Wranglers Playoff Game Day: Calgary looking for quick comeback in game two
11 months ago
The Calgary Wranglers have a rough one to bounce back from as they fell to the Coachella Valley Firebirds 6-3 on Thursday night. It was the first game Dustin Wolf got pulled from since the start of the season and while they kept up with the first three goals, the game got out of hand and was out of reach for the home team. They will play their rematch on Friday night in a hugely important home game before they hit the road for the remainder of the series.
Projected lineups
Calgary
Jakob Pelletier – Ben Jones – Matthew Phillips
Dryden Hunt – Cole Schwindt – Walker Duehr
Brett Sutter – Clark Bishop – Kevin Rooney
Emilio Pettersen – Connor Zary – Adam Klapka
Ilya Solovyov – Nick DeSimone
Jeremie Poirier – Colton Poolman
Yan Kuznetsov – Nicolas Meloche
Dustin Wolf
Coachella Valley
Kole Lind – Alexander True – Max McCormick
Jeremy McKenna – Cameron Hughes – Luke Henman
Carsen Twarynski – Ville Petman – Austin Poganski
David Goyette – Shane Wright – Nick Pastujov
Ryker Evans – Matt Tennyson
Eddie Wittchow – Jimmy Schuldt
Gustav Olofsson – Brogan Rafferty
Joey Daccord
Postseason leaders
Calgary
Nick DeSimone – 5GP, 1G, 4A
Matthew Phillips – 5GP, 1G, 4A
Dryden Hunt – 3G, 1A
Coachella Valley
Kole Lind – 9GP, 6G, 8A
Max McCormick – 9GP, 6G, 7A
Ryker Evans – 9GP, 1G, 9A
Notes and expectations
At this point in the post-season, the Wranglers’ best players are not playing to the best of their abilities. Dryden Hunt and Adam Klapka lead the team in goals with three each when that title should be with the regular season leaders, Matthew Phillips and Jakob Pelletier. Head Coach Mitch Love has been moving things around in the lineup to find something that works but quite simply, they need goals and they need to back up their goaltender.
Connor Zary received the demotion down to the fourth line in the first match-up of this series and Cole Schwindt played his way up to the second line. Thankfully, they have the advantage of lineup depth of their side but when you’re playing one of the league’s best teams, you have to bring your best too. I’d imagine some lineup adjustments will be made for game two to find that ideal winning combination of lines and pairings.
Speaking of the best, the AHL’s best goaltender, Dustin Wolf did not finish game one. He was pulled after the fifth goal and did not finish a game he started for the first time since the season opener against, you guessed it, Coachella Valley. For reference, Wolf gave up five goals in his professional debut then did not lose in regulation until 20 games later. Only two of those 20 resulted in overtime losses. If there’s anyone to trust in net after a tough loss like that, Dustin Wolf is your go-guy.
Expect to see Wolf in the net for game two with Oscar Dansk on standby just in case. Friday’s puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m. MT at the Saddledome. You can catch this game in person or stream it on AHL.tv. The Fan960 is also providing radio coverage of the game if you’re looking for free coverage. Multiple FlamesNation members will also have updates on Twitter.
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