Roadrunners Edge Moose 4-3 in Canada Life Centre Weekend Opener

Andrew Agozzino's two-goal performance, capped by a power-play strike set up by Scott Perunovich, lifted the Tucson Roadrunners to a 4-3 win over the Manitoba Moose at Canada Life Centre on Saturday, extending the club's winning streak to three games and handing the Moose their first home loss to Tucson since the 2016-17 season.

Tucson trailed 1-0 after the first period, with Jaret Anderson-Dolan opening the scoring at 15:40. The Roadrunners responded immediately in the second. Daniil But tied the game 59 seconds into the middle frame, then Agozzino took a breakaway and beat goaltender Milic at 8:01 to give Tucson its first lead of the afternoon.

Manitoba answered early in the third when Walker Duehr evened it at 2-2 less than three minutes in. Tucson regained control at 5:45 on Agozzino's second of the night, finishing what the team called a highlight-reel feed from Perunovich. Twenty seconds later, Jack Ricketts appeared to extend the lead to three on a wraparound, but the puck was ruled to have not fully crossed the line and the no-goal call was upheld on video review.

Austin Poganski then made it 4-2 at 15:05 of the third, a sequence that followed Brayden Yager setting up Nikita Chibrikov in front, only for Chibrikov to miss the net. Thirty seconds later, Poganski put the game out of what felt like reach. Anderson-Dolan made it tense again with his second goal at 59:40, pulling Manitoba within one with 19.8 seconds remaining, but Tucson held on.

But finished with three points on the night, while Perunovich's assist extended one of the quieter record chases in the AHL's Western Conference. The Roadrunners defenseman now sits four assists shy of Jamie McBain's single-season record of 35 for a Tucson blueliner, set in 2016-17, and five points back of Kyle Wood's franchise record of 43 points by a defenseman. Saturday marked Perunovich's ninth multi-point game of the season and his team-leading seventh multi-assist performance.

The Moose, meanwhile, were outshot 31-7 across the second and third periods combined, a figure that underscores how thoroughly Tucson controlled the game after falling behind. Manitoba also canceled its scheduled Sunday practice in the aftermath.

The two teams meet again Monday at Canada Life Centre, with puck drop set for 5 p.m. AZT.