Roadrunners recap: 10/4/2026
COLORADO SCORING: Tristen Nielsen (1, 2), Nikita Prishchepov (2), Maroš Jedlička (1), Taylor Makar (1)
TUCSON SCORING: Montana Onyebuchi (1), Kevin Rooney (1), Vadim Moroz (1)
TUCSON, AZ – The Tucson Roadrunners (0-2-0-0) closed their season-opening homestand with a 5-3 loss to the Colorado Eagles (2-0-0-0) on Sunday at Tucson Arena. The Roadrunners overcame a pair of two-goal deficits to tie the game at 3-3 in the third period, but Colorado’s Tristen Nielsen scored his second goal of the night on a breakaway midway through the final frame to secure the sweep for the Eagles.
Nielsen opened the scoring early in the first period, and Colorado raced out to leads of 2-0 and 3-1. Montana Onyebuchi scored Tucson’s first goal of the season and also dropped the gloves in his season debut. Assistant captain Kevin Rooney then scored his first goal of the season in the final minute of the second period to cut Tucson’s deficit to 3-2.
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Rookie Vadim Moroz scored his first career AHL goal three minutes into the third period to tie the game at 3-3 and complete Tucson’s comeback. Moroz was one of four Roadrunners to record their first career AHL point.
Colorado scored two unanswered goals over the final eight and a half minutes to pull away, capped by Taylor Makar’s empty-net goal with 1:06 remaining.
Roadrunners goaltender Jaxson Stauber made his first start of the season and finished with 26 saves.
Highlights
Video highlights of the game are available via the team’s official channels.
Individual notes
- Rookie Vadim Moroz recorded his first career AHL goal, while fellow rookie Gabe Smith registered his first career AHL point with the secondary assist on the goal.
- Rookies Yegor Borikov and Gregor Biber both recorded their first career AHL point with an assist on Kevin Rooney’s second-period goal.
- Defenseman Zac Jones tallied his first point as a Roadrunner with the primary assist on Montana Onyebuchi’s first-period goal.
- Sunday marked the third time in Montana Onyebuchi’s career that he recorded a goal and a fight in the same game, and his first since March 26, 2025, against Ontario. He also recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick on Nov. 25, 2022, against Henderson while playing for San Jose.
The rundown
First period
Both sides traded grade-A chances in the opening two minutes. The Eagles nearly struck first when Gavin Brindley floated a pass over the stick of rookie Tomas Lavoie to Matt DiMarsico on a two-on-one. With no defenders in front, DiMarsico danced to the net and deked to his backhand, but goaltender Jaxson Stauber sprawled to make the save 90 seconds into the game. After helping thwart Colorado’s odd-man rush, Lavoie nearly opened the scoring at the other end of the same shift when he rang a hard wrister off the crossbar.
After the ensuing faceoff in the Roadrunners zone, Tucson’s Montana Onyebuchi dropped the gloves with Yanick Turcotte at the three-minute mark to punctuate a fast and furious start to the game.
The excitement continued when Colorado drew the game’s first power play after Zac Jones was whistled for high-sticking. The Eagles generated a couple of quality chances on the man advantage, and although Tucson killed off the penalty, the constant pressure eventually led to Colorado breaking through. Tristen Nielsen beat Stauber glove side from the left circle to put the Eagles ahead 1-0 at 6:47.
Colorado doubled its lead with 5:11 remaining when Nikita Prishchepov jammed home a rebound off Keaton Middleton’s wrister from the low left circle to make it 2-0.
Tucson was on the verge of going a fourth consecutive period without a goal before Onyebuchi finally put the Roadrunners on the board with the team’s first goal of the season. With Kevin Rooney providing a screen in front of the net, Onyebuchi beat Colorado goaltender Nikita Novosyolov glove side to cut Tucson’s deficit in half at 2-1 with 1:24 remaining.
Second period
The momentum from Tucson’s late first-period goal carried over into the middle frame, and Yegor Borikov nearly buried the equalizer just over two minutes in when he drove to the left side of the crease around traffic and found a partially open net. But his backhand attempt just missed wide.
Both sides traded minor penalties just past the four-minute mark to make it four-on-four. Colorado took advantage of the extra ice a minute later when Maroš Jedlička scored an easy tap-in on a two-on-one, converting a perfect feed from Brindley to put the Eagles back in front by two at 5:04.
The Roadrunners had a golden opportunity to get back within one when a pair of Eagles penalties gave Tucson a 5-on-3 for 32 seconds. Tij Iginla had a good look from the right circle on the two-man advantage, but his shot was deflected high. Moments after Colorado killed off both penalties, Tucson’s Gabe Smith had a prime opportunity on a two-on-one, but Novosyolov made a sliding pad save to deny his one-timer with just over a minute remaining.
For the second straight period, Tucson dug deep and found a way to break through late. Kevin Rooney rifled a wrister through traffic from the left circle with 52 seconds remaining to cut Colorado’s lead to 3-2 heading into the final intermission.
Third period
Once again, Tucson’s momentum carried over into the final frame, and the Roadrunners wasted little time finding the equalizer. Three minutes into the period, Ben McCartney found Vadim Moroz open in the slot, and the Belarusian rookie beat Novosyolov with a one-timer to knot the game at 3-3.
The Eagles answered just past the halfway mark when Nielsen sprung free on a breakaway and beat Stauber five-hole to put Colorado back in front, 4-3, with 8:18 remaining.
Colorado sealed the victory with Taylor Makar’s empty-net goal with 1:06 remaining.
The Roadrunners will hit the road for the first time this season, traveling to San Jose to take on the San Jose Barracuda in a two-game weekend set at Tech CU Arena. The series kicks off Friday at 7 p.m. PT, followed by Saturday’s game at 6 p.m. PT.
