The Tucson Roadrunners return home after another successful Canadian trip — but still out of the playoffs and facing the first-place Ontario Reign.
After winning their fourth straight against current playoff teams, the Roadrunners (29-23-9-0) host Ontario (40-17-3-2) for a two-game series on Friday and Saturday. The Reign are the AHL affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings.
Tucson returns home after 4-3 and 4-1 wins at the Manitoba Moose, who are in fourth place in the Central Division as of Wednesday afternoon. The Roadrunners swept the San Jose Barracuda, who are third in the Pacific, in their last two home games.
Tucson Roadrunners' Kevin Rooney takes control of the puck vs. San Jose March 15, 2026, in Tucson.
However, the San Diego Gulls, who Tucson is chasing for the last playoff spot, won their two weekend games and face the last-place Abbotsford Canucks this weekend.
Ontario’s magic number is four, so they could clinch a playoff spot in Tucson. The magic number is the amount of points you need to clinch a place in the postseason.
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The Roadrunners’ magic number is 24.
Although the Reign aren’t playing for their playoff lives, they are three points ahead of the second-place Colorado Eagles. The regular-season Pacific Division champion gets a bye into the second round.
Ontario could also potentially get home ice advantage in the later rounds of the playoffs, though at 85 points, they are seven behind the Grand Rapids Griffins, the top team in the Western Conference and 10 behind the Providence Bruins, the first-place team in the whole AHL.
Playoff watch
The Roadrunners' road to their fourth playoff appearance in a row is a rough one.
Heading into the weekend, Tucson sits in eighth place, with the top seven teams in the Pacific Division making the playoffs.
With 67 points, Tucson trails San Diego by three, but the Roadrunners do have a game in hand (they’ve played one less game than the Gulls) on San Diego.
Tucson has 11 games left, though seven of those are on the road. However, two of those road games are at San Diego.
The Roadrunners close out the regular season with a home series against the Henderson Silver Knights, who are in sixth place going into the weekend, five points ahead of Tucson.
In the AHL, teams get two points for any kind of win, one for an overtime loss, one for a shootout loss and zero for a regulation loss.
The top seven teams in the Pacific make the playoffs, with seeds No. 2 and 7 meeting, seeds No. 3 and 6 playing and 4 and 5 matching up in a best-of-three first round. The second round for the Pacific is best-of-five, and the division finals are best-of-five.
The conference finals are best-of-seven, as is the Calder Cup Finals.
A Pacific team has won the conference the last three years, with the Abbotsford Canucks winning the Calder Cup last year and in 2024 and 2023 the Coachella Valley Firebirds finished runner-up.
Mammoth sign UMass goalie
Massachusetts goalie Michael Hrabal (30) stops a shot by Minnesota forward Oliver Moore, center, as defenseman Lucas Olvestad, left defends in the first period during the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 27, 2025, in Fargo, N.D.
On Wednesday, the Utah Mammoth announced that they had signed goalie Michael Hrabal to a three-year entry-level contract.
The deal begins next season, and he signed a professional tryout agreement to play with Tucson for the rest of this season.
The Czech went professional after his third season at Massachusetts, where he went 19-9-1 with a 1.95 goals-against average, a .937 save percentage and four shutouts.
The 21-year-old was selected as the 2026 Hockey East Player of the Year, the first European-born player to win the honor.
The 6-foot-6, 209-pound goalie represented Team Czechia at the 2024 and 2025 IIHF World Junior Championships, where they won bronze each time.
The Arizona Coyotes selected him 38th overall in the 2023 draft.
Canadian kings
The Roadrunners' trip to Manitoba allowed them to escape Tucson’s record heat, but they still remained hot against Canadian sides.
The Roadrunners are 6-2 in Canada this year.
After getting swept by the Canucks 4-1 and 2-1 in December, the Roadrunners have won six straight against Canadian foes.
The Roadrunners beat the Calgary Wranglers 5-2 and 4-0 in early January and 7-3 and 6-5 in early February on the road.
Calgary and Abbotsford are behind Tucson in the standings, but at fourth in their Central Division, the Moose could meet the Roadrunners in the playoffs if both teams reach the conference finals.
Overall, the Roadrunners are 10-5-1-0 against Canadian teams this year, 2-2 against the Moose, 7-0-1-0 versus the Wranglers and 1-3 against the Canucks.
El Lazo y Grateful Dead
Friday night sees the return of El Lazo, when the Roadrunners don their alternate, more localized identity.
El Lazo de Tucson wears a special jersey along with Latino-themed entertainment and music in the arena. El Lazo is lasso in Spanish, a reference to the lasso in Tucson’s seal that includes downtown and San Xavier del Bac Mission.
On Saturday, the Roadrunners will have their first Grateful Dead Night. In addition to Dead-Head music and entertainment at the game, there will be a tailgate party starting at 4:30 p.m.
More transactions
Also on Wednesday, the Mammoth recalled forward Daniil But.
The Russian has 33 points in 34 games for Tucson and 7 points in 28 NHL games this year.
On March 18, the Roadrunners recalled forward Maxim Barbashev from the Utah Grizzlies and then on March 19 sent him to the Allen Americans, both in the ECHL.
Barbashev, 22, tallied 17 points in 36 games for Utah, but in three games for Allen hasn’t gotten a point yet.
The Americans are the ECHL affiliate of the Belleville Senators, who are the AHL affiliate of the Ottawa Senators. Utah, which is set to move to Trenton, N.J., after the season, is affiliated with the Colorado Eagles and Avalanche.
The Roadrunners don’t have an ECHL affiliate, so they have flexibility with their players. The other AHL team without an affiliate in the 30-team ECHL is the Cleveland Monsters, the AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
