Series preview: Wranglers look to hold Pacific top spot in Silver Knights series
6 months ago
After falling in both games of their series against the Coachella Valley Firebirds earlier this week, the Calgary Wranglers are back in action this weekend to host the Henderson Silver Knights. They’ll need to get some scoring going and get back into the win column this weekend to keep their narrow hold on the top spot of the Pacific Division.
Projected lineups
Calgary
Emilio Pettersen – Clark Bishop – Matt Coronato
Rory Kerins – Ben Jones – Adam Klapka
William Stromgren – Cole Schwindt – Mitch McLain
Lucas Ciona – Ilya Nikolaev – Alex Gallant
Ilya Solovyov – Mark Pysyk
Yan Kuznetsov – Colton Poolman
Jonathan Aspirot – Brady Lyle
Dustin Wolf
Oscar Dansk
Henderson
Brendan Brisson – Gage Quinney – Sheldon Rempal
Jonas Rondbjerg – Byron Froese – Grigori Denisenko
Tyler Benson – Jakub Demek – Daniel D’Amato
Mason Geertsen – Adam Cracknell – Mason Primeau
Jake Bischoff – Christoffer Sefoff
Layton Ahac – Lukas Cormier
Daniil Chayka – Dysin Mayo
Jesper Vikman
Isaiah Saville
Leaders
Calgary
Matt Coronato – 23GP, 10GF, 16A
Ben Jones -31 GP, 11G, 12A
Emilio Pettersen – 31 GP, 6G, 17A
Henderson
Grigori Denisenko – 31GP, 12G, 18A
Adam Cracknell – 33GP, 13G, 10A
Brendan Brisson – 33GP, 10G, 13A
Notes and expectations
The biggest piece of news to come out around the Wranglers this week was Oliver Kylington’s conditioning assignment to the team. This is a huge step in the possible return of Kylington to the Flames lineup after an almost two-year absence. The Flames announced his assignment on Thursday and he practiced with the Wranglers that same day. The Flames also released a statement from Kylington shortly after the news broke.
After practice, Wranglers Head Coach Trent Cull spoke to the media and implied Kylington will likely not be in for this series but his return is still on the horizon. He said,
“That’s his first day. Let him get out there, have a practice. See how he’s feeling. I think we just kinda go on day-by-day and see how he does.”
For this matchup against the Silver Knights, the Wranglers have had the edge on this team in the games they have played so far this season. They last saw each other almost exactly a month ago on Dec. 1 & 3. The first game ended with a 2-1 Wranglers win and a much larger scoring battle in the second game with a 7-4 final score for Calgary.
The concerning part for the Wranglers at this point, however, is quiet production. In their last two games, they only scored a goal a game. One from Clark Bishop and one from Yan Kuznetsov. Now, Bishop did look good on a line with Matt Coronato and Emilio Pettersen in their last game, but they need to make more happen than a goal a night if they want to secure wins.
This series starts Friday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome with a 7:00 p.m. puck drop. It’s another back-to-back for the Wranglers as they’ll wrap up the series on Saturday night at the same time. You can catch these games in person, stream them on AHL.tv or follow along with the radio broadcast on the Fan960. FlamesNation contributors Mike Gould and I will have updates on X (formerly Twitter).
This article is presented to you by BK Bowfort Liquor Store!
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