Game #34: Tucson Roadrunners vs. Abbotsford Canucks

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Game #34: Tucson Roadrunners (21-10-1-1) at Abbotsford Canucks (18-11-2-1)

Time: Saturday, January 13, 8:00 p.m. MST,

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Tucson Roadrunners Current Roster: CLICK HERE

Referees: #40 Morgan MacPhee, #58 Jack Hennigan

Linespersons: #68 Owen Middleton, #28 Brennan Walker

The Tucson Roadrunners close out their five-game road trip with game-two of the weekend series against the Abbotsford Canucks. Tucson has shutout the Canucks in two of their three games against them this season; goaltender Matthew Villalta has both of those shutouts with his 30-save effort in Friday night’s 4-0 win in game one of the series. Friday’s win also marked Tucson’s first franchise victory at the Abbotsford Centre and they now sit five points above the Canucks in the standings with a chance to jump up to seven on Saturday.

Three things:

  1. Jan Jenik and Josh Doan each continued their away-game tear in Friday’s win. Jenik is now at eight points (4 goals, 4 assists) in his last five road games. He also has three multiple-point games in that span with his most recent coming on Friday against Abbotsford with a goal and an assist. Josh Doan extended his road-point streak to eight on Friday with an assist and has eight points in his last eight road games with three goals and five assists. In his last 11 games overall, Doan has seven assists compared to just two in his first 22 games this season. Overall, he’s up to 13 points (6 goals, 7 assists) in his last 15 games.
  2. Roadrunners special teams have been money in their last couple of games. On the power-play, Tucson is 9-for-32 which is 28.1-percent in the last nine games. That percentage is better than the AHL’s top power-play percentage that still belongs to the Chicago Wolves (26.1%). On the penalty-kill, the Roadrunners are 43-for-51 (84%) in their last 12 games including 16-for-19 (84%) on this current road trip. In addition, in their win against Chicago last Saturday and Friday’s win, for the first time this season the Roadrunners have gone back-to-back games with scoring a power-play goal and going perfect on the penalty-kill.
  3. Villalta and fellow goaltender Dylan Wells have been a dynamic duo in the crease as of late. In each of their last four games, they have combined for a 2.26 goals against average and .917 save percentage. This includes Tucson’s third franchise back-to-back shutout (one in playoffs, two in regular season) with this being the first time coming by two different goalies with Villalta and Wells.

What’s the word?

“We pushed the pace; that’s where the goals come from; with being in the right place and putting the team in a good spot.”

Tucson forward Jan Jenik on his and Doan’s recent scoring spree on the road trip.
 

Number to Know:

36 – Hunter Drew has quietly been effective this season when in the lineup. He has five points in his last four games (2 goals, 3 assists) dating back to his three-point night against the San Jose Barracuda on December 2 before landing on the injured list. Now back in the lineup, he is on a two-game assist streak heading into Saturday’s game against Abbotsford. Also, after dropping the gloves on Friday night against Nick Cicek, Drew fought in Tucson’s 15th fight of the year Friday and his first as a Roadrunner. Montana Onyebuchi leads the way with five while Curtis Douglas is right behind with four.

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On The Headset:

Tonight’s game will be broadcasted live on the radio on FOX Sports 1450AM and the iHeartRadio app. Coverage will begin at 7:45 p.m. MST with Roadrunners Warm-up hosted by Jonathon Schaffer, before the “Voice of the Roadrunners” Adrian Denny has all the action from British Columbia. The game will also be televised on AHLtv.