Calgary Wranglers recap: Another close game against Abbotsford ends in OT decision
5 months ago
The Calgary Wranglers and Abbotsford Canucks continued their long weekend series with a Family Day matinee on Monday. They tend to keep their games close as they did in Saturday’s 2-1 Wranglers win. This game was no different but needed overtime to decide it. The Wranglers earned a point but fell 3-2 in the extra frame.
Game at a glance
Dustin Wolf started again in this match-up and the Canucks opted to switch things up between the pipes with Nikita Tolopilo getting the nod. The Canucks had the better start to this one with a couple of scoring chances in the first few minutes that Wolf turned away. What killed their momentum was a cross-checking call at 2:14. This allowed the Wranglers to get some zone time for the first time in this game.
Just 24 seconds into this power play, Klapka got tagged for roughing and cut the man advantage short. Penalties slowed until the midway mark in the first when the Canucks got a couple of calls. The first goal of this game came at 17:33 from Aatu Raty when he buried a rebound on the doorstep.
Alex Kannok Leipert and Colton Poolman dropped the gloves shortly after this goal. Kannok Leipert was tagged for an instigating call and a misconduct in addition to the fighting major due. This all started because Gallant put up a big hit on his teammate and Kannok Leipert came to his defence.
At the end of 20 minutes, the Canucks had a 1-0 lead and shots were even at 11-11. In the second, the strings of penalties slowed down and only offsetting roughing calls were dealt just about halfway through the frame.
The Wranglers got a goal back in the second with a marker from Brett Sutter. He came up the rush with Adam Klapka and Yan Kuznetsov and was right in the slot to receive Kuznetsov’s rebound and got a wrist shot past Tolopilo. This goal came at 13:03.
That was the only goal through the second and after two complete periods, the score was 1-1 and shots were 9-7 for Calgary. Early in the third, Rory Kerins got the Wranglers the first lead of the night with a one-timer just 2:10 into the frame. William Stromgren registered the lone assist on this goal.
The Canucks didn’t let that lead stand long as they answered back with a goal from Sheldon Dries at 6:50. Dries was in front of the net and angled his body to deflect the puck past Wolf. It was a good heads-up play that earned them the tie.
Both sides tried to break the tie once again but couldn’t get it done by the end of 60 minutes. They both earned a point and went into overtime. Overtime was very short lived as the first shot of the extra frame was a goal. Linus Karlsson took a shot wide off the end boards and forced Dustin Wolf down into a save. When he got his deflection back on his stick, he got it past Wolf before the Wranglers netminder could get back on his feet.
The final between these two was 3-2 for the Canucks. The Canucks also lead the way in shots 29-26.
Scoring stat summary
Brett Sutter – 1G
Rory Kerins – 1G
William Stromgren – 1A
Next up
The Wranglers continue their stretch on the road with a familiar opponent. They face the Manitoba Moose this weekend for the third and fourth time in about two weeks. They’ll play next in Winnipeg, MB for a 6:00 p.m. game on Friday.
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