Roadrunners Can’t Beat Dustin Wolf, Lose Game 1

In total, Wolf saved 46 shots. It was impressive for him to step right back into the Wranglers organization after spending most of the past couple of months with the Flames. Now he aims to repeat his performance on Friday to secure the series wins for his team. It wouldn’t be the first time where the Flames’ American Hockey League (AHL) team has won a playoff series in the AHL all thanks to Wolf. The young goaltender backstopped the Stockton Heat to the Western Conference Finals in 2022.

However, the loss is no discredit to Matt Villalta who also stood on his head. The Kingston native has had a breakout season for the Roadrunners becoming their starting goaltender after the departure of Ivan Prostetov. While it was his team-leading in shots for the whole game, it was Villalta who stopped the handful of breakaways the Roadrunners allowed.

Head coach Steve Potvin has been praising Villalta all season. Now, into the postseason, Potvin doesn’t just consider his young goaltender a star on his team but a star in the league.

“He was massive, especially in the first period when we weren’t really getting into our game,” Potvin said. “We’ve said this all along. He helps us get to our identity. He makes those saves and then we’re able to get into the game and find our identity. It doesn’t happen without his goaltending and saves. He’s a star on this team, there’s no doubt but I think he’s one of the stars in the league.”

This series is going to be relying heavily on goaltending. Both Villalta and Wolf are some of the best goalies in the AHL and it showed as it took until the middle of the second period for the Wranglers to figure out Villalta and they could only do it once. It’s going to take the whole Roadrunners offense to eventually find a way to beat Wolf.

The Stars Were Silenced

Throughout the season, the Roadrunners have relied on their star players to help them win games. The core of Doan, Guenther, Aku Raty, and Jan Jenik are some of the future faces of the Utah NHL team. Conor Geekie joined the team as well on Wednesday after the conclusion of the Swift Current Broncos’ season. It couldn’t have come at a better time for Potvin and his team as those players provide a lot to the Roadrunners’ play.

“You can see they brought a lot of energy tonight,” Potvin said. “Doaner and Gunner were hard on the puck, made a lot of plays, and showed a lot of good energy. They came back and handled it well.”

As in the regular season, they were expected to help the Roadrunners have a chance. Unfortunately in game one, a lot of them weren’t that noticeable.

Guenther was easily the best performer, racking up a good volume of shots and putting in some hard work. Doan, however, was invisible until the third period with the exception of a poor line change during a two-on-one. He looked good in the third period, hitting the crossbar towards the end of the game but it wasn’t enough. Jenik looked injured, Raty and Kesselring barely got any ice time, and Geekie looked out of place whenever he was on the ice.

Of course, there are excuses. Doan, Raty, Kesselring, and Guenther all haven’t played hockey since two weeks ago when the Coyotes played their final game against the Edmonton Oilers. Kesselring hasn’t even played with the Roadrunners since the very beginning of the season. Geekie hasn’t played a pro game in his career. However, excuses can only be acceptable for so long.

Doan knows there was going to be a transition phase going back to the Roadrunners after spending a couple of weeks with the Coyotes. However, he knows when the team’s offense gets going, there’s no stopping it.

“I thought our line played well,” Doan said. “I’m pretty comfortable. Obviously, Gunts felt the same thing and played really well tonight. There’s a couple that we both kind of want back and he’s the guy that doesn’t miss too many times. So I think when he gets going, it’s going to be tough to stop.”

The Roadrunners need their young stars to start producing and figuring out a way to beat Wolf. If they continue playing the way they did in game one, this series will be over on Friday.

Hockey in Tucson is on the Brink

Now down 1-0 in the series, the Roadrunners can be eliminated from the playoffs on Friday. It’s not what the team expected to happen going into the playoffs as the second seed in the Pacific Division. With the hype around getting Doan, Guenther, Raty, and Kesselring back from the Arizona Coyotes and Geekie coming over from the Swift Current Broncos, this isn’t the beginning anyone in the organization wanted.

Friday could also be the Roadrunners’ last game in Tucson. With the sale and relocation of the Coyotes, Roadrunners owner Alex Meruelo announced his intentions to relocate the AHL team to Mullett Arena in Tempe. This would leave behind a passionate and growing hockey community in Tucson.

The Roadrunners have played out of the Tucson Convention Center since they arrived in 2015. Wednesday showed that they have anchored themselves into the community. Fans brought back the “whiteout” for the first playoff game in Tucson since 2018. Some also armed themselves with signs saying “Stay in Tucson.” Little pamphlets with a QR code leading to a petition to keep the Roadrunners in Tucson were handed out all across the arena. It’s clear that if Meruelo relocates this franchise, he’ll be losing a passionate community down south that could lose its last pro sports franchise apart from an indoor football team. 

While the future of the team in Tucson is still up in the air, it’s up to the team on the ice to make sure the Roadrunners’ season doesn’t end on Friday. There’s no need to panic. They played a good game on Wednesday but the lone issue was getting past Wolf. If they can replicate their efforts from game one and beat Wolf via rebounds or better shots, they’ll have a chance to win game two and force a deciding game three in the series.

“I think there’s no reason for us to panic right now. It’s one game. It’s a best of three so it’s nice and short. It’ll be a focal point for getting shots on him again. At the end of the day, we liked the way that we played. If we get back to that, then we’ll be fine.”

The Roadrunners will play the Wranglers for game two of the series on Friday night. The Wranglers can close out the series with a win while the Roadrunners can force a game three with a win of their own.