The Tucson Roadrunners head into Henderson with a little momentum and a chance to make this trip feel big early.
Tucson opens a season-high five-game road swing, the first of three such trips on the schedule, with back-to-back games against the Henderson Silver Knights on Friday and Saturday at Lee’s Family Forum. Friday’s opener is set for 7 p.m.
MST, and Saturday’s game begins at 6 p.m. MST.
The Roadrunners arrive at 2-2-1-0 and are coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to the San Diego Gulls. Even with the setback, the last stretch has been productive: Tucson has picked up points in four straight games, won three of its last four in regulation and taken both of its road games so far. During that run, the Roadrunners have outscored opponents 16-8.
Henderson is rolling the other way into the weekend. The Silver Knights are 3-2-0-0 and have won back-to-back games over the Coachella Valley Firebirds and Ontario Reign.
This matchup also comes with plenty of recent history. Henderson held the edge last season, earning points in seven of eight meetings with a 5-1-1-1 record. Tucson finished 3-4-1-0 against the Silver Knights and won just one of four games at Lee’s Family Forum.
The Roadrunners will try to flip that script, grab the first game of the series and push their point streak to five with a win Friday.
A few storylines stand out heading into the weekend.
Ben McCartney is on a tear, carrying a five-game point streak with two goals and seven assists, which matches his career high. He is tied for the longest assist streak in the AHL at five games and owns the league’s second-longest active point streak. His nine points lead the Roadrunners and are tied for seventh in the AHL.
In goal, rookie Michael Hrabal has already made a mark. He posted his first career AHL shutout in his last outing, turning aside all 30 shots in Tucson’s 3-0 win over San Diego on Oct.
- His .931 save percentage is eighth in the AHL among goalies with at least three starts.
Jaxson Stauber, meanwhile, stopped a season-high 35 shots in his last road start, a 4-1 win at San Jose on Oct. 10.
Tucson’s rookies have also shown up across the stat sheet. Yegor Borikov is one of two AHL rookies to score a shorthanded goal this season and is tied for fifth among rookies with five points.
Gabe Smith’s four assists are tied for fourth among rookies, while Vadim Moroz’s three goals are tied for third. Moroz also ranks second among rookies with a 42.9% shooting percentage.
One more number jumps off the page: 42.9%. That’s Tucson’s road power play rate, good for second in the AHL in a small sample. The Roadrunners have scored with the man advantage in both road games, going 3-for-7, and they’ve also netted a power-play goal in three of their last four contests.
In Other News...
Former Coyotes Pick Is Finally Getting The Chance Arizona Never Could
The latest bit of movement involving Tucson has a familiar name at the center of it. Utah recalled defenseman Artem Duda from the Roadrunners, giving the blue-liner a chance to make his NHL debut after carving out a solid run in the AHL. For those who followed the Coyotes final drafts before the franchise relocation, Duda is one of the prospects who once passed through Arizonas pipeline and kept developing after the organization moved on.
There is a particular kind of what-if attached to players like Duda, especially when they start getting real traction elsewhere. Arizona selected him in the second round of the 2022 NHL Draft, but the first NHL call-up of his career is happening under a different banner, with Utah and Tucson now connected in a new way. It also arrives as the first recall of a Roadrunner to the NHL this season, a small but meaningful marker for a prospect whose path has taken a long time to reach this point. [Read more 🡒]
Coyotes Draft Pick Suddenly Has A Chance To Change His Outlook
Artem Dudas strong stretch with Tucson has earned him a real opening at the NHL level, and the timing could hardly be better for a defenseman still working his way back from a knee injury. Utah called him up from its AHL affiliate, giving the young blueliner his first taste of NHL camp life after he has steadily settled in with the Roadrunners.
The recall comes with the Mammoth dealing with a rash of injuries, so the move has the feel of added depth as much as added opportunity. Whether Duda gets into the upcoming game is still unsettled, but for a player trying to shift the conversation around his development, even being part of the conversation is a meaningful step. [Read more 🡒]
Coyotes Could Get Pulled Into A Much Bigger Goalie Shakeup
A run of goaltender injuries has left the Rangers scrambling, with Joonas Korpisalo and Igor Shesterkin both sidelined and Dylan Garand suddenly pushed into the starting job. As New York looks for help, the market around it has started to widen, and teams with established netminders are getting dragged into the conversation whether they asked to or not.
Karel Vejmelka is among the names being mentioned as a possible fit, which is enough to make this a storyline worth watching from Arizonas side. The ripple effect gets even more interesting because the Rangers are not just searching for a stopgap, they are being linked to a much bigger goalie shakeup that could involve several clubs, and the Coyotes could wind up in the middle of it if those talks gain real traction. [Read more 🡒]