Recap: 14 Wranglers contributed to scoring in 8-4 win over the Gulls
4 months ago
The high-scoring trend the Calgary Wranglers and San Diego Gulls have had against each other all season continued on Sunday evening for their fourth meeting of the year. The last two games in February went San Diego’s way but in this one, the Wranglers scored eight to double up their opponents 8-4.
Game at a glance
Oscar Dansk was between the pipes for this game in his second straight start and on the other end, Tomas Suchanek was between the pipes to start. The skaters weren’t giving the netminders any time to settle in as the first got going pretty much right off the jump.
Both sides got their first pair of shots on goal in the opening five minutes and the first penalty of the game was called just six minutes in. Sasha Pastujov of the Gulls was called for high sticking and just 53 seconds into this power play, Glenn Gawdin casually skated the puck into the Calgary zone and caught his opponent sleeping. He got a shot past Dansk and opened up the scoring with a shorthanded goal for the home team.
Just after this power play expired, Mitch McLain answered back with a glove-side goal right on the doorstep. Jonathan Aspirot and William Stromgren picked up the assists.
Just under a minute later at 9:03, Ilya Solovyov put the Wranglers up by one with a wraparound goal. Jakob Pelletier and Jordan Oesterle picked up the helpers on Solovyov’s fourth goal of the year.
30 seconds after this goal Jeremie Poirier was called for slashing and just 10 seconds into the Gulls’ power play, Glenn Gawdin scored another special teams goal to even up the score 2-2. That was the last goal in the first period but the string of penalties continued. At the end of 20 minutes, the score was an even 2-2 and Calgary outshot San Diego 14-6.
In the second period, the Wranglers started the frame with a four-on-three power play for 35 seconds. They didn’t get their lead back off this opportunity so play continued as usual. The goals were quiet for a few minutes then Mitch McLain capitalized on a goaltender error on the power play. Suchanek played the puck behind the net and in his clearing attempt, turned it over right to the stick of McLain. This goal came at 7:12.
Shortly after this goal, four players were called for roughing when Jonathan Aspirot and Lucas Ciona both got tangled up with opposing skaters who were on the verge of fights but didn’t quite escalate that way.
The next goal was much later in the period at 17:19. Mitch McLain scored his third goal of the night and earned his first professional hat trick. Brett Sutter and Clark Bishop got tied up along the boards and cleared the puck up to McLain to put the Wranglers up 4-2.
Ilya Solovyov snuck another goal in before the end of the period at 18:53. He got the puck off the faceoff win and took a shot that beat Suchankek. Lucas Ciona and Ben Jones assisted on the fifth goal of the night for Calgary.
At the end of the second period, the Wranglers had a 5-2 lead over the Gulls and had an 8-6 edge in shots. In the third, San Diego made a change in net and Calle Clang replaced Tomas Suchanek. Glenn Gawdin scored his hat trick marker early in the period just 38 seconds in. He was in front to deflect a shot in and was going toe to toe with McLain for the most individual goals on the night. This goal was also on the power play.
The Wranglers didn’t hang their heads on this one and added to their score just shy of a minute later with a goal from Jakob Pelletier at 1:29. Pelletier snuck in a goal when the puck bounded off the end boards and he took a sharp angle shot that got past Clang. Sam Morton and Adam Klapka assisted on the sixth Wranglers goal of the night.
At 6:54 there was a mess of a situation that started with a fight between Adam Klapka and Nick Wolff. They both got their five minute majors then Wolff picked up an extra call for unsportsmanlike conduct and Travis Howe was called for an abuse of officials misconduct.
This left the Wranglers on a five-on-three for the next play. The Wranglers added a seventh goal off the next faceoff when Jeremie Poirier got the puck off the faceoff win, then passed it around before receiving it again and ripping a slap shot into the back of the net. Cole Schwindt and Jakob Pelletier assisted. This goal was at 7:04, just 10 seconds into the power play.
At 11:15, the Gulls got their fourth goal of the night off a three-on-two. Nathan Gaucher was the goal scorer for this one. An offsetting minor penalty came shortly after this goal and once that two minutes was over and done with, the Gulls got strategizing for some sort of miracle comeback.
They pulled Calle Clang at 17:41 and by 17:47, Adam Klapka scored on the empty net. Clang remained in the net and the score finished up 8-4 for Calgary. Shots were 34-19 for Calgary and on the three star side of things, there was a bit of a home team bias as Glenn Gawdin earned the first star, Mitch McLain earned the second and Ilya Solovyov earned the third.
Scoring stat summary
Jeremie Poirier – 1G
Mitch McLain – 3G
Brett Sutter – 1A
Ilya Solovyov – 2G
Jordan Oesterle – 1A
Lucas Ciona – 1A
Ben Jones – 1A
Clark Bishop – 1A
Adam Klapka – 1G, 1A
William Stromgren – 1A
Sam Morton – 1A
Jonathan Aspirot – 2A
Jakob Pelletier – 1G, 2A
Next up
Calgary’s schedule isn’t much easier going into this week with another four-game week. They’ll start on Tuesday for a two-game series against the Coachella Valley Firebirds then finish up the week with a two-game series against the San Jose Barracuda. The good news about this week is all four games will be played at home. Their next game on Tuesday will be at 7:00 p.m. MT.
Was it a legal hit? Will the NHL hand out a suspension? How does the appeal process work? Who is the heavyweight champ? Every Tuesday, Ryan Pinder & former NHLer Jay Rosehill are in your Department of Discipline. Tune in to catch their takes on some of the most scrutinized parts of hockey. Check it out and subscribe to catch the latest episodes!
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