Recap: Calgary Wranglers defencemen lead scoring in 3-2 win against the Moose
1 year ago
The Calgary Wranglers completed their mid-week match-up against the Manitoba Moose on Thursday night. They had a pretty flat game previously on Tuesday evening where Calgary fell 4-1 and Cole Schwindt was the only Wranglers scorer. They got a few more goals in this game and a little revenge on the Moose to pair with that. They won 3-2 on Thursday night and earned a split on the week.
Lineup notes
If you were keenly watching to see if Matthew Phillips or Radim Zohorna were back in the lineup, it was strictly a paper transaction as FlamesNation managing editor Ryan Pike pointed out prior to game time.
They were not in the lineup for the Wranglers on Thursday night and will most likely quietly return to the Flames lineup sheet (even if scratched) in time for their game against the St. Louis Blues.
Game at a glance
If you wanted the lineup for this game, hit the shuffle button. The lines were all over the place for the first period with one guy switching out on each combination every shift it seemed.
It was a pretty even opening period. Shots stayed pretty close and neither team looked overly overpowering. Towards the last few minutes of the period, the tensions from Tuesday started showing themselves once again. A little puck flipping, chirping and pushing and shoving after the whistle was becoming more frequent.
In the next play, Dennis Gilbert dropped the gloves against Jeff Malott. Gilbert seemed to get the better of that fight getting a few punches landed before they fell to the ice. In the five minutes they were in the box, not much other scoring activity occurred and both teams finished up the opening frame scoreless.
The second period was a lot more stop and go. Lots of whistles and lots of penalties. Emilio Pettersen was really making his presence known with some high quality scoring chances. He didn’t make it on the board for a goal but did assist the first Wranglers goal of the night.
The Wranglers found themselves on a 5-on-3 around the midway mark of the period and within 18 seconds, the puck was in the back of the Moose net from a shot off the stick of Jeremie Poirier. Pettersen assisted as well as Cole Schwindt.
The Wranglers didn’t hold the lead for long as the Moose snuck the puck past Dustin Wolf with a minute and a half to go in the second. Things stayed evened up after 40 minutes with the Wranglers holding a 22-18 edge in shots.
The third period caught some early misfortune for the Wranglers. Brett Sutter was called for a hit to the head only 2:56 into the period and a mere six seconds later, the Moose scored to take the lead for the first time in this game.
The Wranglers didn’t let that one go unanswered with Jakob Pelletier netting a goal of his own on the power play. The top PP unit had a great play that was assisted by Connor Zary and Mitch McLain. This put Pelletier in double digits for goals with his 10th of the season.
The Wranglers wanted to take back control of the game and scored again to regain their lead. Yan Kuznetsov ripped a shot from the point just over a minute and 20 seconds after Pelletier’s goal and put the Wranglers up 3-2 with 11 minutes to go in regulation. Emilio Pettersen picked up his second assist of the night and Nicholas Meloche earned the second assist on Kuznetsov’s second of the year. This went on to be the game-winner.
The Moose pulled their goalie with 1:59 to go in regulation. It worked in their favour too. Not in a sense that they got a goal, but in a sense that they got a lot of solid zone time and quite a few quality scoring chances. Dustin Wolf held his ground and kept this game in the reigns of the Wranglers.
Head Coach Mitch Love spoke about his performance post-game saying,
“He’s the best line of defence for us. He’s done it for about a year and a half now. Things break down and he finds a way to make a save. That’s his job. We ask him and Oscar to give us opportunities to win each and every night and honestly, Dustin did it the last couple nights for us.”
Wolf stopped 36/38 Manitoba shots on Thursday’s game and earned his 14th win of the season. The next closest goalie in the AHL with that many wins is three behind him at 11.
Highlights
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Next up
The Wranglers will have a weekend off for the first time in a while and come back next week for a back-to-back match-up on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. They will host Brett Sutter’s former team, the Ontario Reign for two 7:00 p.m. MT games. Sutter is also projected to hit his 1,000th AHL game milestone in the second half of that series on Dec. 21.
It’ll be a special night for the Wranglers captain and you can show your support at the ‘Dome or stream it on AHL.TV.
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