{"id":424384,"date":"2026-01-23T22:27:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T22:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/424384\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T22:27:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T22:27:30","slug":"tucson-roadrunners-hockey-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/424384\/","title":{"rendered":"Tucson Roadrunners Hockey"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n April 16, 2025 \n <\/p>\n


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Tucson, AZ\u00a0\u2014 The Utah Hockey Club announced Wednesday that forward\u00a0Kailer Yamamoto<\/a>\u00a0and goaltender\u00a0Matthew Villalta<\/a>\u00a0have been assigned to the Tucson Roadrunners, Utah\u2019s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate.<\/p>\n

The assignments come following the conclusion of Utah\u2019s regular season on Tuesday against the St. Louis Blues. Yamamoto and Villalta rejoin the Roadrunners just in time for Tucson\u2019s final push toward the Calder Cup Playoffs, with the last two regular season games set for Friday and Saturday against the Colorado Eagles at Tucson Arena.<\/p>\n

Kailer Yamamoto<\/p>\n

Yamamoto returns to the Roadrunners after appearing in 12 NHL games this season with Utah, tallying two goals and one assist. In the AHL, the 26-year-old has been an offensive force with 53 points (19g, 34a) in 52 games with Tucson. He leads the Roadrunners in points, assists, and multi-point performances (14). He also paces the team in multi-assist outings (five) and shares the lead in multi-goal games (three).<\/p>\n

A consistent producer, Yamamoto ranks second among Roadrunners in power-play points (15) and plus-minus (+14), while sitting fourth in total goals and game-winners (three). He also holds the team\u2019s longest point streak of the season\u2014twice reaching the scoresheet in eight consecutive games. <\/p>\n

\"\"photo: Kate Dibildox\/Tucson Roadrunners<\/p>\n

The Spokane, Washington native signed a professional tryout with Utah on Sept. 11 and earned a one-year, two-way NHL contract on Oct. 6. He\u2019s skated in 315 career NHL games, registering 137 points (60g, 77a) and a +19 rating. Yamamoto spent last season with the Seattle Kraken, notching 16 points (8g, 8a) in 59 games, and played five seasons with the Edmonton Oilers after being drafted 22nd overall in 2017.<\/p>\n

This season marks Yamamoto\u2019s first AHL stint since 2019-20 with Bakersfield. In 102 career AHL games, he has produced 87 points (37g, 50a).<\/p>\n

Matthew Villalta<\/p>\n

Villalta heads back to Tucson after earning his second NHL call-up\u2014and first with Utah\u2014on Mar. 28. The 25-year-old made the most of his opportunity, earning his\u00a0first NHL win<\/a>\u00a0in his debut start with 28 saves in Utah\u2019s 7-3 victory over the Nashville Predators on Monday.<\/p>\n

Villalta has anchored the crease for the Roadrunners this season, going 17-21-3 with a 3.01 goals-against average and .906 save percentage in 41 appearances. He ranks among AHL goaltending leaders in minutes played (2,413:57, third), shots faced (1,288, fourth), and games played (sixth).<\/p>\n

\"\"photo: Kate Dibildox\/Tucson Roadrunners<\/p>\n

Just before being recalled, the Kingston, Ontario native earned his career-best fourth shutout of the season on Mar. 26, stopping all 24 shots in a 3-0 win over Ontario. He\u2019s just one shutout shy of the franchise single-season record held by Adin Hill (five in 2017-18), and his seven career shutouts as a Roadrunner rank second in team history.<\/p>\n

Villalta sits at 48 career AHL wins with Tucson\u2014just six shy of tying Ivan Prosvetov (54) for second all-time. In total, the 6-foot-4 netminder has compiled a 106-70-17 record, 2.90 GAA, .905 SV%, and nine shutouts over 200 AHL games.<\/p>\n

Originally drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the third round (72nd overall) in 2017, Villalta joined the Arizona Coyotes organization as a free agent on July 2, 2023. Last season, he rewrote the Roadrunners record book with 31 wins, 51 appearances, and 1,328 saves en route to his first career AHL All-Star nod. He made his NHL debut with Arizona last season on Feb. 16, 2024 against the Carolina Hurricanes, and has now appeared in three NHL games with a 1-1-0 record, 3.64 GAA and .867 SV%.<\/p>\n

UP NEXT<\/p>\n

The return of Yamamoto and Villalta provides a key boost for Tucson as they host the division-leading Colorado Eagles in a pivotal two-game series to clinch a playoff spot.\u00a0Game one is set for 7 p.m. PT.\u00a0Fans can catch the action live on\u00a0AHLTV on FloHockey<\/a> and purchase tickets using the\u00a0provided link here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" April 16, 2025 Tucson, AZ\u00a0\u2014 The Utah Hockey Club announced Wednesday that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5,4,51,5290,232,5291,5289],"class_list":{"0":"post-424384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-utah-hockey-club","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-utah","11":"tag-utah-hc","12":"tag-utah-hockey-club","13":"tag-utahhc","14":"tag-utahhockeyclub"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115946773544478265","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}