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Recap: Moose momentum takes down Wranglers on Sunday night
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Photo credit: David Moll/Calgary Wranglers
Paige Siewert
Jan 6, 2025, 12:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 6, 2025, 03:42 EST
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The Calgary Wranglers and Manitoba Moose started their weekend with a dramatic overtime game on Friday and finished their weekend with the closing half of their series on Sunday night. The Wranglers were caught on their heels for the second half of their last meeting and it nearly cost them the game.
The Moose still had some momentum that carried over from that comeback effort and that led them to a 3-2 win over the Wranglers in this match-up.

Wranglers lines

William Stromgren – Rory Kerins – Dryden Hunt
Sam Honzek – Clark Bishop – Martin Frk 
Lucas Ciona – Sam Morton – Adam Klapka 
Alex Gallant – David Silye – Parker Bell
Hunter Brzustewicz – Yan Kuznetsov
Jonathan Aspirot – Ilya Solovyov 
Artem Grushnikov – Jeremie Poirier 
Devin Cooley

Game at a glance

The Moose opted to start this game with the same netminder that finished their game on Friday. This was Thomas Milic. On the Wranglers end, they went back to Devin Cooley. On paper, the Wranglers were set up with the better start when Dmitry Kuzmin was called for a high sticking double minor just 2:36 into the game. However, the Moose had some juice left from their big comeback last game and turned it around the other way.
The Wranglers gave them a bit too much time and space and a turnover at centre ice ended up in the back of the net just 3:51 in. Parker Ford was the goal scorer on the shorthanded marker and his goal went unassisted. Calgary wasn’t able to generate much on the remaining time of this extended power play and carried on with the game through even strength.
They got another chance on the man advantage at 12:52 when Mason Shaw was called for hooking and were unable to generate a single shot on goal in this two minutes of play. They got a bit of zone time but weren’t quite looking like themselves in the opening frame. The first finished with a 1-0 lead for the Moose and shots were an even 5-5.
In the second period, the Wranglers seemed to snap into their play a little better and quickly evened up the score with Lucas Ciona’s third goal of the year. The Wranglers were able to get set up in the offensive zone and Jeremie Poirier took a shot from the point that Lucas Ciona tried to deflect but then scored on the rebound that came back to him. Artem Grushnikov also picked up an assist on this goal. 
There was a little bit of work on the penalty kill and power play after this goal and towards the midway mark of the period, a bit of physical action was starting to show itself. It was mostly between Kevin Conley, who got tangled up with William Stromgren behind Manitoba’s net. He ended up pinning him to the ice and Dryden Hunt came to the defence of his linemate. He gave Conley an earful at the next whistle and the Wranglers alternate captain was on the receiving end of an ugly hit along the boards a few minutes later. 
The Moose got their lead back later in the period when a pretty easy shot made its way over to Devin Cooley off the stick of Kevin Conley but the puck slipped between his legs. C.J. Suess and Dylan Anhorn assisted on this second visiting goal. 
Calgary struggled to set anything up after this goal as they were mostly penalty killing. Yan Kuznetsov had a standout play among these PKs when the puck slipped past Devin Cooley and was loose in the crease. Kuznetsov made a heads up play to chip the puck out of immediate danger and saved a goal. 
The Wranglers tried to get something going on a late power play but the buzzer sounded before they could get any solid looks. The second period finished with the Moose up 2-1 and shots in this frame were 9-8 Calgary.
The Wranglers started the third on this man-advantage and Rory Kerins had the best chance to equalize this game but was unable to. With four games over the last week, the fatigue was showing itself by the third period. With just under five minutes to go in regulation, the Wranglers finally got another puck past Milic and made it a 2-2 hockey game.
Sam Morton was in deep in the zone and flipped a backhand shot that went bar down on the opposing netminder. Jeremie Poirier got another primary assist on this marker and Adam Klapka was credited with the secondary assist. 
This jolt of momentum was quickly put out when the Moose went the other way and scored with just 90 seconds left in regulation. Nikita Chibrikov took a shot that went post and in on Devin Cooley.
With about 1:05 left in the third, the Wranglers coaching staff pulled Cooley for the extra attacker, then took a timeout to try and strategize for that next goal. The home team couldn’t find that late equalizer. They split their weekend series and fell to the Moose 3-2 on Sunday night. Shots finished 25-23 for Calgary.

Scoring stat summary

Lucas Ciona – 1G
Jeremie Poirier – 2A
Artem Grushnikov – 1A
Adam Klapka – 1A
Sam Morton – 1G

Highlights

Next up

After a busy week of hockey, the schedule lightens up a little for Calgary. They will hit the road but don’t play again until Friday. They’ll take some time to rest and practice before they head to Loveland, CO to play the Eagles on Friday and Saturday night. Both games have a 7:05 p.m. MT puck drop.

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