Roadrunners beat Barracuda 7-4 for first win of season

Gabe Smith collected four assists as the Tucson Roadrunners beat the San Jose Barracuda 7-4 on Friday, Oct. 9, earning their first victory of the season at Tech CU Arena. The result left each team with a 1-2-0-0 record.

San Jose scored first, 1:27 into the game, on a Jimmy Huntington shot from the left circle. Tucson answered at 4:53 when defenceman Zac Jones snapped one past Eric Comrie from the slot, and the Roadrunners never trailed again. Cameron Hebig made it 2-1 at 7:54, and Caleb Desnoyers followed with a goal for a 3-1 lead. It was Desnoyers' first professional goal.

San Jose pulled within one before the first intermission on a Filip Bystedt goal. In the second, Ben McCartney scored on the power play to make it 4-2. Brendan Hoffmann and Huntington (his second of the night, on a breakaway) tied it 4-4 with 4:59 left in the period. Vadim Moroz restored the lead with 3:03 to go, and Tucson took a 5-4 edge into the third.

Artem Duda scored on the power play at 6:26 of the third to make it 6-4. Kevin Rooney added an empty-netter after San Jose pulled Comrie. Moroz's goal started a run of three unanswered Tucson goals to end the game.

Rookie goaltender Michael Hrabal stopped 32 of 36 shots for his first win of the season. Rookie Gabe Smith had four assists and was named first star. He is the first Roadrunner this season with a four-point game. Rookies Tij Iginla and Smith each recorded their first career AHL points in the game. Joshua Roy had two first-period assists for his first points of the season.

The teams meet again Saturday, with puck drop set for 6 p.m. PT. Tucson can complete the sweep. The game streams on AHLtv on FloHockey.