Axel Hurtig banks a point shot off a Barracuda player and scores 20 seconds into this game
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Recap: Ben Jones had another two goal game but Wranglers fall by one in San Jose
Photo credit: Photo Credit: Andreea Cardani/San Jose Barracuda
Oct 17, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 17, 2026, 02:12 EDT
The Calgary Wranglers were in another scoring battle against the San Jose Barracuda on Friday night after going back and forth in their last match-up on Wednesday. Calgary pulled away with a 6-4 win due to a goal in the last minute and an empty netter to seal it. In this game, these teams kept up with each other’s scoring pace but the Barracuda’s final goal in the third was where the chase ended. Calgary fell in San Jose 5-4.
Lineup notes
The team made a pre-game update on Will Dineen, who has missed the last four games. He is listed as a day-to-day lower body injury. That might put him out for the weekend but we could still see him at some point on this road trip. Otherwise, Connor Zary was back on left wing on the top line for the second game in a row and Alex Gallant was back in the lineup in place of Nikita Pavlychev.
Wranglers lines
Connor Zary – Ben Jones – Alex Nylander
Dryden Hunt – Rory Kerins – Luke Philp
Sam Morton – Tyson Gross – William Stromgren
Alex Gallant – Carter Wilkie – Andrew Basha
Jake Livingstone – Hunter Brzustewicz
Axel Hurtig – Brayden Pachal
Abram Wiebe – Mike Benning
Arsenii Sergeev
Game at a glance
After a day between games, the Wranglers and Barracuda went with the same goaltending match up for this game with Arsenii Sergeev starting for Calgary and Eric Comrie starting for San Jose. This game got going literally from the first shot, which was a point shot from Axel Hurtig just 20 seconds in that banked off a Barracuda player in front of the net. Sam Morton and Tyson Gross picked up the assists on this opening goal.
33 seconds later, San Jose answered right back with a backhand goal from Thomas Messineo. At 2:10, Axel Hurtig and Carson Wetsch, former Calgary Hitmen teammates, dropped the gloves and fought behind the play in the Barracuda’s zone. What triggered this fight wasn’t super obvious from the context of the gameplay at that time.
A scrap between former Calgary Hitmen teammates, Axel Hurtig and Carson Wetsch
At 2:46, Tyson Gross got puck possession back with a forced turnover that made its way over to Sam Morton, then back to Gross to set up William Stromgren for his first goal of the season.
Tyson Gross forces a turnover and gets back into position to set William Stromgren up for his first goal of the year
In this same minute, at 2:59, Mike Benning was called for interference and nine seconds into this San Jose power play, the Barracuda put it in the back of the net. The goal scorer was Brett Leason, who shot the rebound in.
The crazy opening five minutes died down and the next notable action came at 10:39, when San Jose took their first lead of the game due to a goal from Filip Bystedt from the slot. Calgary tried to even up the scoring once again and the best chance came from a Connor Zary set up over to Alex Nylander. There were no more penalties or goals through the rest of the frame and the first finished with the Barracuda up 3-2 in goals and 13-8 in shots.
The Wranglers were shorthanded early in the second period when Alex Nylander was called for hooking at 3:02. They managed to kill off this penalty and at 6:55, Ben Jones went bar down off a feed from Mike Benning. Abram Wiebe also picked up an assist on this equalizing goal.
Ben Jones is Calgary's hottest scorer right now with this marker being his fifth goal in four games.
Shortly after, at 7:23, Rory Kerins was called for a high sticking double minor and to have his captain’s back, Jones netted another. He broke up a pass in the Wranglers’ zone and sprung himself on a breakaway and scored Calgary’s first shorthanded goal of the season.
A shorty from Ben Jones. His second goal of the game to put the Wranglers up 4-3
Calgary killed off the rest of Kerins’ penalty and at 11:12, got on their first power play of the night due to a roughing call against Andre Gasseau. Shortly after they got back to even strength, Andre Gasseau scored at 14:42 to even the game up once again off a bar down shot of his own.
This score held to the end of the period and at the end of 40 minutes, it was an even 4-4 game and shots were up to 26-18 for the Barracuda. Both teams were playing tight in the third period but something gave at 5:59, when Donovan Houle elevated a shot past Sergeev to take a 5-4 lead for the home team.
At 12:49, the Wranglers got a chance to even things up once again when the Barracuda were called for too many men. They weren’t able to generate a goal on this power play and at 18:06, Calgary pulled Arsenii Sergeev for the extra attacker. At the next whistle, Brett Sutter called a timeout.
At 18:54, Barracuda captain Jimmy Huntington was headed towards the empty net and Hunter Brzustewicz tripped him up to prevent the goal. The Wranglers still had to work from behind shorthanded in the last minute but at least it was just one goal to make up instead of two. In the last two seconds, Dryden Hunt was taken down along the boards and San Jose was called for tripping. The face-off was in the Barracuda’s zone but Calgary lost it and the game ended.
The Wranglers fell 5-4 in their first road loss of the season and shots finished 33-30 for San Jose. Ben Jones was the only Wrangler on the three stars and earned the second star of the game for his two goal night.
Scoring stat summary
Mike Benning – 1A
Axel Hurtig – 1G
Abram Wiebe – 1A
William Stromgren – 1G
Ben Jones – 2G
Tyson Gross – 2A
Sam Morton – 2A
Highlights
Next up
The Wranglers stay in California this weekend and bus over to Bakersfield to face the Condors on Saturday. Game time is set for 8:10 p.m. MT.
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