The Tucson Roadrunners hit the middle stretch of their five-game road trip Wednesday night with a visit to Acrisure Arena for their first matchup of the season against the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. MST in Thousand Palms, California, as Tucson (4-2-1-0) carries a six-game points streak into the game.
The Roadrunners have picked up at least one point in every contest since Oct. 9 at San Jose, a run that includes a 4-0-2-0 record. Saturday’s 4-1 win over Henderson kept that momentum rolling and left Tucson fourth in the Pacific Division with 10 points, just one back of the first-place Abbotsford Canucks.
Coachella Valley, meanwhile, comes in at 3-3-2-1 and seventh in the division with nine points. The Firebirds are trying to stop a slide after a 5-2 home loss to San Jose on Friday. That result was their fourth defeat in five games, as they’ve gone 1-3-0-1 over that stretch.
This one also opens a familiar season-long series. Wednesday is the 25th all-time regular-season meeting between the teams and the first of eight scheduled matchups this year.
It’s the first time Tucson and Coachella Valley will meet eight times in a season since 2023-24, after the teams played only four times in each of the last two seasons. The Roadrunners are 10-12-1-1 all-time against the Firebirds and 6-6-0-0 at Acrisure Arena.
Tucson has been especially effective away from home. At 3-0-1-0 on the road, the Roadrunners are one of just five AHL teams without a regulation loss on the road. Their road goal differential of plus-8 is the best in the Western Conference and third-best in the league, behind only Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Laval.
The defensive numbers have been just as sturdy. Tucson is tied for fifth in the AHL in goals against per game at 2.25, and over its last five games the team has allowed just 1.4 goals per contest. In that span, the Roadrunners haven’t given up more than three goals in a game and have held opponents to two or fewer in four of those five outings.
Offensively, Cameron Hebig is riding the hottest hand. He scored twice Saturday and has goals in back-to-back games, giving him three during that stretch and a team-leading five on the season.
Assistant captain Ben McCartney added two assists against Henderson and now leads Tucson with 11 points, including two goals and nine assists, which puts him tied for seventh in the AHL. Rookie Tij Iginla also helped set up two goals in the last game, and he has factored into three of Tucson’s last four power-play goals over the last three games dating back to Oct. 17 against San Diego.
Special teams have been a weapon on the road, too. The Roadrunners have scored at least once on the power play in each of their first four road games and are 6-for-21 away from home, a 28.6 percent clip that ranks third in the Western Conference and fifth in the AHL.