The Calgary Wranglers returned home from their weekend California trip hoping to close the gap on their single-digit magic number. Unfortunately, they didn’t do themselves any good in this game as they fell to the best team in the Pacific Division. The final score between Coachella Valley and Calgary was 7-3.
Game at a glance
The Wranglers opted to start Connor Murphy for this game and on the other end, Chris Driedger was in the net for the Firebirds. The Wranglers took an early penalty just two minutes in but they were able to kill it off without causing any damage to the score. However, the Firebirds did some quick work to pull ahead a few minutes later.
At 5:10, Murphy tried to stop a shot that went five-hole and then snuck in behind him. Ville Ottavainen caught onto this and chipped in the puck from the crease and into the net. Off the next face-off, the Wranglers got possession in their zone but turned the puck over and Cameron Hughes ripped a shot on Murphy and made it a 2-0 game just 10 seconds after their first goal.
Calgary kept their composure for a few minutes but later in the period at 11:22, Max McCormick scored the third goal of the night on the power play and Connor Murphy got the yank. Oscar Dansk came in relief and prevented any further goals through the rest of the first. At the end of 20 minutes, Coachella Valley had a 3-0 lead and a 16-9 edge in shots.
In the second, the scoring slowed until just shy of the midway mark when Luke Henman gripped and ripped a shot and made it a 4-0 game for the away team. The Wranglers finally got on the board a couple of minutes later when William Stromgren scored at 11:08. The Firebirds made a mistake in their zone and their defender missed the rebound and gave Stromgren a point-blank shot. This goal was assisted by Artem Grushnikov.
The Wranglers were able to get another on the board when Riley Damiani skated the puck into the zone and passed it up to Stromgren. Damiani picked up Stromgren’s rebound and cut the Firebirds’ lead in half with his first goal as a Wrangler. Colton Poolman also picked up a helper on this goal at 18:34.
This score held until the end of the period and the Wranglers were down 4-2 after 40 complete minutes of play. Shots in the second were 15-11 Calgary. The third got a bit ugly when the Firebirds scored two goals in the first minute. Shane Wright struck 29 seconds in and Connor Carrick struck at the 56-second mark.
Just like that, it was a 6-2 game and the Wranglers’ hope of a comeback was feeling more far fetched than it was at the beginning of the period. They would add one more a few minutes later when Cale Fleury scored at 7:39 with a back door tip-in.
The Firebirds took their foot off the gas a bit and any opportunities the Wranglers had in the better part of the period were turned away. They added one last goal in the last three seconds with Jordan Oesterle’s first AHL goal of the season at 19:57 off a one-timer. Ilya Solovyov and Adam Klapka assisted.
The final horn rang seconds later and the Wranglers closed the door on a game they need to quickly move on from. The final was 7-3 and shots finished 36-35 Coachella Valley.
Scoring stat summary
Artem Grushnikov – 1A
Ilya Solovyov – 1A
Riley Damiani – 1G
Jordan Oesterle – 1G
Adam Klapka – 1A
William Stromgren – 1G, 1A
Highlights
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