The Tucson Roadrunners returned home Friday following a 27-day road trip that took the club to Glendale; Cedar Park, Texas; and San Diego.
Awaiting the Roadrunners at TCC Arena were the hottest team in the American Hockey League — the San Jose Barracuda.
Despite a strong offensive outing, the Roadrunners couldn’t knock off the streaking Barracuda before falling 4-3.
“It’s been a month since we played here, and you can feel that we’ve created that home atmosphere and advantage,” Roadrunners head coach Mark Lamb said. “We feel comfortable here and it’s too bad we had to be away for so long."
The Roadrunners fell behind 1-0 early as San Jose’s Buddy Robinson got on the board with 13:32 to go in the first period.
In the subsequent puck-drop, Tucson’s Stefan Fournier initiated a fight with a Barracuda player. He was immediately ejected from the game.
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A shorthanded goal by Tucson’s Laurent Dauphin with 10 seconds to go in the first period tied the score at 1-1.
A similar story repeated itself in the second period, as San Jose took a 2-1 five minutes in. With 1.7 seconds left on the clock, Dauphin again came through with an equalizer.
Tucson (22-20-5-0) gained the lead early in the third period when Christian Fischer scored a breakaway goal with 18:36 to go.
That goal was quickly answered by a San Jose score from Rourke Chartier.
Then, with 8:16 remaining, the Barracuda took the lead for good on a goal by Marcus Sorenson.
“There were a lot of good elements to our game and we’ve just got to stick with it,” Lamb said. “We’re a good hockey team and we’ve got to stick with it.”
Merek Langhamer started in goal for the Roadrunners and saved 23 of 27 shots.
The defeat marks the latest low point in a grueling stretch for the Roadrunners, who have gone 2-12 dating back to Jan. 21.
In that same stretch, the division-leading Barracuda have gone 13-0. The Barracuda improved to 32-11-1-3.
Slap shots
- Goalie Adin Hill was called up by the Arizona Coyotes earlier Friday as an emergency backup. He is expected to back with the club this weekend.
- The Roadrunners will face the Barracuda again Saturday and host the San Diego Gulls on Tuesday before embarking on a grueling road trip. The Runners will face the Gulls twice and Ontario Reign three times between March 3-12. The club returns home March 17 for the first of a two-game homestand against the San Antonio Rampage.
