Game #7: Tucson Roadrunners (3) vs Chicago Wolves (2)

Roadrunners Recap: 11/3/2023

Game #7: Tucson Roadrunners vs Chicago Wolves

SOG: TUC (33) – CHI (33)

PP: TUC (0/2) – CHI (1/4)

CHICAGO SCORING: Rocco Grimaldi (4), Hudson Elynuik (1)

TUCSON SCORING:  Nathan Smith (1), Vlad Kolyachonok (1), Josh Doan (3)

ROADRUNNERS DROP FRIGHT NIGHT CONTEST 5-1 TO THE BAKERSFIELD CONDORS FROM THE TUCSON ARENA.

Tucson, Arizona – The Tucson Roadrunners put the sauce on top of the cheese deep dish pizza to bed as they defeated the Chicago Wolves 3-2 at the Tucson Arena on Friday night.

YA GOTTA SEE IT

Tucson Roadrunners Forward Josh Doan would rip a one-timer and light the lamp giving the Roadrunners a 3-1 lead on his team leading third goal of the year. Tucson would hold on 3-2 in Friday nights contest.

DON’T OVERLOOK IT

LET’S START FAST, FINISH STRONG – The Tucson Roadrunners are 4-0 when scoring the first goal in the game. The Roadrunners also have not trailed in any game that they have won. In addition, the Roadrunners are 3-1 when going into the third period tied. All that to say, start fast and finish strong!

LOOK AT THIS

Roadrunners Forward Nathan Smith awaits the puck moments before scoring a first period goal in Friday night’s 3-2 victory over the Chicago Wolves. Smith had assisted on the three previous Roadrunners goals from last weekend.

THEY SAID IT

It was a team win tonight; everyone did their job very well. Our forwards found the soft areas and scored some nice goals, and the PK (penalty-kill) was great

Goalie Matthew Villalta after Friday night’s 3-2 victory

THE RUNDOWN

The first period of Friday night’s contest featured a Nathan Smith goal to start the party for Tucson. Smith was assisted by Ben McCartney and Vlad Kolyachonok on the play. Nathan Smith factored on Tucson’s fourth-straight goal, this time being the goal scorer. Tucson would then successfully kill off two Chicago power-plays that they would face in the period and head into the locker room with the 1-0 lead.

The second period was the Matthew Villalta show. After a Chicago goal 4:24 into the period, Villalta would make all 12 saves that he would face in the period. Villalta, who started his franchise record seventh-straight game, would end the night stopping 27/29 shots and getting his fourth victory of the young season. Tucson and Chicago both had 13 shots in the period, but the Roadrunners did not find the back of the net.

Vlad Kolyachonok came out for period three and made his presence felt immediately. He would score an unassisted goal 2:12 in and give Tucson the 2-1 lead. Kolyachonok’s goal would be followed six minutes later by a Josh Doan one-timer to light the lamp. Doan was assisted by Ben McCartney and Jan Jenik on the play. The goal would be the eventual game-winner. Chicago didn’t go down without a fight as they would answer the 3-1 deficit with a power-play goal of their own just past the halfway point of period three. With the 3-2 game late into the third, Chicago would pull their goalie and try to tie things up with a 6-on-5 extra-attacker situation. The Tucson defense and phenomenal goalie play from Villalta would prevail and the Roadrunners would hold on and secure two points and another tally in the win column.