Game #61: Tucson Roadrunners vs. San Jose Barracuda

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Game #61: Tucson Roadrunners (35-20-3-2) vs. San Jose Barracuda (19-29-9-2)

Time: Saturday, March 23, 2:00 p.m. MST, Tech Cu Arena, San Jose, California

**LISTEN LIVE** HERE

**WATCH LIVE** HERE

Tucson Roadrunners Current Roster: CLICK HERE

Referees: #24 Jack Young, #59 Kyle Bauman

Linespersons: #57 Matthieu Audet, #10 Jake Rennert

The Tucson Roadrunners move up North to Silicon Valley to take on the San Jose Barracuda and begin a two-game series. Tucson is 6-2-1-1 in the first 10 games of March having just lost two games in regulation. With the Sharks affiliate having a losing record, the Roadrunners look to continue their dominance against sub .500 record teams currently at a 17-4-1-1 record. In addition, Saturday’s game starts four straight games against the last two teams in the Pacific Division with the San Diego Gulls coming to Tucson on March 29 and March 30.

Three things:

  1. In four games this season, Tucson and San Jose have combined for 42 goals with the Roadrunners outscoring the Barracuda 24-18. This includes the highest combined goal total between the Roadrunners and an opponent this season with 13 on December 20. Tucson won that match 8-6; which is also the most goals Tucson has scored in a game this season. Travis Barron (3 goals), Aku Raty (3 goals, 1 assist), and Hunter Drew (2 goals, 1 assist) all have had three-point or better games against the Barracuda this season including Tucson’s two hattricks this season; set by Travis Barron on December 2 and Aku Raty on December 20. Raty is the highest scorer on the team versus San Jose with eight points (3 goals, 5 assists) in four games.
  2. Though he suffered the loss in Tucson’s 4-1 defeat in Ontario on Wednesday, goaltender Matthew Villalta was still very solid stopping 19 of 21 shots to keep Tucson in the entire game. In his last three starts, Villalta has dominated the net with a 1.01 goals against average, .962 save percentage and one shutout with a 2-1-0-0 record. This is a very similar stretch for Villalta where he had a 1.00 goals against average, .961 save percentage and one shutout with a 4-0-0 record in four starts between January 11 to January 20; which came right after he was announced to the 2024 AHL All-Star Classic.
  3. In four games versus the San Jose Sharks Affiliate, Tucson’s power-play has gone 5-for-15 (33%); including Tucson’s best single game power-play efficiency of the season going 2-for-3 on December 20. This gradually helps a Tucson power-play that is hot in March; having gone 8-for-35 (22%) in the last 10 games with just three of those games where the Roadrunners did not score a power-play goal.

What’s the word?

“They have some strong heavy guys; they like to play physical so every game we’ve played them this year has been a tough one. Every game before playoffs here is important but obviously that’s the most fun part of the season so looking forward to it a lot.”

Tucson defenseman Victor Soderstrom on the high-scoring games versus San Jose and fighting for the playoff seeding with just 12 games left.

Number to Know:

10- The Roadrunners had another segment of 10 games with a winning percentage of .600 or better marking the fifth set of 10 games of doing so. Tucson finished the latest 10 games with a 6-2-1-1 record; which is the best record since the team went 7-3-0-0 in games 21-30 from December 8 to January 3.

Latest Transactions:

  • On Thursday, March 21, John Leonard was reassigned to the Tucson Roadrunners (AHL) but was recalled to the Arizona Coyotes (NHL) the next day on March 22.

ON THE AIR:

Tonight’s game will be broadcast live on the radio on FOX Sports 1450AM and the iHeartRadio app. Coverage begins at 1:45 p.m. with Roadrunners Warm-Up hosted by Jonathon Schaffer, following with “The Voice of The Roadrunners” Adrian Denny as he brings all the action from Tech CU Arena. The game can also be seen on AHLtv.