A natural hat trick from Raphael Lavoie powered the Henderson Silver Knights to a wild 7–6 overtime victory over the Tucson Roadrunners on Wednesday night at Tucson Arena.
Lavoie delivered the decisive moment just 90 seconds into overtime, completing his hat trick and capping one of the most chaotic games of the season for Henderson. The forward’s three-goal performance headlined a back-and-forth contest that featured 13 total goals and multiple momentum swings.
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The Silver Knights are now winners of 7 of their last 10 contests.
Henderson struck first when Lavoie opened the scoring at 3:14 of the first period to give the Silver Knights an early 1–0 lead.
The Roadrunners quickly flipped the script.
In a stunning stretch that lasted less than two minutes, Tucson rattled off four consecutive goals to seize control of the game. Austin Poganski started the surge before Scott Perunovich, Cameron Hebig, and Ty Tullio followed in rapid succession to build a 4–1 Roadrunners lead.
Henderson began to claw its way back midway through the period when defenseman Jaycob Megna cut the deficit to 4–2 at the 8:11 mark.
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Tucson regained breathing room late in the frame when Julian Lutz found the back of the net with 3:30 remaining, sending the Roadrunners into the intermission ahead 5–2.
Henderson wasted no time reigniting the comeback.
Just 11 seconds into the second period, Lavoie scored his second goal of the night off a setup from Tanner Laczynski, cutting the lead to 5–3. The assist marked the 100th of Laczynski’s American Hockey League career.
Momentum continued to swing toward Henderson midway through the period. Matyas Sapovaliv converted on the power play to bring the Silver Knights within one.
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Moments later, rookie forward Trevor Connelly completed the rally by tying the game 5–5.
The Roadrunners briefly regained the lead when Poganski netted his second goal of the night less than a minute later, restoring Tucson’s advantage at 6–5.
But the Silver Knights refused to go away.
With just 45 seconds remaining in regulation, Connelly struck again, finishing a play set up by Alex Holtz and Kai Uchacz to force overtime.
Overtime lasted only a minute and a half.
Lavoie completed the hat trick with the game-winning goal 90 seconds into the extra period, sealing a dramatic 7–6 victory and completing Henderson’s comeback effort.
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The Silver Knights will continue their road trip north of the border with a pair of games against the Abbotsford Canucks before concluding the trip against the Calgary Wranglers.
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Saturday, March 14 — at Abbotsford Canucks (7 p.m.)
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Sunday, March 15 — at Abbotsford Canucks (4 p.m.)
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Tuesday, March 17 — at Calgary Wranglers (7 p.m.)
Fans can follow the Silver Knights throughout the road trip by tuning in on 1230 The Game or streaming the broadcast on FloHockey.
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