Tucson Roadrunners look to punch postseason ticket in final series vs. Colorado

The Roadrunners (33-31-4-2) host the first-place Colorado Eagles on Friday and Saturday night with a two-point lead over the Bakersfield Condors for the seventh and final playoff spot in the Pacific Division.

“It feels good because you want to do all that you can to get your team into meaningful games,” said Tucson head coach Steve Potvin. “I think the guys appreciate these types of moments, and if you look back at your history with hockey, these are the absolute best times to be involved with, when the game is on the line or you know your season is on the line.

“Those are the most fun times of the game and so I know that the guys share that same feeling and it's an exciting time.”

Tucson’s magic number is two — it simply needs to collect two points from the Colorado series or see Bakersfield fail to sweep its final series.

“Yeah, it's really exciting,” said Tucson center Curtis Douglas. “I mean, it's a long year of work and a lot of up and downs. One win will kind of make all those worth it and we'll get to show what we got in the playoffs, which should be really nice. So yeah, we're really excited for the opportunity this weekend.”

The Roadrunners own the tiebreaker (regulation wins, 29-21) over the Condors (30-30-7-3).

In the AHL, teams get two points for a win, one for an overtime or shootout loss and zero for a regulation loss.

Bakersfield’s magic number is seven.

The Condors play the last-place Henderson Silver Knights (29-36-3-2), but that series is home and home.

Utah Hockey Club sent goalie Matthew Villalta and forward Kailer Yamamoto back to Tucson after their regular season ended.

“I told both of them this is the only time I’d ever be happy to see after they get sent down, and I think I actually have the freedom to say that,” Potvin said. “They're big parts of the team, I mean, they fought through a lot of our ups and downs.

“They learned how to communicate with our team and they were major parts of reasons why we were able to find solutions and we put ourselves in a position to gain control of our own destiny (Friday).”

Yamamoto played in 12 NHL games for Utah, getting two goals and an assist. He leads the Roadrunners in points (53 in 52 games), assists (34), multi-point performances (14) and multi-assist games (five).

Villalta made one start for Utah, getting 28 saves to earn his first NHL win in their 7-1 triumph over the Nashville Predators on Monday.

With 92 points, the Colorado Eagles (42-20-5-3) are competing for home ice advantage throughout the playoffs.

Colorado’s magic number to clinch the division is one. The Pacific Division winner gets a bye in the first round, so it’s not clear if the Eagles would want to rest players.

“I'm not worried about all those types of variables, what we need to do (Friday) is show up with our best,” Potvin said. “We have an opportunity to put a nail in the coffin, so to speak, so that's our focus."

Slapshots

— The Roadrunners selected Douglas as their IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year. Each team in the AHL selects a finalist for the Yanick Dupré Memorial Award, the league’s Man of the Year award.

“Yeah, it was pretty cool. Honestly, I didn't I didn't really know if that was a thing,” Douglas said. “I never really heard of it before, so it was pretty special and cool to be with the guys when I found out. ... Honestly, you don't do the stuff around the community for that reason, but it's nice to get some recognition.”

Each year Douglas spreads the word about the importance of mental health and raises money for a related cause through his March Mullets 4 Mental Health. This year he raised nearly $5,000 CAD for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Foundation in Canada.

This season, he has 23 points, his second-best AHL season statistically.

— Friday is the last El Lazo de Tucson night of the season. Tucson will wear their El Lazo jerseys, which fans can win in a raffle that will be held after the game.

Then, Saturday is fan appreciation night. The first 1,000 fans will receive a free T-shirt and poster.

— On Tuesday, Tucson brought back Miko Matikka from their ECHL affiliate, the Allen Americans.

The Finnish forward had 12 points in 25 games for the Americans.

The Arizona Coyotes selected Matikka in the third round of the 2022 NHL Draft. He had 33 points in 43 games for Denver in 2023-24, winning the NCAA championship.