Calgary Wranglers overcome Abbotsford Canucks in overtime in 7-6 goal frenzy
9 months ago
The Calgary Wranglers and Abbotsford Canucks were back in action on Saturday night after the Wranglers beat them on Friday night by a 3-2 score. The score on Saturday more than doubled that with five Wranglers picking up a multi-point night in their 7-6 overtime win. This completed a series sweep for Calgary.
Game at a glance
Good news about the Wranglers’ lineup came to light when they took the ice for their warmup. Jeremie Poirier was back in the game after leaving Friday’s game on an awkward collision. Clark Bishop was also in this game after his match penalty from Friday was reviewed and no suspension was dealt. The starting lineup was the same and the goaltending match-up mirrored Friday with Arturs Silovs going up against Dustin Wolf.
This game got started and Clark Bishop was on the receiving end of some boo’s from the Canucks crowd. Dustin Wolf let in another early goal just 29 seconds into the game. This is the third game in a row he has started where the puck has gotten past him within the first two minutes of the game. This tip-in put the Canucks up early but it did not last long.
4:18 into the first, Ilya Solovyov took a shot from the blue line through traffic and tied the game up 1-1. Nick DeSimone and Adam Klapka picked up the assists. This was not only Solovyov’s first goal of the season, but also his first point.
About halfway through the period, Clark Bishop’s recent past came back to haunt him and he dropped the gloves to answer for his hit on Tristen Nielsen on Friday. Marc Gatcomb of Abbotsford came into the lineup in Nielsen’s spot and fought Bishop for payback.
Their fighting majors came and went and the Wranglers spent most of the second half of the period battling on the penalty kill. No further scoring ensued and by the end of 20 minutes, Calgary and Abbotsford were tied 1-1. Shots in the opening period were 18-8 favouring Abbotsford.
In the second period, the Canucks struck again with a glove-side goal on Wolf. Chase Wouters scored 6:39 into the second frame and put the Canucks up by one goal once again. The Wranglers didn’t let that last long and had a very quick answer back about 25 seconds later.
Connor Zary was in the zone and took a shot while he was falling down. Ben Jones was right in front of the net to score off the rebound and pick up his first goal of the season.
The next scoring update didn’t come until about seven minutes later when Nils Aman scored for the Canucks. Ilya Solovyov was playing the puck by the Wranglers’ net and turned it over right to the stick of Aman who was in a perfect position to score on Wolf.
The Wranglers’ answer back was not as quick as earlier in the period but they were still able to sneak in another goal before the end of the second period. Yan Kuznetsov took a shot from the blue line and Lucas Ciona caught a piece of it to earn his first professional goal. This goal came 17:55 into the second period and Ilya Solovyov picked up the other assist.
Calgary had the better shooting effort in the second and outshot the Canucks 13-9. By the end of the frame, they remained tied 3-3. In the third, the Wranglers finally got their first lead of the night off of a goal from Clark Bishop.
Just 4:09 into the third, Bishop came up on the rush and cut in front of the net to beat Silovs. Adam Klapka assisted on this fourth goal of the night for the Wranglers.
Exactly six minutes later, Adam Klapka added another point on his night with a goal of his own he scored off another Connor Zary rebound. Cole Schwindt picked up the other assist.
Two minutes later, Connor Zary assisted on another goal to pick up his third helper of the night on a goal by Martin Pospisil. Nick DeSimone also assisted. Pospisil tipped the puck in to earn the third goal of the third for the Wranglers.
Four minutes later, the Canucks were on a power play and scored a power play goal to ignite a comeback effort. Nils Aman started it with his second goal of the night. Just over a minute later, Vasily Podkolzin scored for the Canucks to put the game within one. Aman struck again with his hat trick goal and tied the game 6-6 with 1:30 to go in regulation.
Abbotsford was successful in their comeback efforts and scored three goals in the matter of 2:29. Calgary pushed through the last 90 seconds without a timeout and held on to go to overtime. Despite the Canucks late surge, Calgary still out-shot them in the third 15-11.
In overtime, the Canucks had the first good looks that Wolf turned away. Once the Wranglers got back into the Canucks zone, Aman blocked a shot on his skate and left the game. After this, Calgary called a timeout and by 3:24 into overtime, Martin Pospisil took a shot and won the game in overtime.
Connor Zary also assisted on this one earning his fourth and final assist on the night and at this point in the weekend, led the league in assists with eight. Nick DeSimone also assisted on Pospisil’s game-winner.
Adam Klapka earned the third star and Pospisil earned the second star of the night. The shots finished up 40-37 favouring Abbotsford. It wasn’t the best night for Wolf’s GAA and save percentage stats, but he still earned the win and remains undefeated this season.
Next up
The Wranglers will head home and finally play their first game in front of a home crowd at the Scotiabank Saddledome. They host the Colorado Eagles next weekend for their home opener and will kick off that series on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. MT. Tickets are still available on Ticketmaster.
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