Recap: Calgary Wranglers upset in San Jose in 3-0 shutout loss
7 months ago
In a game the Calgary Wranglers were the heavy favourites in, they were upset by a fellow Pacific Division competitor on Friday night. Going into this game, Calgary was at the top of the division and San Jose was at the bottom. The way this game played out, the script was flipped and the home team had more of a drive to win. San Jose beat Calgary 3-0 in game one of this back-to-back series.
Lineup notes
Calgary captain Brett Sutter returned to the lineup for this game. This was his first game in about a month after being out with an injury. Also returning to the lineup was Alex Gallant. Gallant finished serving the last game of his four-game suspension last weekend and was back skating for the Wranglers in Friday’s game.
With two more forwards in, the two that were out for this game were Mark Duarte and William Stromgren.
Game at a glance
The Wranglers didn’t have much of a dominating start in this game and were outplayed for most of the first half of the period. They started getting their share of shots after the midway mark of the period but neither side capitalized. After starting on their heels, the Wranglers caught up in shots to finish the first period with a 10-9 edge in shots.
In the second, the Wranglers were shorthanded for much of the first half of the period. The scoring would finally open up about three-quarters of the way through the frame. Shakir Mukhamadullin scored for San Jose at 14:35 with a shot from the blue line. The Barracuda had a big period of opportunities and were finally rewarded with a 1-0 lead.
Towards the end of the period, Ben Jones got going with Tanner Kaspick but it was not enough to draw a major penalty. Each took offsetting penalties for roughing at 19:48. A major was dealt before the end of the period, though. Dryden Hunt was called for interference with just three seconds to go in the second after he put up a huge hit at centre ice. As a result of this call, Calgary started the third shorthanded on a four-on-three.
Shots in the middle frame were 18-8 favouring San Jose. In the third, the Barracuda struck early on the power play with their second goal taking place at 1:01. Thomas Bordeleau finished off a power play tic-tac-toe play with a one-timer and put the home team up 2-0.
This early penalty would bite the Wranglers again when Nathan Todd scored for the Barracuda at 3:14 to take this game to 3-0. San Jose briefly lost possession of the puck and when they regained the zone, Todd roofed a shot past Dansk. This was the last goal of a disappointing night for Calgary but they still had the rest of the period to play out.
Later in the period, Alex Gallant got a little involved in some frustrations of the game and was called for roughing at 14:31. Danil Gushchin of the Barracuda was called for goaltender interference 10 seconds later and with a 4-on-4 in the last five minutes of a game Calgary was down three in, the coaching staff opted to keep Dansk in the net instead of pulling him for an extra attacker. At 18:38 the biggest overflow of emotions took place and an unlikely fighter, Yan Kuznetsov dropped the gloves with Scott Sabourin. Artem Guryev and Mitch McLain were also dealt 10-minute misconduct calls.
Time ran out and the Barracuda took a 3-0 win. Offensive opportunities were not frequent enough or of high enough quality from the Wranglers and they were outshot 37-22. Oscar Dansk was credited with the loss for his third straight start and his season record now sits at 6-2-2-0.
Next up
The Wranglers need a quick bounce back as they will be back in the same venue against the same team on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. MT.
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