Roadrunners Recap: Eagles (3) at Tucson (6): 12/3/2019
Game #21: Colorado (3) at Tucson (6)
SOG: COL (49) – TUC (32)
PP: COL (1/6) – TUC (0/2)
COL SCORING: Greer (4), Lindholm (1), Condra (7pp)
TUC SCORING: Burke (8), Fasching (6, 7) Dineen (1), Pederson (13), Capobianco (2en)
STARTING DECEMBER RIGHT
Starting off the 12thcalendar month of the year on the right note, the Roadrunners outlasted the Colorado Eagles Tuesday night at Tucson Arena by a score of 6-3 to extend their Pacific Division-leading record to 16-5.
A pair of first period goals from Bradyen Burke and Hudson Fasching proved to be critical as the Roadrunners got off to a nice start in the affair. Burke’s eighth goal of the season was the first that came in even strength fashion, redirecting a Jordan Gross shot from the point, while Fasching was the recipient of a wonderful back door feed from Jon Martin.
In the second period the two sides alternated five goals, allowing Colorado to crawl back into the contest. For Tucson, a seeing-eye shot from the left point by Cam Dineen and an attempted centering feed from Lane Pederson redirected high in the sky, eventually landing up and over Adam Werner kept the Roadrunners ahead by one.
Holding tight to their advantage, relief came 5:09 into the third on Fasching’s second of the night. Making it seven goals in eight games, #24 cashed in this time following a beautiful move by Michael Bunting. For further insurance, an empty net goal from Kyle Capobianco concluded the evening and also featured the first career point for Ivan Prosvetov.
Further on the first-year Russian netminder, Prosvetov was outstanding once again, denying a career-high 46 shot attempts from Colorado in his fifth win in six tries. 46 stops also ranks second all-time by any Roadrunners netminder in a single game.
THEY SAID IT
“I like our resiliency as a group. We found ourselves in a few tough spots over the course of tonight’s game and we found ways to bounce back. We had a good attitude and we stuck together as a group.”
Roadrunners Head Coach Jay Varady on what he liked from his team’s performance tonight.
DON’T OVERLOOK IT
We’ve talked about it before and we’ll talk about it again, the team’s ability to bounce back after a tough loss is very strong. As the bench boss mentioned, he liked his team’s resiliency in situations tonight, but again, going into tonight’s game all the chatter was about how the team couldn’t wait to turn the page from Saturday’s 6-2 loss in San Diego.
It turns out they were confident for good reason.
GOTTA SEE IT
Check out the quick forehand-to-backhand by Michael Bunting to evade the Colorado defender and setup Hudson Fasching for the slam dunk. Excellent patience and timing from the fourth-year Roadrunner.
PHOTO OF THE GAME
Just two days after arriving in Tucson, Vili Saarijärvi made his debut with the team Tuesday night. Kudos to Head Equipment Manager Eric Bechtol and Assistant Equipment Manager Ryan Andrus for outfitting the newcomer quickly and having him ready to roll.
