Recap: Calgary Wranglers drop fourth straight in 4-3 overtime decision in Abbotsford

The next chance for a goal came a little bit later from Sam Morton who had a look at an empty net but couldn’t get a good shot off. The Wranglers had a couple more chances to pull ahead on power plays but didn’t do so. By the end of the first period, the Wranglers had a 1-0 lead and shots were 13-12 for Abbotsford. 

In the second period, the Canucks got the answer back goal quickly when Aatu Raty set Linus Karlsson up for a one-timer that he ended up going backhand on past Murphy. This goal came at 1:24. The rest of the first half of the middle frame was taken up by a string of penalties for both ends and the next goal came just as the last penalty expired. 

Mitch McLain parked on the doorstep for the power play then chipped in the puck to take a 2-1 lead. Jordan Oesterle and William Stromgren assisted on this goal at 10:23. The Canucks didn’t let this lead last long when Sheldon Dries took a shot right off his faceoff win and caught Connor Murphy by surprise at 11:22.

35 seconds later, Clark Bishop was called for interference. At 12:59, the Canucks took their first lead of the game with a power play marker. Aidan McDonough ripped a one-timer and beat Murphy for the third goal of the night. 

That was the last of the scoring and special teams action through the middle frame and at the end of the period, the score was 3-2 for Abbotsford. Shots in the second were 16-11 for Calgary. In the third, there was much less scoring and special team action with only one penalty 46 seconds in for Abbotsford. Then when the Wranglers started feeling the pressure of time against them, they evened up the score once again.

At 15:30, Jakob Pelletier came in clutch with an equalizer assisted by Cole Schwindt. Schwindt won the faceoff then Pelletier hustled after the puck to get it around Silovs and make it a 3-3 game. 

No other goals took place by the end of regulation and these two needed at least an extra frame to decide a winner. The shots were fewer in the third with them finishing 8-7 in favour of Abbotsford.

In overtime, Cole Schwindt put up the first shot of the extra frame at 1:17 then the Canucks rattled off a couple of shots of their own that Murphy turned away. The Wranglers made it especially tough on themselves when Jakob Pelletier was called for hooking at 3:41. They tried to kill this penalty just long enough to force a shootout, but Christian Wolanin ended the game with a goal at 4:27 off a wrist shot. 

The final score between these two was 4-3 for the Canucks and shots finished up an even 36-36. Special teams hurt the Wranglers again with Abbotsford going two for three on the power play. The only Wrangler to get recognized on the three stars of the night was Jakob Pelletier with the third star.

Scoring stat summary

Mitch McLain – 1G

Cole Schwindt – 1A

Jordan Oesterle – 1A

Clark Bishop – 1G

William Stromgren – 1A

Jakob Pelletier – 1G

Next up

The last game of the regular season takes place on Saturday night. Abbotsford and Calgary will both wrap up their seasons against each other before they prepare for playoffs. This game will be at the same time as their Friday game with an 8:00 p.m. MT start time.