Game #54 – Tucson Roadrunners at Chicago Wolves

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2:00 p.m. MST, Allstate Arena, Chicago, Illinois

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Referees: Reid Anderson (49) Alex Lepkowski (74)

Linespersons: Dan Kovachik (72) Jonathan Sladek (53)

The Tucson Roadrunners and Chicago Wolves will meet Sunday afternoon at the Allstate Arena to wrap up the two-game weekend set and overall four-game season series, with the Roadrunners currently 3-0 on the year against the defending Calder Cup Champions. Tucson enters the series finale with the AHL affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes on a three-game winning streak after taking Saturday night’s series opener by a score of 6-2. The Roadrunners have not trailed against the Wolves through three meetings this season and have won each matchup by at least three goals. Following Sunday’s afternoon contest, the Roadrunners will return home for a week of practice leading into a weekend series against the San Diego Gulls Friday, March 3 and Saturday, March 4 at the Tucson Arena.

Three Things
1) The Roadrunners scored each of the first five goals in Saturday’s 6-2 victory, beginning with multiple goals in the first two periods. After a two-goal opening frame and three-goal second period in the series opener from Chicago, Tucson has notched four multi-goal periods in three games with the Wolves this year. The Roadrunners have found the back of the net in nine-straight periods of play, which represents their longest streak of the season. On the other end, goaltender Ivan Prosvetov stopped 28 of 30 shots faced on Saturday to earn his second win of the season over Chicago, as he and fellow backstop Tyler Parks have combined for an overall save percentage of .950 (76-for-80) with just four goals allowed against the Wolves.

2) Four different Tucson skaters recorded multiple points on Saturday, led by forward J.S. Dea who tallied a career-high with four assists. With the performance, Dea extended his active scoring streak to three games and became the second Roadrunners player with a four-point outing on the season along with Mike Carcone who has three. His next goal will make him the ninth player in Tucson franchise history to reach 20 goals in a season; with his 43 total points (19g 24a) trailing only the AHL’s leading scorer Mike Carcone for the team lead. Also notching multiple points were forwards Ryan McGregor (2g), Cameron Hebig (1g 1a) and Laurent Dauphin (3a), with McGregor joining Hebig as the only Roadrunners with a two-goal game against Chicago this year.

3) Forward Mike Carcone tallied his second-straight game with a power-play goal on Saturday, as he lit the lamp 4:25 into the second period for his league-leading 13th goal while on the man-advantage. The score tied Carcone with the Roadrunners team record for power-play goals in a season, which was originally set by forward Brayden Burke in the 2019-2020 campaign. The 26-year-old also maintained his league leads in both power-play points (31) and total points (65) with the goal. He is just two points away from matching the single-season scoring record in Tucson franchise history of 67. The Roadrunners have scored on the power-play in three-straight outings entering Sunday, which is one game away from matching their season high that was set in December.

What’s The Word?

“For an early road game, it’s just about doing the same thing [as Saturday] and doing it for 60 minutes.”

Roadrunners defenseman Will Reilly on the team shifting focus to Sunday’s afternoon matchup with Chicago after winning the series opener 6-2 Saturday night.

Number to Know
25 – The number of Roadrunners players to score a goal this season after defenseman Will Reilly lit the lamp in Saturday’s series opener against the Wolves. Reilly put Tucson on the board 8:09 into the contest with his first goal of the season, becoming the eighth blue-liner and 25th player overall to score for the Roadrunners. Every skater on Tucson’s active roster has found the back of the net at least once this year, with six players having netted at least ten goals. In all, five different Roadrunners scored a goal on Saturday, including forward Mike Carcone with his 25th of the year to break his own team record of 24 from last season.

We’re Doing It Live
Today’s game will broadcast live on AHLtv, as well as on the radio on FOX Sports 1450AM and the iHeartRadio app. Coverage begins at 1:45 p.m. with Roadrunners Warm-Up hosted by Jimmy Peebles, before Adrian Denny has all the action from the Allstate Arena.