Recap: Calgary Wranglers blow 2-0 lead late in the third, fall 3-2 in OT
1 year ago
The Calgary Wranglers and Ontario Reign finished up their midweek back-to-back series on Wednesday night. While the Wranglers were ahead in the series and ahead in the game for the majority of it, the Reign completed a full comeback and bested them in overtime. The final score was 3-2 Ontario.
Game at a glance
This game wasted no time getting right into it. The first period was electric with a lot of exciting action to watch. First off was a fight just a mere 1:55 into the game. Alex Gallant dropped the gloves to answer for a big hit and fought an Ontario player and ignited the energy early.
Shortly after the fight, 3:34 in, Ben Jones redirected a shot from Mitch McLain and quickly put the Wranglers up 1-0. Yan Kuznetsov also picked up an assist on Jones’ ninth goal of the year.
Just over three minutes later, Adam Klapka also dropped the gloves and in addition to his fighting major, Emilio Pettersen had to serve a roughing call on Klapka’s behalf. On the other end of the ice, Dustin Wolf was getting absolutely peppered. Dustin Wolf stopped 19 Reign shots through the first 20 minutes and the Wranglers scored on one of the eight shots they put up in the first period. There was no other scoring through the first but the pace was quick and the tensions were high.
The Wranglers momentum continued into the second period, where Nick DeSimone scored the second goal for the Wranglers 6:55 in. Emilio Pettersen and Clark Bishop picked up the helpers.
The Wranglers out-shot the Reign 13-6 through the second and were up 2-0 going into the third. The third period was pretty harmless, to begin with. Unfortunately for the Wranglers, things started to unravel in the last six minutes of regulation.
The Reign scored their first of the night on a shorthanded goal 14:35 into the third period and Calgary was unable to stop the bleeding that momentum-changing goal caused. With just 2:11 to go in regulation, Ontario would find the back of the net again and tie the game up at two. The third period ended in a stunning fashion as the Wranglers had a few minutes to hang onto a 2-0 lead and lost it in the blink of an eye.
Their misfortune continued in overtime as the Reign sealed the complete comeback just 33 seconds into the extra frame on their first shot. With the game action that occurred in the last seven minutes or so of the game, the Wranglers played themselves out of a win and out of any recognition on the three stars of the night.
Dustin Wolf was in net for the 3-2 loss and the Reign finished with a shot advantage of 30-29. Their series finished up with a 1-1 split with the Wranglers taking game one and the Reign taking game two. These two will see each other again on Sunday night.
Highlights
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Next Up
The Wranglers will have a couple of days to reflect on this series and this game in particular. They will be on the road for the weekend to play two games against two different opponents. They’ll face the Henderson Silver Knights in their next game on Saturday and will need a different approach to the team that swept them in their last meeting. Saturday’s game will get started at 8:00 p.m. MT.
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