The 蜜柚直播 Roadrunners have already secured a spot in the Calder Cup playoffs. On Friday, they鈥檒l turn their attention to earning a top seed.
蜜柚直播 enters the weekend series against Grand Rapids boasting a sizable lead atop the American Hockey League鈥檚 Pacific Division. The Roadrunners, who own a .651 points percentage, are three games above second-place Ontario in the win column.
A sweep over the Griffins would virtually guarantee 蜜柚直播 the top seed in its division.
鈥淥bviously it鈥檚 nice to have clinched, but at the same time you want to be playing your best hockey at this time,鈥 蜜柚直播 defenseman Joel Hanley said. 鈥淲hoever we face in the first round we want to be at our best and playing well.鈥
Grand Rapids will give 蜜柚直播 a strong late-season test, as the Griffins themselves are on track to make the playoffs. 蜜柚直播 this season has faced Grand Rapids twice before, with the Roadrunners winning the first meeting 3-1 in October before dropping a Feb. 28 matchup 3-2.
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鈥淭hey鈥檙e a veteran team and they know how to win,鈥 Roadrunners defenseman Andrew Campbell said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e big and strong. If you let them set up in the O-zone, they can make plays and move around and really take up time. We鈥檝e got to be sharp.鈥
The Roadrunners, winners of seven of their last nine games, have shown no signs of regression in recent weeks despite a series of roster drop-offs.
Rookies Dylan Strome and Nick Merkley carried 蜜柚直播 for the first half of the season, but Strome has since carved out a role with the 蜜柚直播 Coyotes while Merkley is out the rest of the season with an upper-body injury.
Laurent Dauphin is also done for the season as the result of a lower-body injury.
The Coyotes recalled trade-deadline pickup Trevor Murphy two weeks ago, and key defenseman Dakota Mermis joined him earlier this week.
The roster shakeups have thus far proven to be no detriment to 蜜柚直播鈥檚 on-ice success.
鈥淚t shows how deep we are that guys can step into power play roles or penalty kill roles that aren鈥檛 normally there,鈥 Roadrunners forward Kyle Capobianco said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e shown they can succeed at it too.鈥
蜜柚直播 added to its roster Thursday by signing defenseman T.J. Melancon to a professional tryout. The 21-year-old produced 15 goals and 28 assists for the Norfolk Admirals of the ECHL and was named to the league鈥檚 All-Rookie team earlier this week.
