeated the Chicago Wolves 4-0. Wells had 19 saves in his first shutout of the season and third shutout in his professional career. Wells is the second goalie (Matthew Villalta) to record a shutout for the Roadrunners this season.
DON’T OVERLOOK IT
IT’S TRENDY, NOT JUST A PHASE – We are not math people here at Tucson Roadrunners HQ but we do like to look at trends from time to time. The Tucson Roadrunners have not gone two-straight games without at least three goals in a game since October. The Roadrunners have not gone two games without at least a two-goal period in the last 15 games (since November 16th). Tucson has held opponents to under 17 shots in three of the last four games. Tucson has also allowed six shots or less in a single period eight times in the last seven games after doing it twice in Chicago on Saturday.
LOOK AT THIS
Tucson Roadrunners players Milos Kelemen, Jan Jenik, Josh Doan, Patrik Koch, and Montana Onyebuchi skate through the handshake line after an early first period goal from Milos Kelemen. The Kelemen goal would silence the 11,000+ Chicago fans in attendance at the Allstate Arena.
THEY SAID IT
Solid game all around, we knew we needed to bounce back and that was a great response from everybody. Second game in a row where the guys have given up less than 20 shots so we’re playing really good hockey. Everybody did their job out there, the boys made it easy on me tonight.
Goalie Dylan Wells after pitching a shutout and helping Tucson to a 4-0 victory Saturday night.
THE RUNDOWN
It didn’t take long for the Roadrunners to jump out to a lead in Saturday night’s contest, scoring just 1:26 into the first period. It was Milos Kelemen, scoring his fifth of the year, to add the first goal to the Tucson side of the scoreboard. Kelemen was assisted by Jan Jenik. The Kelemen goal was the fastest goal to start a game for the Roadrunners so far this season. At the 13:49 mark it would be Travis Barron who received a nifty drop pass from Curtis Douglas to bury the goal. Barron made it 2-0 Tucson and was assisted by both Curtis Douglas and Hunter Drew. Tucson netminder Dylan Wells was fantastic in net stopping the six Chicago shots in the first and helping successfully kill off the AHL’s best, Chicago Wolves power-play twice.
The second period looked nearly identical to the first, featuring a pair of Tucson Roadrunner’s goals and a pair of Roadrunners penalty-kills. The first goal came at the 8:57 mark of the frame. It was John Leonard who would light the lamp for Tucson and give the good guys a 3-0 lead. Leonard redirected the shot off of the stick of Patrik Koch and found the back of the net. Koch and Cameron Hebig assisted the Leonard goal. A Chicago minor late in the frame would send Tucson to a power-play. The 5-on-4 advantage for Tucson would tee up a power-play goal for Victor Soderstrom. Soderstrom was assisted by Josh Doan and Aku Raty. Doan, Tucson’s current leading scorer, picked up his eighth assist of the year. Another solid 20 minutes from goalie Dylan Wells and Tucson would take a 4-0 lead into the final period.
The third period seemed to have Tucson on the penalty-kill the entire frame. Three minor penalties on Tucson in the first 11:04 of the period would showcase the Roadrunners strong penalty-kill units and the excellent play in net of Dylan Wells. Chicago would pull their goalie about halfway through the third power-play opportunity, but the Roadrunners would keep them from scoring. Tucson battled well through the final period as Dylan Wells would finish strong and complete the shutout, his first of the season, third of his professional career, and second of the year for the Roadrunners. Wells would deny all 19 shots he faced, and Tucson would hold on to the 4-0 victory.
A weekend split with Chicago will send Tucson out to Abbotsford for a two-game weekend series with the Canucks on January 12th-13th.
