Tucson Roadrunners (21-20-4-0) goaltender Ivan Prosvetov stopped all 23 shots Ontario Reign (23-17-1-1) scored to give his team a 2- 0 in the first competition on Friday night to bring a two-game weekend series between the clubs to Toyota Arena.
Cal Petersen did everything to keep Reign in the game, stopping 38 shots and conceding just one goal in a losing attempt. Tucson’s Hudson Elynuik scored the game’s only 5-for-5 goal, while Milos Kelemen scored from the empty net in the final minutes.
RESULT BOX
More on head coach Marco Sturm and Aidan Dudas below.
Neither team could find the back of the net in the first period, which resulted in three straight penalties for Ontario skaters. Reign slew all three men’s pros but were outplayed in the scoreless 14-10 frame.
Elynuik put Tucson ahead with the game’s first goal at 3:09, sending Adam Cracknell past Petersen behind the net for his fifth goal of the season.
Petersen continued to hold the reins within a goal for the rest of the second and most of the third, stopping eight shots in the middle and 16 more in the final stanza.
Ontario had two power plays in the second and two more in the third, including after Prosvetov awarded a small late-game penalty for knocking the goal off the posts at 14:13. But the Reign failed to hit the 6-foot-5 goaltender and was kept off the scoreboard for the first time this season.
After an Ontario timeout with just over two minutes to go, Kelemen hit an empty net to extend Tucson’s lead.
The Roadrunners had a 40-23 advantage in the game, but were unsuccessful on the power play and went 0-5.
Marco Storm
Aidan Dudas
The two clubs will face off again in the second half of the weekend series at Ontario’s annual Pink In The Rink party at Toyota Arena, which begins at 6 p.m.
Source: lakingsinsider.com
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