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Recap: Wranglers kept pace with Firebirds but fall in frustrating loss on Sunday
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Photo credit: Mike Zitek/Coachella Valley Firebirds
Paige Siewert
Dec 16, 2024, 10:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 15, 2024, 22:24 EST
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The Calgary Wranglers and Coachella Valley Firebirds were back in action on Sunday evening after a 3-1 Firebirds win on the previous night. The Wranglers had quite a few shots on goal on Saturday but could not beat their opposing netminder. For this game, they went in with a similar plan and looked to activate their scoring once again. They kept up with Coachella Valley’s scoring very well for a very energetic back-and-forth game.
The final score was 4-2 for the Firebirds.

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
Artem Grushnikov – Ilya Solovyov 
Yan Kuznetsov – Hunter Brzustewicz
Jonathan Aspirot – Jeremie Poirier
Connor Murphy

Game at a glance

Both teams opted to switch things up in net on the back half of this back-to-back. Connor Murphy made his season debut for the Wranglers in net and Nikke Kokko started for the Firebirds.
The first period was very much a game of back and forth zone time. Neither side really dominated the effort and both were playing an energetic first frame. Similarly to their previous game, it was a pretty smooth period with minimal stoppages and no penalties.
The opening goal came later in the frame at 17:52. This was a friendly fire goal unfortunately as the puck popped up in front of the net and Sam Morton trying to stop, accidentally tipped the puck in off his knee. The goal went to Ben Meyers of the Firebirds and Ville Ottavainen and John Hayden picked up the assists. 
That was the only scoring action through the opening frame and the score finished at 1-0 Firebirds after 20 minutes. Shots were pretty close through the first with Coachella Valley out-shooting Calgary 10-8.
The Wranglers started the second with a great effort to get on the board and were rewarded for it. The top line was out in the zone and at the end of the play, it was Rory Kerins in front of the net making a diving play to get the puck into the back of the net. This goal came just 1:45 into the period and was assisted by Dryden Hunt and Jonathan Aspirot.
Unfortunately, less than a minute later, the Firebirds came the other way and got their lead back. Tucker Robertson ripped a slapshot off the post and in at 2:43. His marker was assisted by Nikolas Brouillard and Ryan Jones. 
The spurt of goals slowed for a few minutes but the Wranglers still kept pace with their opponents and were the next ones to light the lamp. Martin Frk’s line was out and when they got the puck back to the point, Ilya Solovyov ripped a shot Frk redirected at 10:20. The other helper on this goal went to Sam Honzek.
After this goal, the Wranglers had a couple of penalties to kill off and almost scored a shorthanded goal on their first penalty kill. Dryden Hunt was trying to get the puck around Kokko at 13:59 but was denied on this chance. They killed this penalty and the one following. However, just as the second penalty came to a close, the Firebirds struck again with a goal from Jani Nyman. Nyman ripped a shot from the offensive zone faceoff dot and beat Murphy. Max Lajoie and Eduard Sale assisted on this go-ahead goal at 17:08.
The Wranglers ran out of time in the second to try and sneak one more goal into this four goal frame and at the end of the second, the score was 3-2 Firebirds. The shots were a bit higher this period with Calgary out-shooting Coachella Valley 16-14.
The energy of this game continued into the third and the Wranglers were desperate for that next goal. At 8:33 Connor Murphy went off for a delayed penalty call, Yan Kuznetsov ripped a shot off the post and Jeremie Poirier was on the doorstep for the rebound. He did score but the officials blew the play down once the goal hit the post. The Firebirds did not appear to get any possession that would’ve prevented Poirier’s goal from counting. That brought understandable frustrations.
After this power play, the Wranglers had another shot with a penalty shot being awarded to William Stromgren. He was coming off a long shift and did not score on this opportunity at 13:11. The Wranglers had to try for a late goal by pulling Connor Murphy at 18:08.
The Firebirds nearly had an empty netter with a shot that went wide but seconds later, found the back of the empty net at 19:30. John Hayden scored to put the home team up 4-2. That was where the score stood by the end of regulation and the Firebirds completed the sweep of the Wranglers for this weekend series. The shots in this game finished 33-29 favouring Calgary.

Scoring stat summary

Rory Kerins – 1G
Ilya Solovyov – 1A
Dryden Hunt – 1A
Martin Frk – 1G
Sam Honzek – 1A
Jonathan Aspirot – 1A

Next up

The Wranglers have just one more stop on the road next week before they return home to host the Henderson Silver Knights next weekend. Their next game is on Wednesday evening against the Ontario Reign. The puck drop will be at 8:00 p.m. MT.

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