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Recap: Rory Kerins leads Wranglers to much-needed shootout win
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Photo credit: Jonathan Kozub/Manitoba Moose
Paige Siewert
Feb 17, 2026, 10:00 ESTUpdated: Feb 16, 2026, 21:38 EST
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The Calgary Wranglers continued their road trip with a Family Day matinee against the Manitoba Moose. Calgary’s efforts were lead by Rory Kerins, who unofficially scored three but had his first one called back. Kerins helped bring the Wranglers to overtime and eventually a shootout. In the shootout, Arsenii Sergeev continued to stand tall against their Eastern opponents and Matvei Gridin put the bow on the game with his shootout game-winner. The Wranglers won 3-2.

Lineup notes

The Wranglers provided an injury update prior to this game that included news of Owen Say undergoing successful surgery. He will be out for the remainder of the season. There was also some clarification on the reasoning for Dryden Hunt’s absence. He and Alex Gallant are out day-to-day with upper-body injuries. The lines took a bit of a shuffle again and the only other lineup note outside of a goaltending swap was Artem Grusnikov coming out for this game and Etienne Morin coming in for his first game of the month. 

Wranglers lines

Carter King – Clark Bishop – Justin Kirkland
William Stromgren – Rory Kerins – Martin Frk
Matvei Gridin – Sam Morton – Aydar Suniev
Parker Bell – Carter Wilkie – Lucas Ciona
Nick Cicek – Daniil Miromanov
Turner Ottenbreit – Hunter Brzustewicz
Etienne Morin – Gavin White
Arsenii Sergeev

Game at a glance

After a day between games, both teams switched things up in net with Arsenii Sergeev getting the nod for Calgary and Domenic DiVincentiis getting the start for Manitoba. Sergeev needed to be sharp early, facing a shot just 12 seconds into the game. The Wranglers got their bearings shortly after and started taking some chances the other way. 
At 9:27, the first penalty of the game went against the Manitoba Moose for slashing. Sergeev was able to get off early and gave Calgary about an extra 26 seconds of time with an extra skater. In the last few seconds of the power play, Martin Frk rang a shot off the post and it was that close to a 1-0 game. 
The Moose ended up being the ones to score first with a point shot from Ville Heinola at 13:37. They kept some pressure on Calgary after this but the Wranglers pushed back harder to prevent any high danger chances. They weren’t able to cycle much the other way and the first period ended in a 1-0 lead for the Moose. Shots through the first were 9-8 for Manitoba. 
Early in the second period, it looked like Rory Kerins scored at 1:40, but the officials waived it off for goaltender interference. It seemed the contact that knocked DiVincentiis off balance was off contact from his own teammate but William Stromgren got the blame. The Wranglers on the ice protested this but the call stood.
Play continued for many minutes after this without a stoppage. At 10:30, the Wranglers had another great scoring chance with Rory Kerins on the doorstep, trying to force the puck into the net. The Moose netminder managed to keep it out. William Stromgren got the puck up to Martin Frk and Frk passed it to Kerins across the crease. 
The Moose put up a chance shortly after this Wranglers opportunity and at 13:09, Manitoba won an offensive zone faceoff and went for another shot from the point that Ville Heinola took again and David Gustafsson got the final touch on this on the deflection to make it a 2-0 game for the home team. 
Daniil Miromanov had a look to follow up this goal and the Wranglers had another chance on the man advantage to try and cut into Manitoba’s lead. At 15:12, the Moose were called for cross-checking. Rory Kerins finally got the goal he was itching for on this chance with a one-timer set up from Sam Morton. Matvei Gridin also assisted on this marker at 16:55. 
With just 37 seconds to go in the period, Clark Bishop had the puck on his stick and had a second to pick a spot and DiVincentiis stopped him point blank with a glove save. The Wranglers wrapped up the second period with the momentum in their favour and trailing by one. Calgary doubled up Manitoba in shots in the second period 16-8. 
Just 1:10 into the third period, the Wranglers got another chance on the power play when the Moose were called for interference on William Stromgren. Calgary got a couple of shots on this chance, but it didn’t affect the scoring. After this special teams opportunity, things went pretty back and forth. 
Aydar Suniev had a chance on a rush on his own around the five minute mark but his shot was turned away. At 9:18, the Moose were called for yet another interference call and the Wranglers kept the pressure going for that equalizing goal. At 13:54, Aydar Suniev was taken down at center ice in a hit he wasn’t expecting. He was slow to get up but remained on the bench and was able to return to play. 
At 15:41, the Wranglers tied the game with another goal from Rory Kerins. Daniil Miromanov got the set up going and between him and Martin Frk making some room in front of the net, this left Kerins space to put the puck past Domenic DiVincentiis.
It was all Wranglers for the rest of regulation and it was Nick Cicek who had the best chance on the last 42 seconds of the game off a one-timer. At the end of regulation, the score was tied up 2-2 and the Wranglers doubled up the Moose in shots in the third period again 16-8. 
The Moose registered the first shot of overtime and the Wranglers were able to set up a play that Kerins got up to Justin Kirkland from his knees but Kirkland rang it off the post. After this, the Moose took the rush the other way and Arsenii Sergeev kept this chance out for one of his best saves of the game. 
The Wranglers’ near perfect game on penalties was prevented with just six seconds left in overtime when Martin Frk was called for hooking when he was trying to stop a scoring opportunity. A worthwhile penalty at that point. At the end of overtime, there was no winner decided and the Moose registered the only two official shots in the extra frame. 
In the shootout, Arsenii Sergeev stopped all three Manitoba shooters with confidence. Sergeev was being noticeably aggressive with his poke check and it was paying off. The Wranglers went with William Stromgren and Justin Kirkland to start and they were both stopped then Matvei Gridin came in to score the game-winner.
The Wranglers picked up a well-earned win and two important points in this 3-2 win. Rory Kerins was awarded the first star of the game and Gridin picked up the third. Final shots were 41-27 for the Wranglers. Kerins was all over the footprint of this game and really made this win happen for his team. It was one of his best individual efforts of the season.

Scoring stat summary

Rory Kerins – 2G
Matvei Gridin – 1A
Daniil Miromanov – 1A
Martin Frk – 1A
Sam Morton – 1A

Next up

The Wranglers travel home briefly, then head right back out on the road to face the Bakersfield Condors on Friday. Their next game will have a puck drop of 8:00 p.m. MT. 

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